About us: 

Established in 2021, Opportunity Green is a fast-growing not-for-profit organisation that helps to identify and unlock opportunities to tackle climate change. We build ambitious coalitions, support climate vulnerable countries in international negotiations and find innovative legal pathways to emissions reductions. We are now looking for an early career legal professional to join our small but impactful legal team. 

What’s the role? 

As Legal Officer, you will report to Opportunity Green’s Legal Director. You will be joining a team that is working on legal actions relating to the aviation, buildings, shipping and steel industries in the UK, EU, the international level and beyond. While your work will be focused initially on one of these areas, as a team we often work together to deliver cross-sectoral legal actions as well. Our goal is to leverage our legal skills to spot strategic opportunities in the sectors we work on that we can use to help stop climate change.  

You will be supporting the implementation of a series of strategic legal actions that we have developed relating to the buildings sector in Europe, working with other NGO partners to accelerate the decarbonisation of Europe’s homes. You may also provide legal analysis to other NGO partners and obtain technical and policy insight from them.  Initially, you will likely focus on the following areas (non-exhaustive): 

• Consumer law and greenwashing 

• Corporate accountability 

• EU regulation  

Our legal team is already achieving an outsized impact with a great team spirit. We are looking for someone who is analytical and organized, but who is also a people person with great communication skills, a collaborative approach and a passion for fighting climate change. Likely an early career legal professional, you will be willing to play a supporting role to colleagues, but we hope that in time and with full support you will be able to take a leading role in your work area.  Opportunity Green is a young, growing organization so you will likely also be involved in supporting other aspects of work, such as contributing to funding proposals, developing campaign strategy, writing blogs and taking part in our organisation-wide committees.  

You will have: 

• A law degree (Bachelor or Master) or equivalent experience, and preferably some knowledge of climate/environmental law. 

• Passion for stopping climate change and an interest in using the law as a lever for systemic change.  

• Experience of writing high-quality legal analysis and reports, with excellent attention to detail. 

• Ability to think strategically and creatively about problems and to logically tackle them by referring to various legal principles or ideas. 

• Ability to multitask and a willingness to take on numerous responsibilities. 

• Excellent time management, an ability to meet deadlines, logically tackle problems, set priorities and communicate on each. 

• Enough discipline to deliver excellent outcomes in a timely manner while working remotely. 

• Ability to interact with people from around the world with kindness and respect. 

• A high level of self-motivation and commitment to Opportunity Green’s values, ethos and purpose. 

Diversity and inclusion: 

Diversity and inclusion are important principles at Opportunity Green. We believe that diversity and inclusion make teams stronger and more effective. We are committed to fair and equitable employment practices and we are striving to ensure that a variety of voices and experiences are included in our organisation. Our commitment to diversity and our parental leave policy are available to view on our website, here. 

We will consider all applicants who meet most or all of the essential competencies regardless of their identity or background. That said, we know that diverse candidates may be reluctant to apply for jobs where they don’t meet 100% of the criteria outlined in the job description. We encourage anyone to apply who can demonstrate the variety of skills and experiences relevant to meeting the requirements of this role.  

We recognise that many diverse experiences and perspectives are not represented in our current workforce, and are seriously underrepresented across the non-profit sector in general, and as such, we particularly welcome applications from people with disabilities, people of colour, people from marginalised backgrounds, and members of the LGBTQIA+ communities. We will use positive action under the Equality Act 2010 to appoint from these groups if two candidates are equally qualified. We also value flexible working and are open to those who would want to work part-time in this role.  

What we offer 

We take our team’s well-being and professional development seriously. We offer:  

• Fixed salary scales, with the possibility of step increases with strong performance. When hiring we always hire at the bottom of a band and do not enter negotiations with new employees, as negotiations have been historically shown to disadvantage women and minorities.  

• A market-leading pension of 10% employer-contribution. 

• A progressive parental leave policy, including 3 months’ paid leave (whether you are a soon-to-be mum or dad of a biological, surrogate or adopted child). 

• Lots of flexibility within a hybrid working arrangement, with regular opportunities to come together as a team, or an office in London if you wish to work from there.  

• Support for your professional development as part of Opportunity Green, with a budget to support your learning & development plus opportunities to lead projects, publish content, work directly with policymakers and stakeholders, and take part in conferences and events. 

• A true commitment to work/life balance, with generous holidays and the expectation that you fully disconnect while taking them.  We are a 4-day, 28-hours a week employer with Friday as our non-working day. 

• 20 days’ holiday per year plus bank holidays and office closure that does not count towards your holiday entitlement between Christmas and New Year’s. 

How to apply: 

Please submit a:

• CV; and

• Answer the questions attached to the application

To minimise the risk of unconscious bias, we ask that applicants remove the following from their CV: 

• Photos 

• Name – if needed, please use ‘applicant’ 

• Age 

Please note that if you do not follow these instructions to adequately anonymise your CV and application we reserve the right to remove your application from our recruitment process.   

Unfortunately, if you do not already hold the right to work in the UK and/or require sponsorship to continue working in the UK, OG will not be able to consider your application at this time.  

The closing date for applications is Wednesday 29 November at 9:00am UK time. Unfortunately, due to the expected volume of applications, you will only receive a response if you are selected for an interview.  

What happens next? 

Shortlisted candidates will be invited for an online peer interview to discuss their experience and suitability for the role. After this, candidates that are most suitable for the vacancy will be invited for an in person interview in our London office, for which there may also be a short task. Travel will be reimbursed for non-London-based applicants.  

Online interviews are likely to take place w/c 11 December. In person interviews will likely take place w/c 18 December.