Arena Careers

Position: Associate Director, Field Innovation

Reports to: Director, Field Innovation

Job type: Salaried, Exempt

Location: Boston, MA preferred

Context

About Growald Climate Fund

We are a high-impact venture global philanthropy fund catalyzing the rapid transition to a clean energy future. We believe that philanthropy plays a key role in nurturing new climate solutions, supporting a vibrant and growing civil society, and promoting objective research and analysis for use by governments and key partners.

About the Field Innovation Pillar

Field Innovation addresses ecosystem gaps in energy transition globally through innovative grantmaking and strategic leadership.

Grantmaking Portfolio:

• Special projects, including incubation of new initiatives that address bottlenecks in the ecosystem
• Strategic research - identifying catalytic areas or gaps (such as coal asset retirement mechanisms, land rights issues for renewable energy, key geographies)
• Strategic convenings that bring together diverse parties for: high trust strategy development or diplomacy opportunities; to explore new potential areas of work; to foster the development of new collective impact efforts
• Rapid response grants for catalytic/innovative moments

Strategic Leadership:

• Supporting field coordination to address (such as coal retirement mechanisms, RE finance barriers) emerging priorities and diplomatic efforts
• Leading on strategic research when a grantee partner is not readily available
• Strategic convenings

The Role

The purpose of this Associate Director, Field Innovation is to support the development and assist in coordinating initiatives and plans that tackle the most difficult bottlenecks in energy transition. Current FI priorities are: renewable energy finance, coal phase out, state owned enterprise decarbonization and energy diplomacy utilizing strategic convening, research, and thought leadership in the field.

Position Responsibilities:

Leadership:

• Support FI Director in accomplishing pillar goals via team building, workplanning, strategy development and pillar administration
• Partner with CEO and FI Director to drive thought leadership on key thematic areas including development of strategic memos, representation at key external events, oversee the development and implementation of key big bets
• Organize and deliver on key events that drive collaboration across funder, field and experts

Within the Philanthropic Field

• Lead and support ecosystem strategy development in Field Innovation priority areas (i.e. RE finance, diplomacy, CRMs, etc) and implementation related to Field Innovation priorities.
• Provide thought leadership on clean finance and the economics of the transition to Growald and partners (funders and field) as needed. This can include writing white-papers, leading convenings and participating in discussions on FI priority areas with other funders and CSOs.

Grant and portfolio management

• Complete opportunity assessment and pipeline recommendations for FI and Venture portfolios, in line with docket schedules.
• Assess, conduct due diligence and provide recommendations for FI proposals and plans in FI priority areas.
• Provide analysis, consultation and strategic support to up to 3 Growald venture funded grantees.

Report to Growald’s Director of Field Innovation.

Qualifications:

• Graduate degree e.g., MBA, MPP, JD, or other relevant degree and 10-15 years of relevant experience required.
• At least 8 years of experience in the finance sector and energy finance
• Significant experience in emerging economies
• Highly strategic and strong ability to work with others to develop collective strategy.
• Experience in philanthropic sectors is a plus
• Excellent written and oral communication skills with the ability to summarize and present information to various audiences, including NGOs, funders and experts.
• Highly organized and comfortable with problem-solving in complex systems/scenarios.
• Ability to travel up to 30% of the time.
• Multilingual preferred
• Strong preference for Boston-based, must be EST or PST friendly time zones.

Benefits

• Flexible work policy: flex hours and opportunity to work from home two days / week (if located in Boston Metro Area).
• 401(k) retirement plan with 6% employer match
• 100% employer-paid medical, dental, vision coverage
• 100% employer-paid long-term disability, short-term disability and basic life insurance
• Four weeks of PTO plus thirteen paid holidays (including closure week between Christmas and New Year’s)
• Annual allowance for professional development activities
• Coaching and management support with regular 1:1 meetings
• Performance reviews and feedback to support you and the team to reflect and grow
• A co-developed initial three month work plan to help you hit the ground running and have clarity on your role and responsibilities

Salary is commensurate with experience ($170K-$220k).

The priority application deadline is Friday, July 25, 2025. To apply, please upload your resume and respond to the application questions. This search is supported by NRG Consulting Group. Please reach out to [email protected] and [email protected] with any questions.

Equal Opportunity Employer

As an equal opportunity employer, we recognize the power of a diverse community and strongly encourage applications from individuals with varied experiences, perspectives and backgrounds. We are committed to providing an environment of mutual respect where equal employment opportunities are available to all applicants without regard to age, disability, ethnicity, gender, gender identity, marital status, national origin, race, religion, sexual orientation, or veteran status. Must be authorized to work lawfully in the United States. All Growald employees must be fully vaccinated against COVID-19.

Compensation

Growald Climate Fund offers competitive salaries annually benchmarked against a thousand other philanthropic non profit grant making foundations. The starting salary range for this position is $170,000 to $220,000. Please apply or contact [email protected] to speak with our recruiter about compensation! Benefits include 100% employer paid medical, dental, vision care, generous allowances including professional development, commuter, and work from home, an employer matched retirement plan, 13 holidays, 20-25 days of vacation, and additional paid time off including sick and parental leave. Growald offers flexible working hours, and our location in Brookline (in Boston’s backyard) was recently ranked 16th in the top 25 best places for families to live!