Job description
Description
Job Title: Business Operations Lead – Knowledge sharing and Optimisation
Team: Business Operations Desk
Contract: Permanent
Level: Advanced
Please refer to our Capability Framework
Location: Belgium, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Poland, Spain, UK
Apply by: We’re interviewing on a rolling basis until we close the role. We advise you to apply early as we may close the role early if we have a sufficient pool of candidates.
ABOUT US
At Climate KIC, we are wholeheartedly committed to building a diverse and representative team and an inclusive workplace that values different life experiences and perspectives, and we encourage personal development, learning and growth.
When recruiting, we look to achieve diversity in the candidate pool. We actively encourage applications from underrepresented groups and are happy to consider reasonable adjustments that will foster success in potential colleagues from diverse backgrounds and life situations. And because our team has differing needs and personal circumstances, we offer a high degree of flexibility to accommodate working patterns. We’re happy to discuss your situation during the interview and see how best we can support you.
Don’t let Imposter Syndrome stop you from applying!
Climate KIC (Knowledge and Innovation Community) is Europe’s foremost climate innovation initiative. We understand that keeping global temperature rise below 1.5˚C demands unprecedented change. It requires new social dynamics, ways of doing business, capital flows, policymaking, economic models, and new ways of living. That is why our mission is to leverage the power of systems innovation to transform whole places, industries and value chains by 2030, working across sectors to develop and scale ambitious, mission-led programmes. Climate KIC’s strategy 2024-2030, Transformation, with Urgency, is available here.
Climate KIC operates as a not-for-profit platform working through public-private partnership, wielding both public and private funding. Established in 2010 and headquartered in Amsterdam, we orchestrate a community of more than 150 organisations including large corporations and SMEs, municipal and regional governments, universities and research institutes, as well as non-governmental organisations and civil society actors.
Climate KIC leads the implementation of the European Union’s Mission on Climate Neutral and Smart Cities and the launch pilot of the Mission on Climate-Adaptation both with the objective of catalysing rapid and deep transformation on a large scale, creating the precedent and economic transition conditions for demonstration, learning, capacity building, fast followership and investment. Achieving the EU Cities Mission will mean avoided scope 1 and 2 emissions alone of an estimated 0.7GT CO2e between now and 2040.
Climate KIC has a Remote-First strategy, where colleagues work remotely from home based in one of the countries where we have a branch or employing entity (and can work out of local offices or co-working seats, where they exist). We meet at our local offices to exchange and connect and use online collaboration tools to work with each other and with our community. On occasion, we meet in person as teams, and once per year as an organisation.
As a mission-driven organisation dedicated to climate transformation, we consider the climate impact of our own actions, for example travel, catering, or IT equipment.
ABOUT THE ROLE
In response to our strategic initiative to diversify funding streams and set up the business for success in a multi-funder environment, the Business Operations Desk is a one-stop shop assisting business process optimisation with focus on standardising and quality assurance of practices around project and grant management incl. facilitating an internal community of practice for knowledge sharing and learning. In relation to core organisational funding, the Business Operation Desk serves as Secretariat to the likes of The Collaborative. The Business Operations Desk also plays a key role in supporting a healthy funding pipeline through the deal desk review process.
As Business Operations Lead – Knowledge sharing and Optimisation, you will play a pivotal integrating role, working closely with the Business Operations Desk Orchestrator to drive operational excellence across grant management, project delivery, and knowledge-sharing practices.
You will be hands on with Grant Management. You will play a leading role in developing project management discipline, building a vibrant Community of Practice, and ensuring smooth operational alignment across the grant lifecycle. You will lead the development and standardisation of project management processes, foster rigorous adherence to grant policies, and act as a key integrator—ensuring that systems, processes, and policies are not only effective but also streamlined and consistent across the grant lifecycle. You will bridge teams, optimise cross-functional workflows, and foster collaboration, supporting Climate KIC’s mission to deliver multi-funder, portfolio-driven impact.
This role is a strategic anchor for Climate KIC’s transition toward multi-funder excellence, improved project delivery, and collaborative knowledge-sharing. You will play a central part in building systems, empowering teams, and ensuring operational coherence – driving Climate KIC’s capacity to deliver transformative climate action.
Key Responsibilities:
Grant Management Discipline & Operational Excellence
Lead and Improve Grant Management Practices: Ensure rigorous adherence to grant policies and compliance across the entire grant lifecycle—from pre-award to post-award delivery.
Operational Oversight: Manage day-to-day grant operations, ensuring accuracy, timeliness, and alignment with funder requirements and internal policies.
Streamline Grant Processes: Design, document, and implement standardised workflows to improve efficiency and consistency in grant management.
Compliance & Reporting: Ensure all grant-related processes meet internal and external audit and compliance requirements while supporting data integrity and accurate reporting.
