About Us

In a context of climate breakdown and increasing social polarisation, Dark Matter Labs focuses on accelerating societal transition towards a more caring, equitable and regenerative future Our daily work ranges from policy and regulation to finance and data, from governance and democratic participation to organisational culture and identity. You can think of it as the boring revolution or working to build the foundational layer for the transition.

We organise our work around what this transition needs, and the things we want to see in the world. To keep that transparent, we undertake open work in collaborative partnerships to provoke alternative visions of the future, designing how they might look in practice, and experimenting in context to reveal how they could work and enable the necessary change. More about us here.

About this role

As the NZC Public Finance Innovation Lead, you will play a pivotal role in the NetZeroCities initiative, part of the EU Mission for 100 Climate Neutral and Smart Cities by 2030. Your mission is to catalyse systemic innovation in cities, also supporting collaborations such as with Viable Cities in Sweden to build system demonstrators.

Your quest is to design and implement practical finance pathways and tools vital for cities to transition towards an equitable and sustainable future. This role calls for a blend of creativity and expertise in public finance, with a passion for exploring new financial and investment pathways across Europe. These mechanisms should empower cities and their partners to accelerate their journey to climate neutrality. 

In this role, your focus will be divided into the following key areas:

Research and Analysis (40%):

• Conduct foundational research across the 112 cities of the EU 100 Climate-Neutral and Smart Cities Mission.

• Understand diverse financial landscapes and define city-specific needs.

• Map out innovative opportunities  to address financial challenges.

• Analyse current transition finance practices in local governments and identify potential areas for improvement and innovation.

Strategy Development (30%):

• Develop strategies to integrate climate and just transition considerations into municipal financial planning.

• Adapt and test new investment frameworks, transition business plans and strategies to bring in new finance.

• Work on policy recommendations and strategic planning for sustainable urban finance.

Capacity Building (20%):

• Translate complex financial concepts into accessible formats for teams across local government (whether finance specialists, urban strategists, elected officials or individuals with other backgrounds).

• Conduct workshops and training sessions to support local governments teams in developing innovative finance strategies for the transition to climate-neutrality  

• Create and disseminate accessible, inspiring and practical materials and resources on transition  finance.

Network Building (10%):

• Forge and nurture relationships across the public finance sector and with various stakeholders.

• Participate in and contribute to forums, conferences, and networks relevant to public finance innovation.

• Collaborate with partners to share learnings and amplify the impact of financial innovations.
  

Your efforts will span a number of Dark Matter Labs' missions, including City Transitions, Capital Systems, Public Finance Innovation, and the Next Economy. 

The ultimate goal is to create a portfolio of existing and new approaches that cities and their partners can leverage to accelerate their green transition, focusing initially on NetZeroCities, implementing the EU Climate Neutral and Smart Cities Mission, and our partnership with Viable Cities in Sweden. You will also share learnings and practices beyond our organisational boundaries, developing relationships with partners who can amplify the impact in this domain.

You might thrive in this role if

• You have a deep understanding of municipal finance: Your experience with city administrations has given you insight into the intricacies of public finance. You're brilliant  at identifying areas for improvement and innovation within existing financial systems and practices.

• You're a strategic innovator: You can seamlessly bridge the gap between high-level financial concepts and actionable strategies. Your background in economics, finance, or accounting is coupled with a drive to develop practical, transformative solutions that address the evolving needs of cities transitioning to sustainability.

• You excel in knowledge sharing and capacity building: Your ability to articulate complex ideas in an accessible way makes you a natural educator. You enjoy guiding cities and their partners through new financial landscapes, enhancing their understanding and capabilities.

• You're skilled in collaboration and network building: Your work in multi-stakeholder environments has honed your ability to foster trust, strong relationships and build effective networks. You understand the importance of collaborative efforts in creating impactful change in public finance.

• Adaptable and eager for new challenges: You're quick to learn and thrive in dynamic settings, eagerly tackling new challenges and contributing innovative ideas.

• Driven by mission and curiosity: Your passion for uncharted territories in public finance is matched by your desire to make a tangible difference in cities' transitions to a more equitable and sustainable future.

Who you might work closely with

• Our internal NZC team at DML: Marcial, who knows Pilot Cities’ work inside-out; David, Mike and Simon who harness their systems innovation expertise daily to support cities; Joost and Eugénie, who ensure that NZC’s diverse programmes flow the most effectively to deliver the EU’s Cities Mission; Anette, who works closely with the Swedish initiative Viable Cities supporting the system demonstrator cities.

• You will be supported by Emily, our Finance & Economic Innovation Lead, to ensure that knowledge flows freely between different teams at Dark Matter who are working on finance and economic innovation. She will also work with you to scope and build prototypes of new financial tools (for example, mixed beneficiary business cases). 

How we work

We're a multi-disciplinary and distributed team based around the globe. What's important to us is using the context and local conditions of projects to grow our knowledge and use it to iterate our knowledge and practice across all of our work. We pride ourselves on learning, experimentation and intuition, and look to provide members of the team ways in which they can grow their own knowledge and practice. We view projects, processes and how we work as an evolving design that you would be part of shaping.

Here's a little on how we currently organise:

• We all work remotely, with flexible working hours around schedules (most people do main hours between 9-6).

• We work as dynamic hierarchies. We don’t organise through fixed line managers or fixed JDs but through teams and circles - we have different areas of expertise and focus and we pick up and shed roles as required. This requires good communication, high emotional intelligence and levels of trust.

