Senior Manager, Digital Service Coordination and Pilot Partnerships

Position title: Senior Manager, Digital Service Coordination and Pilot Partnerships

Department: GCoM & Multilevel Partnerships

Reporting to: Head of Data Systems, Regions and Partnerships

Location: Belgium, South Africa, United Kingdom - Please note that if your right to work in one of the listed locations is not confirmed at the time of applying, C40 will be unable to proceed with your application.

Salary: (Grade 3)Belgium EUR 91,065, South Africa ZAR 1,067,386, United Kingdom GBP£65,318 gross per annum - Due to its commitment to maintain equity and fairness, C40 operates on a spot salary model. This means that our employees are paid the same salary according to their grade and location.

Term: Fixed term until 31st December 2028

Background

C40 is a network of nearly 100 mayors of the world’s leading cities, who are working to deliver the urgent action needed right now to confront the climate crisis, and create a future where everyone, everywhere can thrive. Mayors of C40 cities are committed to using a science-based and people-focused approach to help the world limit global heating to 1.5°C and build healthy, equitable and resilient communities.

Our international staff work with the C40 network under the leadership of city governments to deliver this mission. Using a data-driven approach, our team identifies and promotes the exchange of proven programmes and policies developed by cities; provides world-class research, technical expertise and access to key partners to deliver new programmes and policies with cities; and communicates cities’ individual achievements and collective leadership.

Diversity Statement

C40 is committed to supporting and promoting equity and diversity and creating an inclusive working environment for everyone. We believe that when people with different life experiences are involved in decision-making, we deliver better.

We believe having a diverse workforce ensures we connect better with all the different communities and people affected by the climate crisis. This enables us to make better decisions which lead to better outcomes in the work we do through increased creativity, productivity, greater global impact alongside a broader perspective and approach to our work.

We welcome applicants that are diverse in terms of age, gender identity, sexual orientation, physical or mental ability, ethnicity and perspective. Our goal is for C40 to be an environment where everyone, from any background, can flourish and can be themselves whilst contributing to our mission. If you identify as a person with a disability, we work to provide reasonable appropriate measures and any additional support needed to provide an equitable working experience. If you are living with a disability, chronic illness or neurodiversity please inform us, to provide you with the proper assistance in the application process.

C40 promotes a work culture where staff can input to improve equity, diversity and inclusion through staff-led groups and formal forums. We know that creating our ideal working environment is a learning process and we are committed to the ongoing effort.

Department description

About The Global Covenant of Mayors For Climate & Energy

The Global Covenant of Mayors for Climate and Energy (GCoM or Global Covenant), is a global coalition of cities and local governments with a shared long-term vision of promoting and supporting voluntary action to combat climate change and move to a

low-carbon, resilient society. The alliance unites and inspires its stakeholders to strengthen global climate coherence, accelerate the energy transition, and generate locally-tailored solutions for a common purpose: creating an inclusive, just, low-emission, and climate-resilient future for all.

C40 Cities and the Global Covenant of Mayors for Climate & Energy (GCoM) are working in strategic alignment to deliver a shared set of goals that accelerate city climate action at scale. Since 2023, this collaboration has been jointly delivered, drawing on both organisations’ complementary strengths: C40 driving ambition and city delivery and GCoMj broadening and deepening support across a wider set of cities while convening key partners.

For 2026-2028, the partnership will advance joint priorities across key areas of work, including:

• Technology & Data - Delivering a next-generation city climate reporting and decision-support platform, strengthening data quality and interoperability and piloting responsible AI applications to help cities plan, track and accelerate action.
• Multilevel Partnerships - Strengthening coalition governance and national-level engagement to support mayors and subnational leaders to implement transformative climate policies in high-impact geographies, and to amplify their leadership.
• Climate Finance - Strengthening cities’ capacity to develop bankable climate projects and connect to capital, including through CFO engagement, technical assistance, strategic partnerships and convenings that help unlock investment for implementation.
• Communications - Investing in a stronger global network of city communications leaders while amplifying mayors’ leadership to secure public support for climate action.

Position description:

The Senior Manager, Digital Service Coordination and Pilot Partnerships plays a pivotal role in driving the regional delivery, adoption, and impact of the AI-assisted Digital Service across the Global Covenant of Mayors (GCoM) alliance—representing 14,000+ signatories—and C40 cities, while overseeing in-depth pilots of AI-assisted functionalities in target countries.

Reporting directly to the Head of Data Systems Regions and Partnerships, this role operationalises the link between technical development and regional impact. The Senior Manager leads the execution of the global engagement strategy, coordinating a dedicated regional engagement team to synchronise rollout efforts across GCoM Regional and National Covenants, C40 regional teams, and supporting partners.

A primary focus is driving the functional success and widespread uptake of the GCoM Digital Service. The postholder will lead high-impact engagement activities and actively build strategic partnerships with national governments and local delivery partners to execute country-level pilots.

Operating within an agile framework, the Senior Manager leads internal project management for the Support & Stakeholder Engagement workstream, driving coherence and impact within the engagement workstream’s distinct sub-functions as well as facilitating seamless alignment between engagement and all other workstreams across the Tech and Data Programme.

