Senior Program Manager, Industry

About the Global Industry Hub

Fiscally sponsored by ClimateWorks, the Global Industry Hub (Hub) accelerates the decarbonization of heavy industry by mobilizing philanthropic and blended capital toward high-impact opportunities in steel, cement, and chemicals.

The Hub acts as a neutral, catalytic platform, connecting funders, governments, civil society organizations (CSOs), and industrial actors to transform complex, capital intensive transitions into investable pathways. Its work bridges financial innovation, policy alignment, and system design to de-risk investment and scale industrial transformation globally with decarbonization in mind. By combining technical insight, innovative finance, and convening power, the Hub helps funders and development partners achieve far greater leverage per input, accelerating emissions reductions while strengthening industrial competitiveness and regional development.

Job Summary

The Senior Program Manager, Industry will play a senior, strategic role in driving the Hub’s priorities and grantmaking portfolio. They will focus on strategy development, grantmaking and portfolio management related to the iron and steel sector and the enabling (clean) energy infrastructure.

The Senior Program Manager will shape and execute programme strategy, co-own multi-year planning and resource allocation, and act as a trusted advisor to senior leadership, external partners, and funders. This role includes a significant degree of decision-making authority, frequent external representation, and responsibility for setting good practices across the GIH program area

The ideal candidate is a seasoned strategist, practitioner, and networker with the instincts and experience to be a responsible grantmaker and trusted partner. You understand and value the collective impact of building an overarching strategy and aligned network that brings together a full spectrum of approaches – from techno-economic analysis, finance, private sector engagement, and policy advocacy to diplomacy, grassroots and community organizing, and public campaigning.

This position reports to the Director of Steel and Energy Infrastructure.

Essential Responsibilities

The Senior Program Manager is responsible for the following duties:

1.      Grantmaking and Program Oversight

• Lead and oversee the effective passage of grants through the full lifecycle of assessment, disbursement, and evaluation, including complex or novel grantmaking decisions.
• Own senior relationships with grantees, including understanding their needs and circumstances, ensuring strategic alignment, effective information flow, and accountability for results.
• Co-direct portfolio-level budgeting, resource allocation, and multi-year planning, with responsibility for managing risk and trade-offs. 
• Develop, refine and set program standards, tools, and operating practices. Collaborate with peers and other teams at GIH and CWF and contribute to Hub-wide and CWF best practices.
• Coordinate grantmaking strategies, where relevant, with the Hub’s regranting partners and aligned funders to maximize leverage and coherence. 
• Provide senior guidance and mentorship to colleagues on program and other teams at GIH.

2.      Strategic Development and Execution

• Partner with the Director of Steel and Energy Infrastructure to co-shape and execute strategic plans and grantmaking priorities.
• Identify, vet, and shape high-impact grant opportunities, exercising independent judgement within broadly defined strategic parameters.  
• Collaborate with the Director of Steel and Energy Infrastructure in developing a data-driven approach to strategy development, iteration and socialization, providing timely intelligence to inform the Hub’s resource plans and those of peer funders and regranting partners.
• Co-lead cross-sectoral strategy development on clean energy, infrastructure and clusters; cultivate deep collaboration with the Pooled fund on International Energy, Global Grid Catalyst initiative, ReNew2030 initiative, relevant Regional Climate Foundations, and aligned funders.
• Ensure strong feedback loops between strategy, resource needs, and fundraising.

3.      Knowledge Exchange and Ecosystem Development

• Collaborate with the Director of Steel and Energy Infrastructure in nurturing a peer network of philanthropic foundations to align strategic goals, foster co-learning, and strengthen ecosystem coordination.
• Build and maintain relationships with senior stakeholders including grantees, re-grantors, funders, governments, business, finance, and academia, and represent the Hub externally as relevant.
• Monitor and interpret emerging trends, risks, and opportunities in steel decarbonization and enabling energy systems, particularly in Asia, Europe, G20 economies.
• Identify and execute opportunities for knowledge exchange among internal and external stakeholders, including convening, briefings, and contribute to the production of the annual program report through webinars, meetings, blog posts, etc.
• Ensure high-quality synthesis and dissemination of insights through written outputs and events. 

