Senior Policy Manager in Climate Protection

Future Matters is seeking an experienced EU policy strategist to lead an ambitious team of staff to get the most effective but neglected climate policies on the Commission agenda.

Let’s ensure that, in this mandate, the EU pursues climate policies that will make the biggest contribution to global emissions mitigation. 

Overview:

• Title: Senior Policy Manager in Climate Protection

• Compensation: €4,650 - €5,370 gross monthly salary, depending on experience. On a 13.92 month Belgian contract.

• Location:  Brussels, Belgium. Flexible / Hybrid working model.

• Full-time: 38 hours per week, flexible hours

• Vacation days: 27 paid vacation days

• Travel: Approximately 5 weeks per year for organization retreats, conferences and meetings

• Benefits: Other benefits, including private top-up health and dental insurance, a work equipment budget/co-working space allowance, and 10% paid time for professional development. A full benefits package will be finalized upon hire.

• Application deadline: rolling

• Start Date: February or March 2025, negotiable if needed. 

Note of optional “Head of Climate Protection” role: We may be able to offer a more senior role with an appropriate salary to an especially experienced and entrepreneurial candidate. See the bottom of the skills section for details.  

You might be a good fit if:

• You are a senior level policy strategist working toward climate protection in the EU. You want to get the best policies passed and have experience and know-how to make that happen. 

• You are interested in using an analytical approach to advocacy. You often think about the odds and impacts of different outcomes to choose your actions.

• You are ambitious and courageous. You know we will win significant policy action only by aiming high and persisting in the face of challenges.

• You are a team-oriented leader. You are able to empower a team to grow, focus energy well, and succeed together. 

About Future Matters and This Role 

Future Matters is a non-profit consultancy and think tank dedicated to supporting effective action on the greatest global challenges of our time. Our focus areas include climate protection, AI governance, and biosecurity. 

Our Climate Protection work

To make the biggest difference on urgent issues, we rigorously prioritize our activities. That means setting aside many “good” options to focus on the areas where we can make an outsized difference. Our work in climate protection focuses on advancing the most impactful, yet underrated, policy opportunities for decarbonization. 

In April 2024, we launched our research report, “8 EU Policy Priorities for Global Decarbonization. Pathways to European Climate Leadership”, a systematic prioritization study that identifies the EU’s best climate policy opportunities for the 2024-2029 mandate. This systemic analysis identified the most impactful, yet neglected, EU climate policies.

Our research has received positive interest from high-ranking decision makers in the EU and established partners. We are expanding our advocacy efforts further to get these policy opportunities and others like them on the Commission agenda. 

The charity evaluator Giving Green, that searches for the world’s most effective climate nonprofits states in its evaluation: Future Matters’ “analytical approach to policy engagement has [...] received praise for being especially actionable and unique in the EU’s nonprofit ecosystem.”

About the Senior Policy Manager role

In this role, you and your team will continue and intensify our exchange with top-tier policymakers around high-impact, cost-effective, and underrated climate policy opportunities to greatly increase the EU’s impact on global emission pathways in the next decades. 

Despite our relatively recent entry in the EU, we have experienced strong demand for our expertise. We are looking for a candidate who can apply their deep understanding of EU politics and longstanding experience in the Brussels bubble to further inform our advocacy strategies and prioritize between many opportunities to guide the team to success. 

Our team culture

Future Matters seeks to create an environment where talented people can do their best work. Employees describe our workplace feel as “warm and sciency.” Here are a few of our practices:

• We celebrate our individual and collective wins and exchange thoughtful and kind feedback to improve our efforts. 

• We believe the best argument, evidence, or reasoning should determine our actions, even if it doesn’t come from the highest ranking person in the room. 

• We try to minimize administrative work and designate clear roles to increase autonomy so we can act fast.

• We meet three times a year in person for organization-wide retreats to get to know each other better and learn together.

This role will be our first Brussels-based hire. (Our existing staff is currently based in Germany, Austria, Sweden, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, and the United States.) However, you will be quickly joined in Belgium by one to three existing and new staff in 2025, with a likely further expansion of the team in 2026. Our Brussels team will create a supportive in-person culture that complements our current remote-based practices.

