Director of Operations

Director of Operations

CPI is an analysis and advisory organization with deep expertise in finance and policy. Our mission is to help governments, businesses, and financial institutions drive economic growth while addressing climate change. CPI has six offices around the world in Brazil, India, Indonesia, the United Kingdom, and the United States.

CPI is a leader in tracking sustainable investment and policy trends, identifying innovative business models, and supporting the solutions that can drive the transition to a low-carbon, climate-resilient, inclusive economy. We are unique in our focus on finance and policy, our ability to get the right people to the table, and our analytical rigor.

We are looking for a Director of Operations to lead CPI into a global, high growth stage. Our work is increasingly complex, with more sophisticated programs, an increasing number and diversity of funders, and a growing geographic focus. We seek an internal leader who can guide the evolution of CPI’s systems and processes so that CPI can deliver strategic impact with increasing efficiency and effectiveness.

Roles and responsibilities

Organizational Leadership

• Serving as a member of the Senior Management Team, establish a close partnership with the Global Managing Director and other members of the Executive Team, providing internal leadership on organizational performance, and collaborating closely on key cultural and operations issues.

• Engage with a wide swath of internal stakeholders including the Board of Directors, Executive Leadership, managers and staff to advance and align CPI’s organizational health and well-being with its overall effectiveness and impact, and ensure all internal systems, especially those related to IT, people and operations, are right sized, effective and efficiently deployed.

• Engage with external partners necessary for the effective and efficient service provision in support of the organizational effectiveness of CPI.

• Clear and maintain a path to organizational effectiveness and global alignment across all offices through coordinated planning and support, provide thought partnership with CPI leadership, and act as a supportive and motivating mentor across the organization.

• Lead the annual planning process, with the support of country offices, including the creation of KPIs that roll-up to CPI’s overall annual objectives, and lead periodic progress review processes. Develop systems and processes to support annual goal setting and foster transparent internal reporting, evaluation of impact, and accountability.

• Evaluate the performance of CPI’s pipeline and program delivery, advising and supporting teams with systems and planning processes to best deliver; identify trends and opportunities for resource growth, training, collaboration, and learning across offices and programs.

• Embody CPI’s values (integrity, rigor, collaboration, and commitment), building an environment of trust at all levels of the organization, and enabling the deeper expression of those values across the workplace.

• As part of the CPI leadership team, lead by example in the cultivation of a people-centered and inclusive organizational culture that balances autonomy with a cohesive and meaningful employee experience across all global offices, including through ownership of CPI’s Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) agenda.

• Exercise authority consistent with CPI’s budget, as well as CPI’s overall financial stability, in partnership with the Chief Financial Officer.

Functional Leadership

• Create the conditions for CPI to operate as a coordinated and well-managed organization, leading a clearly articulated operational strategy in support of the organization’s strategic goals with focus on operations, HR/people and IT.

• Build and lead a strong and cohesive global operations team, as part of CPI’s organizational culture of high-performance, mutual respect, transparency, accountability, and service-orientation. Provide mentoring as part of a work environment that supports retention, recognition, and career growth.

• Connect the global operations team staff across offices and collaborate closely with the finance team to ensure alignment of operational processes, systems, and procedures.

• Support the Global Managing Director in their pursuit of unrestricted funding sources to ensure the resources needed for a growth strategy by ensuring CPI has world class, agile central operational functions built to scale and which can support grant financed, payment for service and contractor management businesses across multiple jurisdictions.

Talent Strategy Ownership

• Develop and implement a talent strategy in line with organizational needs and strengthen talent initiatives across the employee life cycle.
• Provide supervision, thought partnership, and support to the Global HR Manager, who is responsible for putting in place the necessary systems to recruit, hire, on-board, employ and off-board staff; to provide fair, equitable and competitive compensation and benefits; and to manage performance and development.
• Oversee the establishment and execution of policies and practices that promote CPI’s organizational culture, DEI, employee recruitment and retention.
• Demonstrate cross-cultural competency while partnering with all managers and leaders across our global context to build trusted relationships, serve as a guide on all people and culture-related matters, and ensure our talent strategy and HR practices and policies are fair and high-quality.

