Main purpose of the roles:

The British High Commission in Ottawa and the British Consulate-General in Calgary are each recruiting for a Senior Energy and Climate Policy Advisor.

These are key positions with the “UK in Canada Network” responsible for crucial aspects of the UK’s policy goals. The successful candidate will lead on advancing the UK’s relationship with Canada on energy and climate policy. The Ottawa position will focus on federal policy working together with Consulates in Montreal and Toronto, with the Calgary position also having federal policy responsibilities but attention on Western provinces, in particular.

The positions will drive high-level climate, energy and nature policy cooperation to benefit UK policy goals, facilitating the exchange of knowledge and deepening cooperation between UK and Canadian policymakers and stakeholders. This work will be underpinned by a keen understanding of the Canadian energy and climate change context and key stakeholders. The jobholder will work with the wider team on stakeholder engagement and communication, including activities such as organising visits, public events, representing the UK at relevant conferences and events. 

This is an exciting time to join the UK in Canada team given fast-paced developments within the area of energy and climate. It is an excellent opportunity to undertake a key role representing the UK government with plenty of responsibility and leadership potential. The role requires, and will further develop, a wide range of skills including delivering projects within political contexts, policy analysis, representational work and strategic stakeholder engagement. The Calgary role will report to the British Consul General in Calgary and will also be a part of the wider Science, Energy and Climate team across the UK’s diplomatic missions in Canada. Whilst the Ottawa position will report to the Head of Science, Energy and Climate Policy Team. You can fully expect to work collaboratively with other policy groups within the UK in Canada network, including the Department for Business and Trade, and other British government departments.

Elsewhere in the team, a colleague separately leads on S&T interests in clean energy (including CCUS deployment), electricity innovation pan-Canada and electricity policy across the Prairies. 

Occasionally, the successful candidate will be required to travel within Canada and internationally. You may also be requested to support some out-of-hours work, including attendance at evening events and in support of ministerial/senior visits.

Roles and responsibilities:

• Building partnerships and collaborations – between the UK and federal, provincial and municipal governments in climate and energy. In particular, engaging senior and influential stakeholders in government, academia, non-profits and industry to deliver high-impact projects and partnerships for the UK. Identifying and delivering opportunities to further UK-Canada objectives in energy and climate. 
• Deepening policy exchange – encouraging deeper policy relationships between the UK and Canada (federal and provincial) on energy and climate. Coordinate with London-based colleagues on engagement with Canada, advising on local sensitivities and priorities; including preparing briefing and visits for UK Ministers and senior officials.
• Deliver energy and climate projects – Identify, develop, and deliver projects and events (normally $15-30k), often working with external partners, that support UK government objectives in Canada, including strengthening ties on energy and climate.
• Policy analysis and advocacy – Provide analysis of key policy developments in Canada assessing their impact on the UK. Utilise analysis in support of identifying and furthering UK government climate and energy priorities within the prairies. Advocate existing and new UK strategies that require international engagement and collaboration, such as the UK Net Zero Strategy. Work with our comms team to find impactful ways to communicate the UK’s approach on climate. Support wider team relationships with key stakeholders (grid developments, nuclear energy, renewables). 
• Cultivate and maintain high quality working relationships with key contacts – develop a deep network of contacts including government, NGOs, think-tanks and universities that can deepen UK objectives in climate and energy. Develop and implement an external stakeholder engagement strategy. This will include stakeholder identification, event organisation, and meeting facilitation.
• Support UK trade and investment – work in collaboration with trade and investment promotion leads in clean energy and infrastructure to drive UK economic growth, investment and job creation.
• You will be encouraged and expected to develop project proposals with budgets in the region of CA$10ks. 

The Calgary role will focus on: 

• Climate policy & advocacy (Prairies):  set and deliver climate strategy for prairies. Influence policy development in Western Canada to advocate UK climate and energy policy objectives.
• Energy superpower (Overarching lead. Infrastructure, Prairies carbon pricing & fossil fuels): Be the lead officer reporting on PM Carney’s plan to make Canada a conventional energy superpower, and efforts to minimise greenhouse gas emissions from fossil fuel extraction. 
• Nuclear policy (Ab & Sask): Lead policy discussions with the provincial governments in Alberta and Saskatchewan on utilising nuclear energy seeking to make the UK a preferred partner.
• Nuclear workforce policy (Pan-Canada): Lead policy collaboration to meet the skills and workforce requriements in the UK and Canada to progress.  
• CANET Biodiversity lead: Influence and shape nature policy across Canada, tracking Canada’s progress towards the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework and Canada’s recently launched Nature Strategy 

The Ottawa role will focus on:

• Climate policy & advocacy (federal / non-prairie provinces): Overarching climate strategy for CANET. Ensuring strong relationships with the Federal Government, particularly Natural Resources Canada, Environment and Climate Change Canada and Canada’s Houses of Parliament across the breadth of energy and climate policy.
• Energy superpower (Sustainable Finance and Federal carbon pricing)
• Nuclear policy (federal, fuels, fusion): Promoting UK-Canada partnership on nuclear cooperation. You will lead on overall strategy and policy coordination across UK in Canada and implementing workstreams on isotopes and R&D, fuels and fusion.
• Electricity – Policy (Overarching lead, Federal, Eastern Canada): Influencing and tracking electricity policy across Canada following publication of the national electricity strategy, paying particular attention to Eastern Canada. 

• Bachelor’s degree in public policy, public administration, economics, engineering, or climate or equivalent experience. 
• Substantive professional experience working for an organisation in a relevant field on climate policy issues, for example working for/with national or regional government, NGO, international organisations or agencies.
• Experience developing and implementing policy in multi-stakeholder environments. 
• Strong interpersonal and teamwork skills with ability to interact effectively with senior government officials, business leaders, lobby groups, and the public.
• Proven ability to work independently, multitask, and feel at ease networking at mid to senior level.
• Excellent presentation skills with ability to produce clear, concise written reports and an ability to communicate impactfully with a range of expert and non-subject expert audiences.
• Experience developing and delivering high-impact but low budget projects to further policy objectives.
• Language requirements – English – Expert