Project Management Leadership & Process Standardisation
Develop Project Management Discipline: harmonise, set professional standards and share internal as well as external good practices (knowledge) around project management, ensuring these practices are robust, repeatable, and scalable.
Ensure Alignment & Consistency: Integrate and align project management methodologies with broader business operations—ensuring processes across teams are coherent and connected.
Operational Tools & Systems: Support the adoption and optimisation of project management and ERP systems (e.g., GRETA, and the introduction of the PPM tool), ensuring tools are fit-for-purpose and embedded across the organisation.
Knowledge Sharing & Community of Practice Development
Moderate the Project Management Community of Practice: Establish and maintain a vibrant Community of Practice to foster peer learning, knowledge exchange, and cross-functional collaboration.
Operational Knowledge Management: Systematise lessons learned, ensuring the continuous capture, documentation, and dissemination of best practices across project and grant management.
Centralised Tools & Templates Platform: Develop and maintain project management assets incl. guidelines, templates, good practices and training material.
Design & Deliver Learning Initiatives: Develop and deliver training sessions, guides, and toolkits to ensure consistent understanding and application of project management and grant processes.
Business Process Optimisation – Multi funder fit
Process Reengineering: contribute to the redesign and ongoing refinement of end-to-end business processes, moving beyond grant-specific workflows, incl. by identifying and implementing processimprovements to streamline operations, reduce complexity, and enhance collaboration across the organisation.
Process Clarity: Contribute to defining sequential phases and key decision points essential for successful project execution, that reflects decision makers, key accountabilities, gating factors and hand-off points.
Act as an Organisational Integrator: E nsure alignment across grant management, project delivery, and business operations—eliminating silos and fostering a connected operating system. In particular, collaborate closely with the Deal Desk, Finance, Legal, and Portfolio teams to ensure smooth handoffs and alignment across end-to-end workflows.
Support Systems & Workflows: E nsure operational systems and workflows are designed to support a diverse range of funder types and adapt to evolving funding requirements.
Key Working Relationships
Business Operations Desk Orchestrator
Business Operations Desk including Grant Management Business Partners and Deal Desk
COO and Operations Leads
The Project Management Community
The Hub, including the Transformation Lead
Requirements
ABOUT YOU
You are an experienced and systems-minded Business Operations Lead with a passion for clarity, consistency, and collaboration. You bring both strategic thinking and hands-on operational rigour, with deep knowledge of project and grant management in multi-funder, mission-driven environments.
You thrive at the intersection of people, process, and systems—able to translate complexity into practical workflows and lead cross-functional improvements that stick. You’re energised by building Communities of Practice, shaping knowledge-sharing cultures, driving accountability and embedding scalable ways of working across organisations.
You bring strong technical fluency in project delivery and process design, paired with an instinct for empowering others through training, clear guidance, and community-building. You work well independently, but naturally collaborate across disciplines—creating alignment, unlocking insights, and championing a connected operating system.
You are a confident communicator, a natural integrator, and an adaptive leader who thrives in fast-paced, evolving settings. You’re committed to learning, inclusive leadership, and systems transformation—and ready to help shape the operational foundation for Climate-KIC’s next chapter.
Qualifications, Experience & Mindset
Project Management Excellence: Significant experience leading project delivery and lifecycle management, with a track record of implementing project management disciplines and optimising delivery processes.
Knowledge Sharing & Community Building: Experience establishing Communities of Practice or leading knowledge-sharing initiatives—curating, promoting and maintaining best practices across diverse teams.
Multi-Funder Expertise: Strong understanding of project management business processes in public or non-profit organisations operating in multi-funder environments, i.e. governance, compliance, regulatory frameworks.
Systems & Process Knowledge: Proficiency in Project Portfolio Management (PPM) tools and Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems as means to support operational excellence and knowledge capitalisation.
Communication & Collaboration: Exceptional communication skills with the ability to engage stakeholders, translate complex processes, and foster collaboration across internal and external teams.
Mindset and disposition:
Curious & Proactive: Always seeking opportunities to improve processes and systems.
Collaborative Leader: Comfortable leading by influence across multiple teams and disciplines. Ability to communicate effectively, and inspire and motivate people.
Resilient & Adaptive: Thrives in uncertainty, adapts quickly, and can operate in a fast-paced, evolving environment.
Growth-Oriented: Committed to learning, experimentation, and continuous improvement.
Location
Candidates must have the right to work in the location they’re applying for (I.e. not require visa sponsorship) prior to applying for the position. Ideally, the successful candidate will be based close to one of the Climate KIC offices, but we support fully remote or hybrid forms of working and offer a high degree of flexibility.
To ensure that we can respond to every single applicant, we will close the role once we receive a reasonable pool of candidates to assess.
