Lead Specialist, Sustainable Infrastructure and Cities

About the job

South Pole is a key partner in high-profile initiatives, including the European Commission’s NetZeroCities (NZC) mandate. We work with European cities to develop, action, and finance their Net Zero Investment Plans to reach carbon neutrality.

As our portfolio in Sustainable Infrastructure and Cities evolves, we are expanding our technical assistance and advisory offerings. In this role, you will not only provide technical assistance to cities but also play a key role in identifying new opportunities to scale our impact through both public funding schemes and direct advisory mandates for city-related infrastructure projects.

The main objective of this role is to take on responsibility for selected technical assistance (technical and financial project preparation support, business case development and financial modelling, financial structuring and investment advisory, as well as capacity building) provision to cities for their sustainable infrastructure projects to support them towards access to finance.

Depending on your expertise and the demand you will be working with a focus on climate adaptation & NbS, energy efficiency, built environment or carbon removal sector.

Thereby, you will collaborate with a broad range of public and private partners, clients, and stakeholders from the financial, infrastructure, public administration, and private sector.

This is a mid-to-senior professional role, with the potential to grow depending on mandate scope growth and follow-on mandates. You will be part of an international team of infrastructure, climate finance, and technical assistance experts within South Pole and work with a variety of consortium partners across the EU in a European flagship program to reduce emissions and increase the quality of livelihood in Cities.

Your work location must be in Switzerland till Q1/2027, with the option and interest to travel within Europe.

Main responsibilities

Provide technical and financial project preparation support for urban infrastructure projects, including business case development, financial modelling, and financial structuring to support cities in reaching asset bankability and transaction readiness.

Coordinate small teams of internal and external experts to provide expertise and prepare deliverables for the technical assistance provision to municipal sustainable infrastructure projects along the project preparation process.

Perform high-level scoping of engineering work and assessment of deliverables from technical consultancies or engineering companies.

Support development and standardisation of methodologies for selected thematic areas (e.g., Project Finance, Negative Emissions, or Climate Adaptation), to increase our long-term value and expertise.

Proactively identify and lead the development of high-quality proposals for direct advisory mandates or public grants, driving the growth of our project pipeline.

Collaborate with a broad range of public and private partners, including engineering firms and financial institutions, to ensure South Pole is the preferred technical partner for complex urban infrastructure consortia.

Work closely with South Pole’s internal Centers of Excellence (e.g., Sustainable Finance and Climate Risk) to integrate specialized technical expertise into city-level offerings.

Contribute to the capacity building of the team at South Pole and in the NZC consortium through your sector-specific expertise in infrastructure project preparation and investor engagement;

Essential profile requirements:

Master in economics, business administration, international affairs or engineering

Min. 3-5 years of hands-on experience in infrastructure project planning and/or financing with strong focus on climate mitigation and adaptation, impact investments, financial structuring and/or project finance. Alternatively, technical experience in energy efficiency/built-environment, district heating & cooling renewable energy or negative emissions is also desirable, preferably in a European context;

Proven track record in contributing to or leading successful proposals for public tenders and/or private sector consultancy mandates in the urban environment.

Prior exposure and work experience in (public) multi-stakeholder projects for which continuous alignment and coordination is necessary;

Sustained understanding and hands-on experience with the structuring/set-up of different business and financing models across one or several of the infrastructure sectors outlined;

Several years of consultancy or technical assistance experience ideally for mandates in the public sector;

Strong project management and communication skills;

Pro-active, independent, solution and customer-oriented working style;

Interested in on-the-job learning, stimulated by a challenging work environment and bringing persistence to overcome setbacks;

Technical acumen bridging the gap between deep technical expertise and strategic decision-making

Desirable profile requirements

Comprehensive understanding of financial markets, financial structuring, and investment instruments as they apply to sustainable infrastructure projects;

Comprehensive understanding of the EU public and private financing landscape, as well as public procurement processes and guidelines;

Proven experience of engagement with public and private sector financing institutions

Sustained experience working with cities or municipal utilities on infrastructure projects or similar;

Demonstrated ability to think strategically, solve complex problems, and drive results in a transactional environment;

Working proficiency in German and additional European Languages;