Wellington City Council Looking for Climate Change Consultant at Wellington, Wellington Region, New Zealand Full Time

Senior Advisor – Climate Action Strategy

Wellington City Council has established a vision for Wellington as ‘an inclusive, sustainable and creative capital for people to live, work and play’. The future of Wellington is compact, inclusive & connected, greener, resilient, vibrant and prosperous.

Working at the Council means you get access to a range of great benefits – check out the long list of them here – https://careers.wellington.govt.nz/working-here

Come and join us as we work together for Wellington’s future – kia mahi ngātahi mō Pōneke mō tōna āpōpō.

Climate Response team

Wellington City Council through Te Atakura – First to Zero, a blueprint for becoming a zero carbon capital city, has recognised the need for urgent action on climate change. For Wellington to thrive in a future of growing carbon constraints and climate impacts, we need to cut our greenhouse gas emissions and reduce our vulnerability to extreme weather events and rising sea-levels. This involves some simple and practical projects, as well as some complex and potentially contentious changes to our economy, society and city.

The role

We are looking for someone with drive, resilience and ambition to join our awesome Climate Action Strategy team.

Your role will be to work closely with the Lead and encourage other business units to consider climate change as part of their planning and decisions. This work will appeal to your love for bringing order and focus to an area that is fluid, dynamic and ambiguous – and make great use of your excellent influencing and people skills.

So who are we looking for?

We want to hear from those who bring a relevant qualification and significant experience advising on climate change and/or sustainability. You may come from the public sector or be wanting a change from the corporate world – we are open to hearing from those with a variety of backgrounds. Either way, we expect you to come with the passion, drive and commitment needed to make a difference for the future of Wellington.

You’ll need exceptional communication skills, as you work to build trusting relationships with the business units across Council. You’ll need to be comfortable talking to a variety of people with different interests about how we can help them improve policies and plans to take on climate change as an important consideration. You’ll also bring a solid understanding of relevant legislation and carbon foot-printing to draw upon to back up your advice.

As we are committed to mentoring our advisors and interns, you’ll also need to be open to sharing your knowledge and experience to build a cohesive team so we can work better together. You’ll have an enthusiasm about public service and see this as a great opportunity to have input into our city as we work to transition into a low-carbon economy.

Climate change is a top priority for our council leadership, and as such you will need to be someone who can confidently communicate and seamlessly build relationships in a political setting with a diverse group of people. In addition to political acumen, ideally you will also have an understanding of what good climate action looks like, and experience or knowledge of the machinery of government.

We have an ambitious programme of work underway to support the achievement of the City’s net zero carbon by 2050 target. It’s a great place to work and we are a fun and collaborative bunch passionate about the work we do. There has never been a more exciting time to join us and play a critical role in driving sustainable and resilient outcomes for our city. So, don’t wait, hit the apply button now!

If you want to know more about the role, team or mahi, contact Mike on [email protected]

We want to make sure any accessibility requirements you may have, are well supported so the selection process is equitable for everyone.

Please let us know if there are any adjustments or support, we can offer to make our process more accessible to you by emailing [email protected]

Advert expires Sunday 23 July 2023 however we may contact candidates prior to this date so encourage you to apply as soon as possible!