Responsibilities of the role

1. Advocate strategically

   • Use compelling communication to persuade policymakers to pursue impactful yet neglected climate policies. 

   • Create strategies for reaching policymakers, politicians, and other key organizations to develop partnerships.

   • Provide strategy consulting to changemakers who may be well-positioned to achieve allied goals. 

   • Represent Future Matters at meetings and events, advancing our positions and recommendations and building support. 

   • Help inform Future Matters’s next priorities for policy research, based on current needs and an evolving political landscape. 

   • Continuously evaluate and prioritize EU policy opportunities where Future Matters can make the biggest difference in accelerating global emission mitigation.

2. Manage and support the Climate Protection Team

   • Collaborate with teammates to develop internal plans and strategies, staying up-to-date on the latest climate change and EU policy developments.

   • Work with the team to structure and plan projects, with a strong focus on effective delegation and prioritizing the most promising activities within tight time and resource constraints. 

   • Create an empowering and collaborative team environment. 

   • Provide staff supervision, feedback, training, and support. 

   • Participate in hiring additional advocacy staff, to be based in Brussels.

   • Consult with the directors to set annual priorities and long-term directions of the Climate Protection program. 

3. Develop your own skills and learning

   • At Future Matters, we dedicate 10% of our work time to learning and professional development and provide a budget for courses, conferences, and other opportunities. 

Our next Senior Policy Manager will demonstrate these skills and qualities:

• Senior level experience in EU policy: We expect at least 5 years of EU policy experience in either advocacy, policymaking, or strategy consulting with increasing responsibilities. Familiarity with informal and closed-door processes. 

• Managerial skills: Our ideal candidate has a proven track record as a manager. However, senior applicants who are able to demonstrate aptitudes for management are also encouraged to apply. 

• Strong project planning and management skills: Ability to prioritize goals and projects to make most effective use of limited capacities, including scoping projects, planning deadlines, delegating roles and tasks, and adjusting to changing circumstances. 

• Compelling, persuasive verbal communication: Ability to speak clearly and concisely, instilling the desired effect on the audience. 

• Networking and social fluency: The ability to skillfully navigate and engage in diverse situations with policymakers, stakeholders, partners, staff, and other groups. 

• An interest in systematic and analytical strategies: When advocating, you look toward the long-term outcome you want to achieve and map back to the actions that can be taken today to increase the likelihood of that outcome. 

• Full professional fluency in English. 

Optional Title and Role of “Head of Climate Protection”

It is an exciting time to join Future Matters because our Climate Protection program is already growing in funding, staff, and achievements, and has even more room to grow quickly over the next few years. An especially experienced candidate may be interested in taking on the entrepreneurial project of accelerating and guiding the growth of a high-performing team at an organization that values autonomy, ambition, and strategic action. If this is you, we would be interested in opening a conversation about the role of Head of Climate Protection.

Please note that this role will only be open to candidates clearly surpassing the profile of the Senior Policy Manager, e.g. 10+ years experience, with a long track-record in influential leadership positions or being a successful founder of an effective policy advocacy organization. 

More specifically, in addition to skills in EU advocacy, a candidate seeking the “Head of” role should have:

• Advanced management experience of multiple direct reports.

• A director’s-level eye toward setting strategic directions for the program and hiring.  

• Experience with fundraising, including an ability to proactively cultivate relationships with foundations and individuals donors. 

• An especially strong alignment with the “impact maximizing” approach of Future Matters.

Please indicate your interest in your application, and we will open a discussion about the role and an appropriate salary further if we believe you may be a fit. 

Notes about the application below

We consider overall fit rather than only raw years of experience when reviewing applications. Mission-alignment is very important to us. If you are interested in our approach, we encourage you to apply.

This job is open until filled. However, we encourage you to apply early.

You will be asked to upload a resume as a PDF or Word document. Instead of a cover letter, please answer the short answer questions.

We value your time and efforts in applying for jobs. Please limit answers to approximately 150-200 words or less and don’t take too much time editing your answer or formatting. Feel free to use bullet points if it helps show your answer more clearly.