South Pole is an energetic, global company offering comprehensive sustainability solutions and services. With offices spanning all continents across the globe, we strive to create a sustainable society and economy that positively impacts our climate, ecosystems and developing communities. With our solutions, we inspire and enable our customers to create value from sustainability-related activities.

Job summary

South Pole is looking for a Senior Lead - Standards and Methodologies to track developments of carbon market standards and methodologies and advise colleagues across the Certificates business line on the risks and opportunities of such developments for South Pole.

As a global sustainability solutions provider, South Pole works with clients in public and private sectors to build solutions for a sustainable society and economy. The Policy & Strategy team sits in a business line responsible for sourcing carbon projects, developing them and bringing resulting carbon credits to market.

This position seeks to coordinate the business line’s advocacy and communication with the carbon standard bodies, including independent standards and the Article 6.4 mechanism, as well as governance and industry initiatives, such as the IC-VCM, PD Forum and ICROA. Furthermore, the selected candidate will be in charge of knowledge management and communication over South Pole’s ongoing and relevant methodologies used to quantify and verify the impacts.

The selected candidate will also provide technical guidance to project teams, act as the main point of contact for clients and leverage his/her vast technical expertise and network to drive business development activities and generate new leads.

Short-listed candidates will have an excellent understanding of principles that underpin carbon credit generation, and ideally have prior experience in representation and/or advocacy roles.

Main tasks & responsibilities:

• Represent South Pole towards the standard bodies and the Article 6.4 mechanism on matters related to methodologies, project registration/validation, issuance/verification rules, guidelines and tools.

• Coordinate with the project development teams on technical/methodological and admin topics related to project registration/verification processes of carbon schemes and sustainable standards.

• Coordinate South Pole’s communication with the secretariat and technical committees of the standards, the Article 6.4 Supervisory Body as well as industry initiatives, such as the IC-VCM, PD Forum and ICROA.

• Ensure targeted information-sharing with the different teams within the Certificates team on matters related to standards bodies, the Article 6.4 mechanism and related methodologies and processes.

• Coordinate project/methodology-related communication/clarification with the standard bodies.

• Support carbon project developers to perform technical checks on projects to ensure alignment with standard requirements.

• Contribute to knowledge sharing in regards to standards’ rules and updates, as well as to the training programme for the newly created South Pole Asian Centre for Carbon Excellence.

Essential profile requirements

• University degree, ideally at a Master’s level or higher, in a relevant field;

• Sound understanding of the principles that underpin carbon crediting generation;

• In-depth knowledge of carbon standards’ methodologies, tools, and procedures;

• At least 5+ years of work experience in project development teams in carbon project development under different standards and/or the management of methodology revision/ development of new methodologies;

• Experience in engaging with carbon standards and other relevant standard-setting bodies;

• Strong and relevant experience in advocacy and stakeholder engagement;

• Strong analytical skills and resourceful;

• Ability to communicate effectively in English in writing and orally, to carbon and non - carbon expert audiences alike, in a clear and concise manner.

• Excellent prioritization and time management skills.

Desirable profile requirements

• Expertise and knowledge in the following sectors: electric vehicles, carbon capture, utilization and storage (CCUS) technologies, cement, power sector and hydrogen.

• Mastery of other language(s) than English, in particular French or Spanish;

• Comfortable operating in a fast-paced international environment. 

What we offer:

At South Pole, we care about our employees as much as we care about the planet. South Pole is not just an employer, we are a Team. South Pole does not just offer people a job, we offer you a career. By joining our team, you will find strong purpose and deep meaning in everything you do. You will have the chance to make a real difference for our clients and for the planet, working alongside a passionate team of like-minded colleagues, while building your knowledge/skills and developing your career in a fun, dynamic, international and fast-growing organisation. 

We’re a planet of 7.5 billion unique and different people. We all have a contribution to make; South Pole is proud to be an Equal Opportunity Employer. We do not discriminate on the basis of race, religion, colour, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, age, national origin, marital status or disability. Our recruitment is decided on the basis of qualifications, merit and business need.