Program Director, Climate Finance

The Opportunity

Rainier is now building a world class team in Bellevue, Washington. This includes 7 Program Directors, each of whom will oversee grantmaking portfolios across various climate sectors and cross-cutting approaches, which may shift over time, but currently include:

• Climate Finance
• Forests / Land Use
• Clean Energy
• Transportation / Oil
• Industry
• Buildings
• Strategic Communications

Working in close partnership with the President, and alongside the Co-founders, who collectively have decades of philanthropic experience and insights, the Program Directors will be instrumental in operationalizing Rainier’s ambitious grantmaking objectives in the coming years and will help to further define its vision and strategy for innovative and urgent action in the climate sector.

Initially reporting to the President, this particular Program Director role will focus on grantmaking in the area of climate finance in the U.S. and globally with the ambitious aim of addressing climate change by accelerating the transition to a low carbon economy. Sufficient capital exists to allow the world to pursue low-carbon development. However, current levels of private and public investment in climate and clean energy projects fall short. The Program Director will seek out macro-opportunities to redirect finance from high- to low-carbon activities and help shape the parameters within which private markets can allocate resources – significantly shifting to or scaling up low carbon investments. A key component to this work will include assessing climate finance flows, identifying ways to lower the cost and risk of low carbon investment for capital markets and private actors to engage, funding demonstrations to showcase upside, and supporting innovations in the finance sector to address investor requirements for clean energy and climate-aligned projects.

Key Responsibilities for Program Director

Portfolio Management

• Lead the development and implementation of a grants portfolio focused on climate finance and market-based strategies. Conduct extensive research and rigorous due diligence to identify gaps in the philanthropic landscape, including quantitative evaluation of national and international climate finance mechanisms as well as climate and energy policies.
• Lead the development and assessment of grantmaking strategies by identifying promising grant concepts, including proposing and implementing innovative, high-risk/high-return strategies, taking into account issues such as the governance of international funds and the design of climate finance and carbon pricing instruments that effectively align public and private interests.
• Provide critical analysis of project strengths, weaknesses and risks, presenting grant ideas for review, and working with potential grant recipients to improve the clarity and quality of their grant proposals and documentation.

External Engagement

• Identify and establish the necessary partnerships with finance, policy, corporate, and philanthropic sectors that together can help develop and support a portfolio of high-impact climate finance grants.
• Stay current on emerging issues, trends, and interventions related to finance and market-based solutions to climate change and clean energy in order to advise Rainier on effective strategies to advance climate mitigation.
• Convene meetings of external stakeholders, including with grant recipients, subject matter experts, government representatives, co-funders, and others in order to explore, compare, and coordinate strategies whenever possible.

Strategic Learning & Assessment

• Contribute to building Rainier’s learning and impact assessment framework, ensuring that grantmaking strategies and approaches are creating meaningful impact and the organization is learning from its successes and failures in order to continuously improve.
• Use data and knowledge gathered in the field to advise on trends, movements, and policy developments related to climate and clean energy.
• Manage external relationships with other funders, advisors, and grant recipients to facilitate the exchange of information, maximize lessons learned, and foster cross-organization collaboration.
• Help plan and facilitate learning opportunities for grant recipients, as well as develop progress indicators with grant recipients to monitor and track the impact of projects funded.

Management & Organizational Leadership

• Contribute to efforts to develop, implement, and assess organizational structures, systems, and processes in order to ensure effective and efficient use of both internal and external resources.
• Provide peer feedback to other Program Directors and other funders on projects and grant proposals, as well as solicit peer reviews from others.
• Develop and manage program budgets, including assessing and analyzing resource allocation matters.
• Be attentive to legal compliance and the alignment of Rainier’s activities to its mission and impact goals.
• In addition to managing consulting resources, some Program Directors may manage a program associate role, which will be a shared resource across the program team.

Qualifications and Experience

Alignment on Climate and Capital Markets

• Deep commitment to the mission and values of Rainier Climate, with an unwavering passion and drive and to make a lasting impact on climate change.
• Minimum of 15 years of senior experience designing, executing, and evaluating climate finance strategies using philanthropic approaches that engage private and public sector finance entities. Ability to be a strategic thinker and expert planner to develop creative philanthropic and out-of-the box solutions to complex financing barriers and mechanisms.
• Relevant experience in traditional finance, including familiarity with debt, listed equity, private equity and/or insurance, blended finance, and ideally across both developed and emerging economies. Expertise in finance and markets and an understanding of how they interact with policies at the regional, national, and international level.
• Experience with energy or commodity markets, or emissions trading markets, is useful. Exposure to international financial institutions, export credit agencies, or development finance institutions is a plus.
• An understanding of key issues in the climate change and climate financing fields. Able to analyze climate finance and the economics of policy choices.
• Experience in financial modeling and/or macroeconomic modeling of energy and climate markets would be helpful as would experience in project finance. A knowledge and understanding of any combination of the following is highly desirable: national regulatory institutions, multilateral/bilateral financial actors, national/regional development banks, and private finance institutions.

Strategic Leadership

• Experience working with multiple types of capitals (financial, social, relational, human, intellectual, and others) in the advancement of an organization’s mission.
• Able to work effectively with a team of colleagues across multiple disciplines, both within Rainier and through the broader finance and philanthropic ecosystem.
• Ability to analyze, synthesize and effectively communicate complex information, and develop strategic and operational plans based on that analysis.
• A collaborative, entrepreneurial operator with the ability to readily identify opportunities for innovation and change. Must have the intellectual agility and dynamism needed to contribute to strategy discussions across a variety of disciplines within the climate sector.
• Experience working in and helping to facilitate an enabling team environment, encouraging colleagues to learn, engage with each other, act with integrity, co-create, and remain curious and compassionate in the face of challenges and setbacks.

Project Management and Implementation

• Since Rainier will maintain a small, nimble team of senior leaders and program staff, Program. Directors must bring the appropriate balance of strategic thinking, hands-on, individual contributor skills, and team collaboration.
• Excellent project leadership and management skills.
• Financial acumen, with the ability to contribute to program budget development and prioritization of resource allocation.

Representation and Networking

• Demonstrated background building and operating in partnership networks and collaborating with diverse stakeholders, including in capital markets, government, NGO, and philanthropic funder sectors.
• Strong analytical, communication, and interpersonal skills, with the ability to synthesize complex information and convey it clearly to a range of audiences.

Compensation & Benefits

As a mission-driven organization, we are committed to offering competitive compensation and benefits aligned with the talent market in climate philanthropy.

Location & Hybrid Work

The position is based full-time in Bellevue, WA. Rainier Climate practices intentional hybrid work. All Rainer Climate employees are expected to work on-site in Bellevue on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays, and as needed on other weekdays based on the needs of the team. The number of in-office days may shift or increase as the organization evolves. Commuting to Bellevue from outside the region will not be considered.

Rainer Climate is an equal opportunity employer and is dedicated to building an inclusive workforce where diversity is valued. Individuals seeking employment at Rainer Climate are considered without regard to race, color, religion, national origin, age, sex, marital status, ancestry, physical or mental disability, veteran status, gender identity, or sexual orientation.