Responsibilities

Coordination of global engagement for the Digital Service:

• Collaboratively and constructively coordinate the Digital Service Regional Engagement team, aligning regional delivery strategies with global development and engagement milestones to ensure cohesive execution.
• Lead the development and execution of a global engagement and outreach strategy to facilitate the Digital Service development, rollout, and uptake, working closely with in-region Senior Engagement Managers, Regional/National Covenant Secretariats and the C40 Regional and Mayoral Engagement team to tailor strategies regionally.
• Facilitate alignment and collaboration among in-region Senior Engagement Managers, the GCoM Secretariat Regional Coordination team, GCoM Regional/National Covenant Secretariats and key supporting partners.
• Manage coordination between the GCoM Global Secretariat, GCoM Regional and National Covenants, and the C40 Regional and Mayoral Engagement team to ensure the seamless execution of the Data System rollout and engagement strategy.
• Lead regional partnership engagement activities to support the development, rollout, uptake and ongoing operations of the Digital Service.

Start and strengthen partnerships in pilot countries for the Digital Service:

• Align with the Multi-Level Partnerships team and Senior Regional Engagement Managers to engage and build strategic partnerships with national governments and establish pilot country projects.
• Work in tandem with the Senior Regional Engagement Managers to engage local delivery partners in pilot countries and execute tailored, country-specific delivery strategies.
• Support Senior Regional Engagement Managers in organising and executing regional convenings, workshops and webinars to facilitate pilot implementation and capacity-building.

Internal coordination and management for the Digital Service:

• Oversee and coordinate internal project management for the Support & Stakeholder Engagement workstream, ensuring seamless alignment and integration across the Tech and Data Programme (including cross-team collaboration, tracking progress, and removing blockers).
• Coordinate and align project management across all elements of the Support & Stakeholder Engagement workstream, fostering strong collaboration, clear communication, and consistent progress tracking within the Stakeholder & Engagement team to drive coherence and collective impact.

• And any other duties appropriate for the grade.

Person specification:

• Strong experience in designing and executing on-the-ground engagement activities, including leading user-requirement gathering, managing technical feedback loops, and overseeing pilot deployments (preferred but not essential: for digital/data products)
• Demonstrated success in establishing strategic partnerships with national governments, municipal leaders, regional or local delivery partners, and cross-sector stakeholders to execute complex projects.
• Demonstrated expertise in designing regionally tailored capacity-building programmes, technical resources, and high-impact knowledge-sharing events (workshops, webinars, peer exchanges).
• Extensive experience coordinating distributed teams across diverse cultures, languages, and time zones to achieve complex operational goals.
• Significant experience working in urban sustainability, climate change, or multi-level governance, preferably in a municipal or international organisation context.
• Proven track record in project management within agile environments, including coordinating multi-disciplinary workstreams, tracking budgets, managing consultants, and bridging technical and non-technical teams.
• Proven ability to direct and coordinate work of team members on a project without formal line management responsibility.
• Outstanding strategic thinking and problem-solving skills, with a track record of driving coherence across sub-teams, removing operational blockers, and reporting progress to senior leadership.
• Extensive background operating effectively across international contexts and matrixed organisations.
• Fluency in English is essential; professional working proficiency in French, Spanish, Portuguese, or Arabic is desirable.

Other Requirements:

Applicants must already have the right to work in the listed locations. Moderate travel will be required as part of the role.

We seek to recruit individuals who not only have the appropriate skills and experience for the role, but are committed to carrying out their roles in line with our organisational values.

C40 offers a comprehensive benefits package to support employee well-being and work-life balance:

• Paid Time Off: Full-time employees receive 35 days of paid time off annually, which includes all national holidays.
• Company Shutdowns: In addition to the standard paid time off, C40 provides two non-contractual, non-statutory shutdown weeks each year (mid-year and end-of-year) for a full break.
• Parental Leave: All employees are eligible for up to 52 weeks of parenting leave. The first 16 weeks are paid at 100% of the employee's current salary. Weeks 17 through 52 are unpaid by C40, unless payment is required by national law.
• Flexible Working: C40 supports flexible working arrangements to enhance work-life balance, provided they align with business requirements.
• Time off in Lieu (TOIL): Employees can take TOIL to recover following periods of excessive hours or travel.
• Sick Leave: Entitlement to sick leave increases upon the successful completion of the employee's probation period.
• Employee Training: Training and development opportunities are available to all staff (excluding temporary staff and interns) after they have completed and passed their probation period.
• Employee Assistance Programme (EAP): Confidential services, such as counselling, are accessible for short-term support.
• Pension scheme: C40 offers a pension scheme to employees in eligible locations. Availability is determined by the country of employment.
• Private Health Insurance: This is provided in countries where publicly funded healthcare is not available.

Application Process:

Closing date for applications is Thursday, 24th September 2026 at 4pm UK Time. C40 reserves the right to close this job opening before the closing date for applications so please do submit applications early.

To learn more about the work of C40 and our cities, please visit www.c40.org, follow us on Twitter @c40cities and like us on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/C40Cities.

For any queries about the role, please contact careers@C40.org. Kindly note that this email address is for recruitment related queries only. We are unable to accept CVs and cover letters sent to this inbox. We can only accept and process applications that are submitted via our website.

C40 is an equal opportunities employer.