Consultant -Urban Hub, Climate, Resilience, and Sustainability (CRS)

The Urban Hub team within the Climate, Resilience, and Sustainability (CRS) practice at Oxford Policy Management is currently seeking a Consultant on a fixed-term basis. The position will be located in OPM India.

We are an international development consultancy working to improve lives through sustainable policy change in low- and middle-income countries. Our vision is for fair public policy that benefits both people and the planet.

Through our global network of offices, we work in partnership with national stakeholders and decision-makers to research, design, implement, and evaluate impactful public policy. We draw on our local and international sector experts to provide the very best evidence-based support. We deliver projects with expert knowledge and experience and can be relied upon for excellence in all aspects of project delivery. We work collaboratively, with ambition, to help deliver impactful public policy that will bring about lasting change.

Primary Purpose/Key Objectives of the Job

The primary purpose of this position is to lead and/or support projects and tenders for the Urban Hub within the CRS practice.

Thematic Expertise

Contribute to technical delivery across multiple areas under the Urban Hub, including urban planning and policy, urban resilience, transport, sustainable urbanization, urban finance, access to basic services, and housing and informal settlements.

Work on a range of technical areas related to climate change, collaborating with other technical areas in the practice (energy, disaster risk, climate policy and finance, nature and environment) and other OPM practices like governance and MEL.

Experience in Monitoring, Evaluation, and Learning (MEL) is required, specifically in designing Theories of Change, Results Frameworks, and evaluations, preferably in the urban sector.

Role Description

Lead/manage small projects and contribute to large, complex projects with a focus on impact through technical, program management, and people skills.

Business development will constitute about 30% of the role, involving bid leadership, forming partnerships, and ensuring commercial viability.

Emphasis on analysis and writing, with responsibilities as the lead author of various technical and research projects.

Develop senior external relationships in India to identify opportunities for OPM to win work and have an impact.

Specific Responsibilities

Develop, support, and promote OPM’s work on urban resilience to build future work, deliver existing projects, and contribute to OPM’s internal learning.

Manage and deliver technical work on urban issues, including research, facilitating workshops, capacity training, government partnerships, data analysis, evaluation, and report writing.

Represent OPM externally in India, managing relationships, networking, and providing advice on climate policy and finance.

Oversee and manage small teams of technical experts, ensuring programme inputs and deliverables are on time and meet quality standards.

Engage across relevant OPM teams to develop and deliver opportunity pipelines for key clients.

Build and maintain strong external networks in India and beyond, aligning with OPM’s values and expanding our influence through external reports and publications.

Qualifications & Experience

Master’s or other post-graduate University qualification in relevant disciplines such as urban planning, design, or development.

Substantial work experience in urban resilience, urban policy advisory, urban finance, access to basic services, housing, and informal settlements.

Experience in Monitoring and Evaluation, especially designing evaluations.

Work experience in India, ideally within a consulting firm, NGO, think-tank, multilateral, or government agency.

Proven ability to work across a range of technical areas, given the cross-cutting nature of urban issues.

Consulting Skills:

Excellent and proven writing skills, with experience as a lead author of published papers and reports.

Strong bidding and proposal management skills, with the ability to preposition for impactful projects and develop winning bid strategies.

Experience in project planning, budget management, and risk management.

Experience in external representation with partners, donors, and other experts.

Sound decision-making skills, evaluating technical and commercial information to provide clear project direction.

Personal Attributes:

Effective communication with colleagues and clients, both verbally and in writing.

Excellent problem-solving, organisational, and management skills.

Ability to switch between attention to detail and the bigger picture, providing solutions with a joined-up approach.

Strong prioritisation skills in managing changing demands while consistently delivering quality work.

Outstanding interpersonal and communication skills, with a collaborative and constructive approach to working with others.

Our Offer

• We enable colleagues’ capacity to grow professionally through enhanced learning resources, opportunities to work cross functionally, and space to engage with a range of internal and external industry events.
• Our non-hierarchical culture values support, collaboration, intellectual curiosity, and a rich diversity of perspectives.
• We provide an exceptionally generous annual leave entitlement and a hybrid working model to encourage and enable healthy work/life balance.
• Wellbeing resources including a global Employee Assistance Programme and access to the UnMind app.
• Competitive salary and contributory pension scheme.

We are strengthened by the diversity of colleagues across our global business and are committed to being an equal opportunities employer, promoting a diverse and inclusive workplace for all. 

Our recruitment practices reflect our ambition to make the international development sector more inclusive and firm belief that our work delivers the best outcomes when we actively include a diversity of perspectives and experiences. 

If you share our vision for fair public policy that benefits both people and planet, we would love to hear from you. 

Application

Please submit your application through our careers’ site. We review and interview applicants on a rolling basis and encourage you to apply by way of CV via our careers site at the earliest.  We may close this advertisement before the published closing date, should a suitable candidate be identified.

Unfortunately, we are unable to provide visa sponsorship for this role and candidates must have a pre-existing right to work in country for their application to be considered.

Oxford Policy Management is committed to promoting equity, diversity, and inclusion at every level of the business.  Should you require adjustments to make the application process more accessible please contact us via: recruitment@opml.co.uk