Manager, Energy Initiatives

The World Economic Forum is the International Organization for Public-Private Cooperation, committed to improving the state of the world. We engage the foremost leaders of society to shape global, regional, and industry agendas.

The Forum-s Centre for Energy and Materials (CENMAT) serves as the multi-stakeholder platform that enables building new leadership coalitions and delivering cutting-edge insights required for a sustainable, secure, and equitable energy future. The Centre engages leaders from the public and private sectors to deliver new insights and collaborations at the global, regional, and national levels. Through our programs and activities, CENMAT creates impact and value for constituents in business, government, and civil society.

The Forum-s CENMAT incudes the Energy Program which has several initiatives focused on accelerating the energy transition and delivering value to partners such as the Power System Transformation (PoST) initiative which aims to enable the transition to a more electrified economy.

Why we are Recruiting

The global power system is undergoing a profound transformation from centralized, one-way systems to distributed, multidirectional networks powered by clean electrons. In the move to an electrified economy, the power system, backed by clean electrons, needs to be not only larger but also designed for the future and thus smarter and more flexible. This transformation requires action across sectors including clean power providers, grid operators, digital technology and storage companies and large energy consumers including data centres, transport and industry as well as financiers. The Power System Transformation initiative and its workstreams aims to address the new paradigm, which is needed, spanning innovation, investment, policy and market design.

We are hiring a Manager, Energy Initiatives to lead the Power System Transformation initiative and the related team. This includes advancing the work underway on innovation, nuclear and grids and innovation as well as to lead the initiative team and drive further engagement with the community of stakeholders from business, government, non-profits and academics.

The objective is to drive impact and value for partners through cutting edge insight and collaborations that help stakeholders in specific regions to identify their goals, collaborations, priority investments and market design. In addition, the initiative will foster global exchanges of best-in-class models.

The successful candidate will also contribute to other activities of the Energy Program of CENMAT and over time potentially lead/manage other initiatives within this Program.

Reporting Lines & Interactions

The Manager will report to the Head of Energy within the CENMAT.

Internally, the successful candidate will work in close collaboration with colleagues within the CENMAT and across the organization including with relevant industry teams, other Centres and the Business & Government Engagement teams. This role is also part of CENMAT-s extended Leadership Team, and as such will contribute to the strategic direction and expansion of the Centre-s impact. 

Externally, the work will involve interactions with a broad range of stakeholders and partner companies. This will cover a range of sectors, and stakeholders across business, government, non-profit and academia.

Breakdown of main responsibilities

Initiative and team management

• Lead and manage the Power System Transformation initiative and its different workstreams.
• Manage the initiative team and related fellows from companies or professional firms.     
• Help relevant stakeholders drive innovation, collaborations, priority investments, and effective market design.
• Co-organize workshop and dialogues to foster knowledge exchange, setting compelling agendas and driving the work with both expert and senior level stakeholders.

Stakeholder Engagement

• Curate senior level stakeholder groups to contribute and partake in the initiative and grow the partner engagement at CEO and senior executive levels as well as government engagement.
• Establish and maintain productive relationships internally and externally at senior levels.
• Manage the knowledge partners and professional service firms supporting the initiative.
• Identify opportunities throughout the year to engage and expand participation of relevant public and private stakeholders.
• Support the organisation of Centre and Forum-s global events.
• Participate as Forum representative at highly relevant external events.

Strategy and content development:

• Oversee the development and review initiative strategy, content, papers and social media products.
• Identify related opportunities to inform policy and new insights for multistakeholder leaders.
• Contribute to the strategic direction and expansion of the Centre-s impact.
• Stay abreast of current trends and implications of key global and regional policy changes.

Preferred requirements and experience

• Advanced university degree in a relevant field.
• Solid knowledge of and experience in the energy sector, specifically regarding the power sector or electrification, acquired through around 10 or more years of industry or consulting work.
• Proven record of managing projects and engaging with diverse stakeholders delivering impact.
• Proven people management experience.
• Relevant thought leadership, including published articles or presentations in international forums or conferences, is a plus.
• Ability to work collaboratively within a multi-stakeholder environment.
• Outstanding communication skills in English, both verbal and written; other languages a plus.

Why work at the Forum:

The Forum believes that progress happens by bringing together people from all walks of life who have the drive and the influence to improve the state of the world by building awareness and cooperation, shaping mindsets and agendas, and driving collective action. Join us and become a driver for positive change!