• We run on a series of digital tools that we use daily to coordinate, learn and govern together (Slack, Notion, GSuite, Miro among them)

• We're organised in multidisciplinary working groups that span mission, deep codes, projects, orgdev and operations. Each working group is flexible and spans a series of projects to form a portfolio work.

• This setup allows us to be a platform organisation and to nurture and grow ideas the team are passionate about and believe are needed, and align advance our core values and mission,

• In time and experience, we invite everyone to grow our portfolio of work as a way to grow our collective skills, knowledge, and ideas – this is an invitation, not an obligation.

You will be supported by the wider Dark Matter Labs team (currently circa 60 around the globe) and connect with them remotely on a day-to-day basis. We also engage regularly for joint learning and development which include:

• DM downloads – a regular meet up (usually online) to share learning across key areas of our work.

• Whole team StandUps - a chance to collectively reflect on what we are learning, how we are showing up and what we are sensing

• Personal development and learning sessions - org-wide sessions for us to take leadership in our own personal development; including building our muscles of self-reflection and the characteristics required for trust.

• Virtual, hybrid and face-to-face gatherings

Your background

Reflect on your professional journey and consider how it aligns with the pivotal responsibilities of the NZC Public Finance Innovation Lead:

• Public Finance Expertise: You have significant experience in public finance, particularly within local government contexts. This includes a deep understanding of the public sector's complexities and the ability to identify opportunities for innovative financial strategies that reshape financial practices towards green and just cities.

• Innovative Finance: Demonstrated experience in developing and implementing creative and effective financial strategies. Your approach is characterised by a blend of innovation and practicality, driving transformative solutions for urban sustainability.

• Research and Analytical Prowess: Strong capabilities in conducting thorough research and insightful analysis of financial systems. You're skilled at uncovering new opportunities, identifying potential solutions, and setting the stage for strategic financial innovations.

• Effective Communication Skills: Proficiency in making complex financial concepts understandable and engaging for various audiences, including those without a finance background. Your communication skills are key to capacity building in the city  landscape.

• Collaboration and Networking Abilities: Proven ability to build and maintain strong, diverse relationships. Your experience in collaborative environments is essential for fostering a conducive ecosystem for financial innovation and effective stakeholder engagement.

• Adaptability and Problem-Solving Skills: Comfort and effectiveness in dynamic, evolving environments is crucial. Your adaptability and creative problem-solving abilities are indispensable to navigate the challenges of this role and maintain the momentum of the mission.

• Strategic Vision and Planning: A forward-thinking mindset and strategic planning skills are essential. You are adept at shaping the future of public finance in alignment with sustainable urban development goals.

Some areas of experience that might make the learning curve easier (but are not strictly essential) are:

• Multi-Stakeholder Project Management: Experience in managing complex projects involving multiple stakeholders is highly valued, as it enhances your ability to handle the role's diverse aspects.

• Familiarity with Local Government  Operations: Knowledge of local government  operations, particularly in relation to climate transition, provides valuable context for your financial strategies.

• Innovative Finance Strategy Development: A background in developing new financial strategies enriches your skill set and is beneficial for tackling the unique challenges of this role.

We highly value lived experience as a form of expertise and we consider having a broad and diverse range of lived experience within the team, as being critical for us to be able to do our best possible work together and to create a range of spaces and accommodate a broad spectrum of life experience into our planetary team.

Dark Matter Labs continues to educate, question and critically review ourselves on how we can improve. We recognise and celebrate the true value of a safe and accepting working environment that - among other things - a diverse team with distributed power can unlock, and work to address our underlying biases and power structures that can prevent that from materialising.

This type of work requires the willingness to work on yourself, your relationships with power, the assumptions and experiences that influence how you think, and more.*

*We recognise that our work deals with some existential questions and content that can be triggering. We have a team focused on the team's mental health and personal development and we continue to incrementally build the necessary psychological infrastructures for this work.

We know that there is more that we can do to make this recruitment more accessible, particularly if you have experienced exclusion, disadvantage or discrimination, or if you have particular accessibility needs. We would be happy to provide any further support that you may require - please get in touch so that we can work together to provide that.

Pay

Our approach to pay is not based on favouring one skill over another or rewarding hierarchical power dynamics. Instead, we recognize that everyone possesses unique and exceptional skills, and we remove the process of valuing and comparing them. This allows us to focus on unleashing those skills in diverse ways based on the specific context. It gives us the freedom to determine, assign, and assess roles based on what is most suitable for each situation, rather than being constrained by predefined roles tied to compensation.

As a result, our pay is designed not to reward people for tasks done, but to cover living costs so that we are freed to create what we believe is needed in the world. 

Our current base pay for everyone on the team is:
Formula = (((Years experience + 23) (+ 8.82 for freelancers)) *1000) = gross pro rata pay in GBP.

Years experience includes all experience after school completion age (18) - inc work, education, unpaid work (care, volunteering, etc).

We recognise that no formula that tries to do this can fully account for the unique contexts of every person. Therefore we also have a rebalancing process in place to accommodate individual circumstances.

We have recently put in place a range of benefits support across the team, including coaching, learning funds, sabbatical and secondment support, learning funds, workspace funds and more. These were set collectively by the team and vary according to statutory provisions in different geographies - we’ll be happy to confirm the relevant approach for your geography and contract type.

Our holiday policy is a minimum of 28 days/year pro-rata, but we encourage you to take all of the time that you need to properly rest.