Team Leader – Energy Transition Specialist (m/f/d)

• Provide overall strategic direction, technical leadership, and managerial oversight of the Technical Assistance Facility.
• Serve as the primary point of contact with the EU Delegation, South African counterparts, and other donors and stakeholders.
• Ensure coordination, coherence, and quality across all workstreams of the Facility, aligning with the objectives of the JET-IP and EU development cooperation frameworks.
• Oversee the preparation and delivery of project outputs and documents such as (but not limited to) including Implementation Strategy, Annual operational work plans, Rolling plans for the deployment of key and non-key experts, M&E Framework, Terms of Reference for experts, Selection of experts and Reports as well as knowledge products, and capacity-building initiatives.
• Manage and support the team of non-key experts, ensuring timely delivery and compliance with EU visibility and communication requirements.
• Ensure that cross-cutting issues such as gender equality, social inclusion, and environmental sustainability are mainstreamed throughout project activities.

Qualifications and Skills:

• At least a Master's degree in energy, climate policy, environmental sciences, economics, public administration, or a directly related field. (In the absence of a Master’s degree, a Bachelor's degree and an additional 5 years of relevant professional experience will be accepted.)
• Strong leadership, organisational, and coordination skills, particularly in multi-stakeholder and cross-sectoral environments.
• Excellent interpersonal and communication skills, with demonstrated ability to engage effectively with senior government officials, civil society, and development partners.
• Full professional proficiency in English (written and spoken); knowledge of local South African languages will be considered an asset.

General Professional Experience:

• At least 12 years of professional experience in the energy, environment, climate change, or sustainable development sectors.
• A minimum of 5 years of experience in managing or coordinating large-scale technical assistance programmes or international donor-funded projects, ideally within the context of energy transition or climate finance.
• Proven experience in team leadership, project coordination, and performance monitoring in complex, multi-stakeholder programmes.

Specific Professional Experience:

• At least 6 years of experience working directly on energy transition issues, including areas such as coal phase-out strategies, renewable energy deployment, or energy sector governance.
• Demonstrated knowledge and experience with Just Energy Transition approaches, including social inclusion, community engagement, labour reskilling, and economic diversification in carbon-intensive regions.
• Experience working in the Southern African region, with a solid understanding of national institutions, energy policy frameworks, and socio-economic development priorities.
• Advantage: Familiarity with South Africa’s Just Energy Transition Investment Plan (JET-IP), national climate commitments (e.g., NDCs), and international cooperation mechanisms. Knowledge of other Just Energy Transition Partnerships would be an asset.
• Experience implementing or managing EU-funded programmes or working under EU procedures (PRAG) will be considered a strong advantage.
• Proven ability to lead the development of deliverables such as technical reports, policy briefs, capacity-building materials, and visibility outputs.

The operational base for the project is Pretoria. The intended start date is 01/04/2026 and the project duration is 60 months.

This job is suited to a full time position.

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Your professional and personal development is important to us. At GIZ, you will be offered global work opportunities and an atmosphere that is characterised by diversity, respect and genuine equal opportunities. Gender equality promotion is a matter of course for us. Our benefits are also impressive in terms of work-life balance and family friendliness. Flexible working hours that fit your life situation, comprehensive onboarding and internal health management are an integral part of our corporate culture, along with the opportunity to use childcare facilities and parent/child offices.

GIZ is a signatory of the Diversity Charter. Recognition, appreciation and inclusion of diversity in the company are important to us. All employees shall be valued - regardless of gender and gender identity, nationality, ethnic origin, religion or belief, disability, social background, age or sexual orientation.

We support equal opportunities and welcome applications from people with disabilities.