Senior Climate Change Advisor

Closing date: 16 April 2026

Ref: 7337

Save the Children UK is seeking a passionate and experienced Senior Climate Change Advisor to join our Global Outcomes Department and lead transformative climate adaptation work that protects children's rights and futures.

In this pivotal role, you will provide technical leadership across the design and delivery of large-scale, single and multi-country climate adaptation programmes particularly in developing countries and fragile contexts. A key focus of the role will be leading the development, delivery and learning of our climate and health portfolio, strengthening the evidence base and driving integration across programmes and policy.

Working closely with Country Offices, multilateral and bilateral development partners (such as the Green Climate Fund and Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office), and global partners, you will shape high-quality, evidence-based programmes, strengthen climate resilience across sectors, and influence global policy and practice on climate action.

This is a unique opportunity to contribute to one of the most urgent intergenerational challenges of our time. If you are committed to climate justice, child rights, and systems-level change - and have the expertise to bridge climate science with practical, child-focused solutions we would love to hear from you.

About Us
Save the Children UK believes every child deserves a future. In the UK and around the world, we work every day to give children a healthy start in life, the opportunity to learn and protection from harm. When crisis strikes, and children are most vulnerable, we are always among the first to respond and the last to leave. We ensure children's unique needs are met and their voices are heard. We deliver lasting results for millions of children, including those hardest to reach.

About the Team:
The climate crisis is a child right's crisis that threatens the fulfilment of all of children's rights. It is therefore of central importance to Save the Children's mission and a critical driver in our 2025-27 strategy.

The Climate Change team is working as part of the Global Outcomes Department, having our Impact and Influencing function catalyse positive change for children and their communities; by driving influencing agendas and bringing knowledge, evidence, analysis and expertise to our partnerships, programmes and advocacy work.

The Climate Change Team at SCUK also works as part of the Global Save the Children movement and the wider sector to drive long lasting systems changes at the global and country levels. We are committed to promoting inclusive and equitable solutions, amplifying the voices of children most affected by climate change, and prioritising locally led efforts for lasting change, through our ever-growing portfolio in UK, Africa and Asia. We are also committed to shifting powers to the local actors and country office by strengthening capacities particularly through providing high quality technical assistance for design, delivery, monitoring and evaluation of climate change projects (especially supported by GCF and other multilateral, bilateral, philanthropies and private sector development partners).

About the role
As a Senior Climate Change Advisor you will provide technical leadership in climate change issues and adaptation actions to shape and drive influencing and impact agendas within Save the Children and the wider sector. You will provide expert technical guidance to drive impactful programme design and evidence generation, and to policy and advocacy goals. You will build and maintain strategic relationships with key decision-makers and partners, lead capacity strengthening for colleagues and partners, and champion equality, inclusion and the shifting power agenda.

• Technical lead for GCF Malawi, Community Resilient Health and Wellbeing of Rural Communities in Southern Malawi (CHWBRC) Project
• Provide global thought leadership in climate change (adaptation primarily), climate induced health risks, environment & natural resource management to shape and drive shared influencing and impact agendas within the Save the Children movement and the wider sector, maintaining up-to-date expertise and monitoring relevant external trends.
• Develop and deliver very high-quality policy, research, and/or technical programme design and evaluation with minimal supervision, ensuring inclusivity and excellence in implementation.
• Contribute to a strong learning culture through leading or supporting research, evaluation, innovation and knowledge sharing.
• Support Country Offices to integrate climate change risk management and resilience outcomes into ongoing and future Sectoral and developmental programmes, strategies, and policies.
• Contribute to and lead the development of climate-related research, studies, evaluations, and documentation of good practice to build a body of evidence, based on best practices and lessons learned from global and national experiences, to support (i) knowledge management, (ii) evidence generation, and (iii) programme improvements
• Facilitate capacity strengthening through mentoring, coaching, and training, providing formal and informal support to colleagues and partners to build expertise and effectiveness.
• Work closely with colleagues across Save the Children UK and the wider movement to ensure climate is mainstreamed across all thematic areas, ensuring that colleagues are equipped with the latest climate-related science and best practices.
• Build and maintain relationships with key decision-makers, including donors, government agencies, multilateral partners, and peer organisations, to enhance collaboration and secure funding for climate-related initiatives.
• Support Country Offices in building relationships with GCF National Designated Authorities (NDAs) and other key stakeholders to advance climate finance access and impact.
• Work with partnerships and fundraising teams to identify and develop strategic partnerships with external organisations that aligns with Save the Children's climate-related objectives, and to identify funding opportunities for climate-related projects.

About you
We are looking for someone with the following experience, competencies and skills

• Proven experience and the ability to design and implement large-scale climate adaptation programmes in developing countries, for multi-lateral and bi-lateral development partners
• Good understanding of climate change risks affecting global south communities, children and the marginalized
• Proven ability to translate complex scientific evidence on climate change into practical programming and policy recommendations
• Proven ability to strengthen evidence and learning uptake through analysis and collaboration, and proven ability to produce high-quality knowledge products (e.g. research, case studies, evaluations, etc.)
• Strategic thinker and demonstrated thought leader driven by impact and evidence, curious to keep up to date with new ideas and innovations, who sees the positive potential in change
• Experience of strengthening the integration of climate resilience and environmental sustainability into sectoral programs and/or Experience of designing and implementing nature-based solutions and adopting evidence-based ecosystem-based approaches
• Familiarity with global climate frameworks, funding mechanisms (e.g. the Green Climate Fund), and relevant policy processes.
• Experience supporting or managing multidisciplinary teams or consortia, ideally across countries or regions.
• The ability to be a thought leader in global or national adaptation planning such as climate and health; climate and nutrition; nature-based solutions; locally led adaptation; climate and gender; food and water security, etc.
• Strong interpersonal skills, emotional intelligence, and authenticity that enable effective communication with different audiences
• Collaborative team player capable of coaching, motivating and working through others to achieve outstanding results
• Proven ability to build external relationships and partnerships, and to influence decision-makers, policy audiences (including politicians) and donors, and other key actors globally

Please note: To avoid disappointment, you are advised to submit your application as soon as possible as we reserve the right to close the vacancy early if a high volume of applications are received. This is to ensure that we can manage application levels whilst maintaining a positive candidate experience. Unfortunately, once a vacancy has closed, we are unable to consider further applications.

Location & Ways of Working:
The majority of our roles can be performed remotely in the UK, but at times you will be required to come to your contracted office (usually between 2 4 days per month, depending on the needs of your role, team, or service). For many roles, this is likely to be the minimum required to deliver impact.

This will be discussed and agreed with your manager/team, and we encourage candidates to discuss our ways of working in more detail at interview stage.

Please note: travel costs to your contracted office will be at your own expense.