Required qualifications

The successful applicant will have the following minimum qualifications:

• 8-12 years of progressively senior experience in a relevant role.
• Demonstrated experience leading large, complex, and cross-organizational programmes with limited supervision.
• Deep understanding of climate change, including technical, political, and economic drivers. A strong technical expertise in decarbonizing iron and steel is essential.
• Excellent relationship management and collaboration skills, including with senior external stakeholders.
• Experience working with philanthropic foundations is highly desirable.
• Excellent written and oral communications skills.
• Resourcefulness, strong strategic judgement, and a commitment to excellence, integrity, and continuous learning.
• Ability to initiate and manage projects, and to work effectively and efficiently with minimal supervision
• Research and analytic skills to identify and evaluate solutions and innovative ideas.
• Passion for solving climate change.
• Caring and generous attitude toward colleagues, grantees, and partners, and a commitment to supporting people to build careers and institutions. 
• Commitment to a diverse, inclusive and equitable work environment.

Other desired qualifications

• Master’s degree or equivalent experience in economics, energy and climate, engineering, international affairs, public policy, or another relevant field is preferred.
• Understanding of developing economy contexts, particularly Asia, including the role of industry and government in industrial and economic development.
• Experience developing and managing large, goal-oriented, multi-stakeholder networks is highly desirable.
• Ability and willingness to travel internationally as needed.

·       Experience managing grants or working with non-profits.

Location

Flexible global location. This role is “Global Hybrid,” enabling remote work with periodic in-person collaboration and country missions. Candidates must be able to work within two hours of Central European Time due to coordination with partners in Asia, Europe, and the Americas. 

Compensation

International salary range to be determined based on the location and local cost of labor.

We recognize that compensation and benefits can vary across countries and understand that this can raise important questions. Our goal is to ensure fairness, equity, and competitiveness within each local context. To achieve this, we align our compensation structure with the economic conditions, labor market dynamics, and social benefit systems of the regions where we operate.

Salaries are determined based on country-specific labor markets, allowing us to offer pay that is competitive within each region and consistent with other international organizations. Compensation is intentionally structured to be above leading local market averages and appropriate to the regional cost of labor. This approach supports our commitment to equity across our global workforce while enabling us to attract and retain top talent in diverse locations.

Culture

ClimateWorks’ culture is rooted in our core values: collaboration, humility, curiosity, learning, and risk-taking. We come together around shared goals, draw strength from diverse perspectives, and face challenges with an open mind. We grow through experience and boldly experiment to drive meaningful impact in climate philanthropy. Together, we turn ambition into action—spotting big opportunities, convening people, and helping scale bold solutions.

As a globally distributed organization, ClimateWorks offers multiple opportunities each year for staff to meet in person, foster relationships, and enhance collaboration. Staff are expected to attend an in-town week in San Francisco, an all-staff retreat, and a department retreat annually.

About ClimateWorks Foundation

ClimateWorks Foundation is a catalyst for accelerating climate progress, driving bold solutions that benefit people and the planet. We connect funders and implementing organizations worldwide to identify and scale transformative solutions across sectors and geographies, achieving faster, greater impact together. Since 2008, ClimateWorks has granted over $2 billion to more than 850 grantees across 50 countries, working with over 80 funders.

ClimateWorks Foundation is an Equal Opportunity Employer

ClimateWorks Foundation is committed to the principles of equal employment opportunity and compliance with all federal, state, and local laws concerning employment discrimination, including the Americans with Disabilities Act. We make decisions about all aspects of our employment practices, without regard to race, color, age, national origin, religion, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity, marital status, sex (including childbirth, breastfeeding, and related medical conditions), pregnancy, uniform service member and veteran status, citizenship status, disability, protected medical condition, genetic information, or any other status protected under applicable federal, state, or local laws. 

As part of our commitment to centering diverse people and perspectives and providing equal opportunities, we ensure that individuals with disabilities are provided with reasonable accommodations. If a reasonable accommodation is needed to participate in the job application process, please note that in your application. 

How to apply

Follow the link below to apply for this position. Please note that ClimateWorks will never request applicants’ credit card or financial information during the interview process. Should you receive a message requesting this information, please report it to ClimateWorks. All current job openings are listed on our careers page: www.climateworks.org/careers. 

Location: Global / Hybrid
Experience:  8-12 years
Reporting to: Sectoral Lead
Sector Focus: Steel, clean energy and infrastructure