Salary: INR 24,00,000 - 32,50,000 pro rata, per annum

Hours: 37.5 hours per week (5 days a week) excluding lunch breaks

Contract: This is a two-year fixed term contract, with the possibility of renewal. The initial contract will end 24 months after its start unless already terminated by either party prior to that date

Location: Mumbai, India with the possibility of remote work in India. Candidates must have a valid right to work in the country you are applying. This is a remote role with regular office working at least once per month or as needed for priority internal and external meetings.

Benefits: various opportunities for flexible working, generous time off policies, and other sector-competitive benefits.

About Forum for the Future

Forum for the Future, one of the world’s leading international sustainability non-profits, works to create a just and regenerative future. We have a 27-year track record in influencing change on the issues that matter most. We inspire change-actors to step up their ambition, stretch their vision and find pathways that are systemic, strategic and capable of tackling the root causes of our current crises.   

We focus on influencing three pivotal transitions: to renewable energy, to a sustainable food system, and in the purpose of business. We have partnerships with influential organisations in business, civil society, government and philanthropy and drive national and international multi-stakeholder projects from four offices: North America, UK/Europe, India and Southeast Asia.

About the team

We are a multicultural team of 80 people, with offices in London, Mumbai, New York, and Singapore. 

As Principal Strategist - Energy Transition, you will primarily contribute to our work in India and will work closely with people based in our India and Southeast Asia teams. We expect you to have an in-depth understanding of energy transition space in India including various aspects such as clean energy finance and investment, ESG mechanisms, policy and land-use. 

You will work as part of our programmatic team that is contributing to driving an ecologically safe and socially just energy transition in India and Southeast Asia. 

About the role

Forum is at an exciting time in our evolution, offering opportunities for unprecedented impact.  We updated our strategy during 2022, with the new strategy for 2023 – 2025 now moving into the implementation phase.

We believe that the energy system is at a pivotal crossroads. Its transition will either be deep, deliberate and urgent, tackling the root causes of the challenges we face today in producing and using energy. Or it will fall short, with ‘solutions’ addressing specific problems in isolation, going neither far enough or fast enough, while simultaneously risking unintended consequences. Forum’s ambition is to drive a socially just and ecologically safe transition to a renewable energy system that works for people and the planet. 

In this role, you will be responsible for implementing, shaping and adapting Forum’s strategy for impact of energy transition in India - from development and design to implementation and monitoring major system change projects - to deeply engaging a wider range of stakeholders. To be successful in this role, you need significant programmatic experience and fabulous team-working skills, combined with the ability to form strong relationships with a range of actors (corporates, investors, public agencies).

You will also lead various functions of our flagship programme the Responsible Energy Initiative, which is working to shape a just transition to renewable energy in India and Southeast Asia.

About you

To succeed in this role you should have:

• A passion for contributing to driving an ecologically safe and socially just transition.

• A high ambition for what the energy transition needs to look like; and a transformed future that it will contribute to.

• An in-depth understanding of the renewable energy landscape in India, with expertise in one or more areas including clean energy finance and investment, market, ESG mechanisms, decision making across RE deployment and land-use.

• The ability to form deep, strong relationships with, and experience of working with a range of different actors across different levels, particularly private sector, investors, public agencies in the renewable energy sector.

• A flair for collaborative leadership and ways of working.

• Experience in and contributed to the shaping of an ambitious strategy and subsequent implementation, with a focus on impact. This will require strong analytical skills, practice in applied system thinking, design and system change tools such as Futures.

• Desired - a deep understanding of the impact of clean energy transition on communities, workforce and biodiversity. Experience in directly working with traditionally marginalised communities. 

• Desired - ability to design system change interventions that center equity and justice.

And to further thrive in this role you will need to:

• Be effective at highly distributed and networked ways of working, and skilled at using digital platforms

• Enjoy working with people from different cultures and across geographies and your preferred ways of working are embodied by Forum’s values

• Be an effective communicator, writer, presenter and speaker able to engage effectively with different audiences and clearly communicate complex energy system and sustainability information to non-expert audiences in a way that compels action.

If you do not meet all of the requirements outlined in the job description but still believe you have the right mix of skills and experience to thrive in this role and further Forum’s ambitious goals for change, we encourage you to apply.

In return, we offer a unique opportunity to be at the forefront of systems thinking and change making, continually learning and experimenting to identify how we deliver the most impact working in a collaborative multi-cultural team environment.

Forum for the Future works in a space of complexity where there are no easy answers – an ideal candidate will be comfortable with uncertainty and be able to hold space for exploration and innovation. Resilience is a key personal attribute that is necessary to the role.

Our work environment

We believe in being courageous, adaptive, inquisitive, respectful, empathetic and playful. You can read more about our organisational values here. These values help build our common culture, shape our shared purpose and guide us in all actions and decisions.  We are inspired by the world in which we live and those with whom we share it and seek to act justly in all we do.

We enjoy working in teams, collaborating, and learning from each other. We are a dynamic, flexible and supportive team of people who care about each other’s wellbeing and the world around us.

At Forum, we aspire to foster positive team spirit and to provide the best possible working environment for all our staff; one that is based on the highest standards of ethics, honesty, integrity, openness and transparency. We work as a close knit, dynamic, and supportive team. We offer various opportunities for flexible working to help you manage your work life balance.

We are an inclusive organisation that encourages applications from across our diverse communities. We’re committed to building a team of capable and thriving people from all walks of life. 

If this role interests and excites you, we would love to hear from you! 

Together we can reinvent the way the world works.

Application process

To find out more about this vacancy, please download and read the full job. description.

Job description

Application deadline is 11.59pm IST, 11 June 2023

We use the Applied platform because it is designed to reduce bias in our recruitment process. To apply for this job, we ask you to answer a few work-based questions. Please therefore read the application questions carefully and answer them in the space provided (250 words) to clearly demonstrate your understanding of the role, and how your skills and experience will enable you to thrive and deliver in this post in Forum for the Future

The Applied platform includes instructions on how to use the portal. Once you start your application you will be presented with a dashboard which helps you to track your progress and reminds you of the closing date for the application. As you complete sections you can draft and save your responses to review and submit when you are ready to (as long as you’re within our required application deadline).

Please note:

Some of the personal data you provide to Applied when you apply for a role with Forum for the Future will be passed on to us for the purposes of (a) reviewing your application; (b) inviting you for interview; and/or (c) offering you a job and getting you set up as an employee. For full details on how we collect and use your personal data please visit our privacy notice here.

If your application is not successful, any personal data provided to us by Applied (including any personal data relating to equal opportunities monitoring as set out above) will be retained by Forum for the Future for no longer than 12 months after the application deadline has passed, at which point your personal data will be securely deleted. We only keep your information for that period in order to allow us to comply with relevant legal obligations.

Please note:

If you do not already hold the right to work in the respective countries and/or require sponsorship in order to continue working in the country, you should think carefully before applying. This is because we will be unable to sponsor you.

Equal Opportunities

Forum for the Future wholeheartedly supports the principle of equal opportunities in employment. We promote and support equality, diversity and inclusion both in our own workplace and through our work with our partners and the wider public.  We actively support and promote diversity as an essential component of sustainability, and as a key element of our organisational values.  We oppose all forms of unlawful or unfair discrimination on the grounds of colour, race, nationality, ethnic or national origin, gender, marital status, sexual orientation, age, disability, caste, religion or belief. We encourage applications from under-represented groups, including those who identify as disabled, LGBTQ, ethnic minorities, and come from diverse social and educational backgrounds.