Senior Technical Manager, Ports & Shipping

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. Through a Global Green New Deal, mayors are working alongside a broad coalition of representatives from labour, business, the youth climate movement and civil society to go further and faster than ever before.

C40’s team of 400+ staff is based in offices in London, in New York, Johannesburg, Singapore, Delhi, Rio de Janeiro, Copenhagen, Beijing and Paris, and individual staff based across 25+ different locations.

The strategic direction of the organisation is determined by an elected Steering Committee of C40 mayors, which is chaired by Mayor Sadiq Khan of London and Mayor Yvonne Aki-Sawyerr of Freetown. Three-term Mayor of New York City Michael R. Bloomberg serves as President of the C40 Board of Directors, responsible for operational oversight. A regionally diverse management team, led by Executive Director Mark Watts, leads the day-to-day management of C40. C40’s three core strategic funders are Bloomberg Philanthropies, the Children’s Investment Fund Foundation and Realdania.

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.

C40 Cities’ Ports & Shipping programme

The C40 Ports and Shipping Programme convenes an ambitious community of action through public-private partnerships with cities, ports, and industry. The programme incubates and supports port-city collaboration to decarbonise shipping, cut greenhouse gas emissions, drive zero-emission supply chains, and operationalise green shipping corridors. Through collaborative climate action plans, we support a just transition that creates green jobs for local communities and improves air quality.

The programme runs several workstreams, including:

• Providing a platform for knowledge sharing across Green Shipping Corridor initiatives, supporting sector-specific capacity building efforts, and removing hurdles to accessing green capital. C40 currently convenes the Los Angeles-Long Beach-Shanghai and Los Angeles-Long Beach-Singapore green shipping corridor projects. 

• Convening cities and ports and the other maritime stakeholders to mobilise knowledge, build coalitions, catalyse policy, and inform infrastructure investment to accelerate zero-emission technologies and fuel adoption.

• Developing the business case for green corridors and the green transition with port operation, including infrastructure investment needs, technical assistance projects, and consortium-building for unlocking capital.

• Supporting mayors and subnational leaders’ engagement and advocacy efforts in global discussions and forums focused on maritime decarbonisation.
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Position Description:

The Senior Technical Manager will join the delivery and implementation team working on Green Shipping Corridors and establishing the new energy workstream. 

This role, together with the Senior Project Managers, to deliver Green Shipping Corridors projects, track activities against key milestones and deliverables, and integrate learnings into other programme activities. 

The Senior Manager will be the lead for integrating city energy and resilience activities across the existing programme portfolio. They will work closely with other workstream leads in the Ports & Shipping Programme (Green Shipping Corridors, Green Ports Forum, and their respective working groups, as well as other teams across C40) to establish a working group on energy-related topics, and explore the synergies between cities and ports on energy and resilience related topics. 

The postholder will be an exceptional and experienced project manager, with exemplary organisational skills and experience in project development, coordination, reporting, and partnership building and, preferably with experience working across multiple geographies in a matrix work structure on large programs. 

This position offers a unique opportunity to work across the entire value chain, and to interface with high-level decision makers in the public and private sectors. It is a great fit for someone who is looking to advance their knowledge and skills in stakeholder engagement, policy development and project delivery. 

Responsibilities: 

Role responsibilities will cover a portfolio of initiatives including, but not limited to:

Green Shipping Corridors Project Support

• Work closely with Senior Project Manager to help define and deliver the C40 Green Shipping Corridors Strategy, including overseeing corridor-specific strategies, activities and deliverables, tracking the corridor progress across key milestones and deliverables
• Manage external consultants and overseeing their work as relevant to corridor-specific activities
• Together with other GSC team members, coordinate the production of GSC knowledge products (e.g. studies) and events, including the GSC Leaders Summit.

Workstream Development & Project Management

• Lead the development of the new port and city energy workstream in line with the programme workplan and funder deliverables
• Act as the main technical expert on issues related with electricity and energy decarbonisation also supporting the mission of helping the world to get off fossil fuels. 
• Engage with relevant staff in the Ports & Shipping Programme to set up work plans for the new workstream, set goals, identify procurement needs and establish project milestones.
• Regular coordination with other C40 teams, such as Buildings & Energy, Transportation, Resilience, and Air Quality.
• Work with the energy team, incl. Clean Energy Network
• Engage with member cities and ports to integrate their priorities in the work
• Support on fundraising activities, together with the Senior Programme Manager and Programme Director, to expand support to port cities on relevant energy topics.

Knowledge Management & Reporting

• Lead knowledge production for the new energy workstream. This includes managing peer-to-peer activities such as the working group, and coordinating the creation of knowledge products (e.g., studies), to ensure program learnings are transferred across cities supported by the Ports & Shipping Programme and beyond. 
• Convene in-person and virtual meetings and communications for C40 cities, including developing agenda content and managing logistics, to leverage city expertise and knowledge.
• Prepare and share the regular updates of city delivery projects to highlight successes of the Programme to key internal and external stakeholders, including partners and funders.
• Lead strategic sessions with relevant staff to share lessons learned across projects, manage shared delivery risks and improve processes on a regular basis.

Person Specification:

• Proactive, structured and strategic thinker with a collaborative mindset.
• Excellent communications and convening skills, and experience managing partnerships with diverse groups of stakeholders, as well as collaborating with complex and international teams.
• Experience in government, business and/or NGO sectors with a strong focus on project management and delivery. Experience or knowledge of maritime, ports and shipping, transportation, energy, air quality, public health, or climate change experience is preferred.
• Experience developing, managing, and implementing strategic projects required, preferably through working in or with city governments, port authorities, energy utilities, consultancies,  or related entities.
• Experience living and working in the Global South is a plus.
• Ability to work with a global and remote team, with experience leading a virtual team preferred. Willingness to work across time zones with a flexible work arrangement. 
• Superior organisational skills and acute attention to detail.
• Strong written and verbal communication skills are essential. English fluency required.

Other Requirements:

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

Reporting To: Director, Ports & Shipping

Term: Fixed Term Contract until 31 December 2026

Location: UK -  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)GBP £63,323 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. 

Application Process:

Interested applicants should submit a curriculum vitae and a cover letter. The closing date for receipt of applications is Tuesday, 23rd September 2025 at 5pm BST. 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.