Principal Sustainability Advisor - External Funding Lead

Working pattern: Full time, 37 hours per week. Flexible working and condensed hours options considered e.g. 9 day fortnight.

Contract: Permanent.

Location: County Hall, Chichester, but flexible. The Sustainability Team works on a mainly remote basis but the post holder will need to attend meetings at County Hall and other locations throughout West Sussex on a regular basis, and there is an occasional requirement for travel to events or partner locations.

Employer Pension Contribution: 19.70% this alters per annum on the 1 April each year.

Annual leave: 30 days holiday + Bank holidays = 38 days.

The purpose of this role is to lead, manage and develop aspects of the council’s Climate Change Strategy delivery, with a particular focus on identifying and securing external funding from a range of sources.

You’ll provide wider sustainability expertise to support Climate Change Strategy delivery internally and externally across priority thematic areas to be agreed once in post that support our climate mitigation and adaptation work.

What we need from you:

• Excellent communication and influencing skills.
• Ability to quickly assimilate information, consider the issues, risks and resource / budget implications and recommend the most appropriate course of action.
• Ability to think creatively and adapt advice flexibly to changing circumstances.
• Ability to research and analyse information to make informed judgments and create strong business cases and funding proposals.
• Relevant advanced theoretical and procedural knowledge of sustainability, and climate change mitigation and adaptation, plus detailed knowledge gained from practical application, preferably in a local government setting.
• Experience of successfully bidding for funding and attracting investment from public and private sector sources to support project delivery.
• Experience of the planning system and successfully bidding for economic development and regeneration funding.
• Proven success in implementing projects on time and within budget in accordance with funding agreements.
• Experience of managing budgets and compliance, with effective and appropriate deployment of resources.

Rewards and Benefits

We care hugely about wellbeing, allowing time for fun, and developing our team to be the best they can be. Alongside this, we also offer the below benefits:

• A competitive salary
• 30 days annual leave and bank holidays.
• A generous pension scheme, employer contribution.
• A strong supportive management team.
• Training opportunities, including coaching and apprenticeships.
• Volunteering opportunities, under the Council’s Employee Volunteering Scheme.
• Free access to employee assistance programmes.
• A range of travel and lifestyle discounts.
• Discounted membership at selected local sports and fitness centres.

For a full list of the benefits offered to you as a West Sussex County Council employee you can find them on our Rewards and Benefits page.

Further Information

The reference number for this role is EIE01359.

For issues or queries regarding your application please contact hrrecruitment@westsussex.gov.uk.

To apply, please follow the links below to upload your CV and cover letter.  In your cover letter please outline how you meet the key skills in the attached job description. Please ensure you have saved the job description attached to the main advert as, once the job has closed, you may not have the opportunity to download again.

Equity, inclusion and accessibility is very important to West Sussex County Council. We welcome and encourage applications from everyone, as this helps us build a diverse and talented workforce, that reflects the communities we serve. We ensure our approach to recruitment is flexible and supportive to enable all applicants to be at their best and to ensure they have the best possible chance of success.