Operations Strategy and Implementation

• Proactively engage with staff across the organization, including periodic visits to all CPI locations, to understand, anticipate, and address system performance and needs for systems evolution that will facilitate CPI’s work.

• Oversee and develop operational and administrative systems policies, procedures and processes, supporting people and knowledge management, contracts and technology needed to deliver all of CPI’s programmatic work and internal operations.

• Own and manage the IT strategy, developing a cost-effective suite of IT platforms and applications which enable the delivery of CPI staff while taking stock of the current range of platforms and packages to ensure we evolve and streamline to support effective delivery. As part of the IT and operations strategy, create a knowledge management function at CPI, ensuring systems and talent are in place for effective internal knowledge management.

• Lead and monitor overall assessment of risks, navigating complex nonprofit compliance, operations, legal, and risk management issues in a global setting, while adjusting approaches to country-specific contexts. Ensure that all compliance matters have clear internal ownership while identifying unaddressed or unassigned risks.

Competencies & qualifications

• A strong collaborator, with high levels of empathy, cultural sensitivity, and respect for diversity.
• Experience leading teams and projects in an international organization across multiple technical operational domains including: day-to-day administration, people operations, IT management, knowledge management, and process improvement. Operates fluently at both strategic and tactical levels, with confidentiality, judgement, and integrity.
• Ability to formulate and execute plans, utilizing analytical, critical decision making, and strategic planning skills.
• Exceptional ability to communicate at every level of an organization and to communicate the organization to key partners and constituents.
• Experience navigating and facilitating organizational transition, growth, and challenges. Adept at leading inclusive organizational design processes in mission-driven settings.
• An inspiring, accessible, visible, and flexible leadership style that fosters trust, respect, and confidence while driving measurable results.
• Experience with international non-profits or in management consultancy or financial advisory is preferred.

Skills & attributes

• Natural and collaborative leadership: The Director of Operations inspires people to want to join in making CPI a more effective and impactful organization.
• Wired for both strategic and tactical leadership: The Director of Operations will confidently operate at the highest levels to take the organization to its next stages of scale, while also rolling up their sleeves to take a hands-on approach to ensuring the organization and its projects are moving forward.
• Highest degree of integrity and stewardship: The Director of Operations will hold both short- and long-term organizational interests at the forefront of their decision making and be a clear messenger on behalf of CPI Leadership on all matters of organizational direction.
• People-centered and inclusive: The Director of Operations will lead with cultural humility and empathy, while also bringing a sense of humor and joy to the work.
• Innately curious and committed to excellence: The Director of Operations will continually foster a culture of learning and improvement throughout the organization.
• Demonstrated passion and commitment to the mission of CPI: The Director of Operations will understand the ecosystem in which CPI operates and wield their motivational energy toward accomplishing CPI’s purpose within that ecosystem.

Position details

CPI is recruiting for one full time position and offers an excellent and competitive compensation and benefits package, including a salary range of $120,000 to $155,000 per annum depending upon experience.

Location: San Francisco Bay Area preferred, but also happy to consider candidates in Washington DC where we have a second office. CPI has adopted a flexible working policy whereby staff are able to mix working remotely with regular days in the office.

Reports to: Global Managing Director

To apply

Click here to submit an application. With your application, attach two documents in English: (1) An up-to-date CV and (2) a cover letter outlining why you want to work with CPI and how your skills and experience align with the above criteria.

Applications will be assessed on a rolling basis so we encourage applicants to submit at the earliest opportunity. The position will remain open until we find the right candidate. Only short-listed applicants will be contacted. Please be sure to add notifications@app.bamboohr.com to your contact list to ensure delivery of all correspondence from us.

Climate Policy Initiative is committed to diversity, equity and inclusion and we are working to embed DEI across every facet of our organisation. We seek to establish a working environment where all board members, staff, volunteers, and contractors feel respected and valued regardless of gender, age, race, ethnicity, national origin, sexual orientation or identity, disability, education, or any other bias. We want to create an inclusive culture where all forms of diversity are openly valued as critical to the success of our organization and the achievement of our mission and vision.

If you have any support or access requirements, we encourage you to advise us at the time of application. We will then work with you to identify the best way to assist you through the recruitment process.