Job Title: Executive Director, Urban and Rural Planning (城乡规划部执行主任)
Location: Beijing, CN
Supervised by: CEO & President

SUMMARY

Serving as a member of the extended EF China (EFC) management team (MT), Executive Director (ED), Urban and Rural Planning is expected to:

• Be a visionary, innovative and strong leader to create the future of EFC in the new circumstances collectively, a good communicator, a confident and goal-oriented executive with extensive experience in the relevant issues, who can lead the team and work with external stakeholders to ensure EFC stay relevant and in a leading position in the field.
• Lead the strategizing and execution of EFC’s organizational priorities, with deep understandings of spatial context of natural resources and positioning endowment, tracing the course of urbanization and industrialization and assessing their impacts on spatial and temporal demographic and economic/industrial distribution and the implications of energy related infrastructures and urban & rural socioeconomic development, interpreting messages of activity levels of the major economic sectors from demand sides, advising on land and urban planning to achieve the functions of cities and the major ecosystem units in a least GHG emission manner, working on buildings as technological prototypes or a whole sectors, residential communities, commercial district, and city forms, by studies, pilots and stakeholder engagement and capacity building, working towards systematic solutions for real-world issues and advancing the organizational goals.
• Demonstrate strong team spirit within and across departments, jointly build a united and supportive office.
• Lead, coordinate and support seamless and productive collaborations within and across departments to achieve strong synergies and significant impacts.
• Oversee the overall performance of the projects to ensure successful delivery of the desired results at the departmental level by taking the Monitoring Review and Evaluation (MRE) approach.
• Strengthen and cultivate trustworthy relationships with external partners.
• Serve as a strong culture ambassador of EFC to strengthen the brand and communicate the organization’s message.

The ideal candidate is a person who is a visionary and strong leader with extensive experience in the relevant field. Similar working experience in NGOs is a plus.

ESSENTIAL DUTIES & RESPONSIBILITIES

Strategy Development

• Provide inputs to the organizational strategy and participate in strategy-related MT discussion as needed.
• Lead the development and implementation of the Taskforce/Priority strategy, ensuring the alignment with organizational strategic priorities and the desired high-quality outcomes.
• Guide the development and implementation of program strategy, ensuring the alignment with EFC’s organizational strategic priorities.

Fundraising

• Cultivate new funders and resources by proactively communicating strategies and negotiating agreements in mutually beneficial ways.
• Collaborate with existing funding partners to build a coordinated approach to the work to meet organizational goals and strategies.
• Lead the preparation of concept paper and proposal for the Taskforce/Priority under Urban and Rural Planning Department
• Provide inputs and feedback to all org-level concept paper during regular update with the extended MT.
• Review and approve proposals with specified thresholds for programs under Urban and Rural Planning Department  before sending to the Strategic Partnership team.
• Support CEO/President and work collaboratively with the strategic partnership team in the fundraising processes, to foster effective communications and secure sustainable funding.

Partnership Building

• Serve as a strong culture ambassador, representing EFC externally and striving to build and maintain trustworthy relationships with partners and key stakeholders.
• Identify and cultivate valuable partnerships to maximize synergy, including partnerships with grantees, policy makers, opinion leaders, funding partners, commercial partners and other experts or leaders in the field.
• Share knowledge, expertise, critical information, and networks with partners to increase support and demonstrate shared purpose, leveraging all kinds of channels, including newsletter, meetings and conferences, informal communications.
• Provide thought leadership and/or support to partners in the field with the shared purpose of growing the field.

Budgeting and Spending

• Provide inputs in organizational budget allocation preparation, focusing on Taskforce/Priority led by the ED.
• Prepare budget allocation within the Taskforce/Priority review and approve the budget allocation of the programs led by the ED.
• Guide the preparation of Program spending plan.
• Review and approve all spending plan revision.

Grant Management

• Review and approve FIPs application, review grants application
• Ensure efficient and effective collaborations in the grant management process, delivering desired high-quality outcomes, including:
• Execute in collaboration with other EDs and other departments to ensure the implementation of Taskforce projects.
• Oversee milestones of key projects and have regular check in with Program.

Collaborations

• Mobilize the resources across the organization to support the Taskforce/Priority as well as other collaborations as needed.
• Advance organization-wide Taskforces and collaborative program strategies.
• Proactively identify opportunities for cross-sector program collaboration, and work closely with all related programs to deliver the impact.

Team Management

• Provide managerial supervision and demonstrate leadership in talent selection, on-the-job coaching, training, professional development to team members.
• Lead the evolution of all PD under the ED; provide inputs on evaluation of all other PDs.
• Share expertise and resource networks through various communication channels to foster team spirit and a learning atmosphere within the team.
• Provide support to MRE.
• Budget and manage G&A expenses for the department.
• Undertake additional tasks and responsibilities as assigned by the CEO/President.
• Back up other colleagues as needed.

This job description reflects the assignment of essential functions, it does not prescribe or restrict the tasks that may be assigned.

REQUIRED KNOWLEDGE, SKILLS & ABILITIES

• Education: Master’s degree or equivalent, preferably in a related field: energy and climate, transportation, electrical & electronic engineering, electrical power system, energy efficiency, environmental sciences and engineering.
• Working Experience: over 15 years of related working experiences; experience in energy and industrial policies, transportation, electricity, program management, program evaluation, fundraising, governmental relations, and communication strongly preferred.
• Language Level: native-level Chinese skills required; excellent command of spoken and written English, communicates in English effectively in public, with a deep understanding of Western cultures.
• Team Leadership: is able to develop direction and shared purpose, build a team with strong coaching skills, provide timely constructive criticism to team members, and support them for long-term career development.
• Strategic Thinking: is able to foresee future trends, visionary with big-picture thinking, be able to prioritize, and make trade-offs based on possible resources.
• Communication and Coordination Skills: communicate logically and articulate key messages/points with a clear structure, listen actively, sense and take care of the audience’s emotions and unspoken views, find interactions for all parties to achieve win-win and present the audience’s benefits clearly, synthesize different views to develop integrated messages.
• Problem Solving: is able to define and prioritize key issues, make analysis with logical reasoning, utilize and synergize various resources to summarize and find solutions, and determine the best solution in a holistic approach.
• Networking: the ability to develop new alliances and formal networks, mobilize external resources, and foster relationships with key stakeholders to achieve long-term mutual interest.

SUCCESS FACTORS

• Ethical Behavior/Integrity – Demonstrates principled performance and sound ethics, showing consistency among principles, values, and behaviors to build trust and credibility internally and externally.
• Broader Views for Systematic Solution – Proactively link program strategy and goals with the ones of the whole organization and other related programs, as appropriate, for cooperation and organization-wide capacity enhancement.
• Mission-driven/Initiative – Inspired by the organization's vision and mission, and takes actions with ownership, a can-do attitude, and a proactive mindset.
• Team Spirits – Collaboratively works toward solutions that benefit all involved parties; willingly cooperates with others to accomplish team/organization objectives.

Please email a cover letter and resume, with subject line "Application for Executive Director of Urban and Rural Planning", to jobs@efchina.org.