Climate and Earth Observation Officer

Climate-KIC is hiring a Climate and Earth Observation Officer for a 12-month contract, potentially extendable. The role is part of the Resilient and Climate Neutral Regions team, focusing on utilizing Earth Observation data for climate action. The position offers flexibility and encourages diverse applicants. Although the job is based in Belgium, Netherlands, or the UK, it is open to remote work from anywhere.
Job Title: Climate and Earth Observation Officer

Team: Resilient and Climate Neutral Regions

Contract: 12 months contract (with possibility to extend)

Level: Intermediate
Please refer to our Capability Framework
Location: Belgium, Netherlands, 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 employees 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 all 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, entrusted by the European Commission to catalyse transformation through innovation. Headquartered in Amsterdam, with circa 160 people distributed all over the EU, Climate-KIC leads and orchestrates innovation with a community of more than 400. Together we conduct activities in 39 countries. We partner with cities, regions, governments and communities with the highest climate action ambition; providing the framework and expert support to holistically manage the complexity of climate change and deliver accelerated climate action.

Climate-KIC operates as a not-for-profit platform working through public-private partnership, wielding both public and private funding. We consist of 3 Legal entities: a Dutch BV Holding company (for profit) with 14 branches in European jurisdictions, providing grant management, innovation orchestration services, and impact investment advisory owned by a Dutch-based foundation with charity status – Climate-KIC International Foundation. Historically, we have been funded by our founder and core funder, the European Institute for Innovation and Technology (EIT), but we are currently transitioning to a multi-funder model.

ABOUT THE TEAM

Climate KIC (CKIC)’s Earth Observation Team is focused on supporting the uptake of Copernicus and other relevant data, while promoting their use in climate mitigation and adaptation actions. Our team collaborates with a range of stakeholders, including public authorities, to demonstrate the value of Earth Observation and other data in enhancing their climate readiness. We provide tools that enable evidence-based decision making and monitoring. This work supports CKIC’s efforts to implement a systemic approach to tackling climate change and advocating for this approach within the wider community.

Our portfolio of ongoing projects includes: VALORADA, Climateurope2, PCP-WISE, and service contracts with ECMWF and EU agencies, and will soon expand further.

Currently we are working on:
• Capacity building around identifying and corresponding to data and climate needs
• Integration of EO data into policymaking and policy monitoring
• Integration of EO data into AI, digital twins and similar decision-supporting tools
• Support the broad uptake of project results (making sure that what is developed in the projects will be used by external stakeholders and be built on for future applications and/or will reach the market)

ABOUT YOU

The successful candidate would be passionate about, and committed to, supporting climate change mitigation and adaptation efforts, as well as using geo-information as an effective tool to tackle its effects. They will be involved in supporting the delivery of the current projects and the further development of the team and would have the ambition to learn, grow, and develop within and with the team.

Key Working Relationships

The successful candidate will work with the rest of CKIC’s Earth Observation team to deliver on projects and contribute to achieving the team’s objectives within the Climate Neutral and Resilient Regions cluster.

Key Responsibilities
• Support the delivery of existing contracts/projects by writing deliverables, executing tasks, participating in project meetings both online and in-person, including proposing and creating content and managing your own workload
• Support stakeholder engagement, networking and business development efforts – e.g. through communication campaigns and attending conferences/networking events or travelling for in-person stakeholder engagements
• Support the design and delivery of capacity-building activities related to Earth Observation data and its use in climate mitigation and adaptation actions, by tailoring them to meet the specific needs of stakeholders and ensure that they are effective in building capacity
• Contribute to the development of adaptation indicators
• Monitor EU project schedules, budgets, and resources
• Representing the team and the organisation in online and in-person meetings
• Supporting the team’s business development through, e.g. proposal writing
• Supporting the identification, definition and development of new services and products

Required experience and skills
• 2-5 years of working experience with EU-funded projects, the Copernicus programme, climate adaptation, climate services, or related
• Strong background, ideally in the fields of Geography, Geoinformation, Earth Observation or Earth and Environmental Sciences, Data science, or Economics
• Detailed knowledge and understanding of the technical aspects of EO data (needs, availability, formats, integration, tools) to be able to assess external expertise based on an understanding of climate action needs
• Good knowledge of the Copernicus programme, data and its ecosystem
• Good knowledge of European policies and funding instruments related to earth observation
• Previous experience in project management, including foreseeing and managing risks, timelines, budget and deliverables
• Proactive and solution-oriented mindset: active interest and commitment to learning and applying new approaches/methods
• Ability to work independently and in remote environment – good time-management skills, ability to plan, manage and prioritise a varied workload independently
• Collaborative team-player able to work effectively with a remote team
• Excellent interpersonal and communication skills (written and oral)
• Experience working with collaborative IT applications (we use Office365 / Sharepoint, Forms, Microsoft Teams; Salesforce CRM, Canva, Miro, etc.)
• Willingness to travel for project and company-related events (indicatively up to 6-10 times per year)
• Fluency in English

Other desirable experience and knowledge requirements
• Good knowledge of the European Earth Observation/climate service market
• Project management skills and experience
• Familiarity with systems thinking and systemic approaches
• Knowledge of another European language(s)
• Experience working with different cultures

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 EIT 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.