Project Officer

**Job Title**: Project Officer - Higher Education Initiative

**Team**: Learning & Capacity Building. You will also work closely with other teams in the Cross-KIC EIT HEI initiative
**Contract**:fixed-term contract until December 2027, with possibility of extension

**Level**: Foundation
Please refer to our Capability Framework
**Salary**: Competitive for Not-for-Profit Organisation
**Location**: Belgium, Germany, Netherlands, Poland, Austria, Slovenia, UK, France, Italy
**Start Date**:1 November 2025

**ABOUT US**

At Climate KIC, we are wholeheartedly committed to building a diverse and representative team and an inclusive workplace that values different life experiences and perspectives, and we encourage personal development, learning and growth.

Climate KIC (Knowledge and Innovation Community) is Europe’s foremost climate innovation initiative. We understand that global temperature rise is exceeding 1.5C and this demands unprecedented change. It requires new social dynamics, ways of doing business, capital flows, policymaking, economic models, and new ways of living. That is why our mission is to leverage the power of systems innovation to transform whole places, industries and value chains by 2030, working across sectors to develop and scale ambitious programmes. Climate KIC’s strategy 2024-2030, Transformation, with Urgency, is available here.

Climate KIC operates as a not-for-profit foundation working through public-private partnership, wielding both public and private funding. Established in 2010 and headquartered in Amsterdam, we orchestrate a community of more than 150 organisations, including large corporations and SMEs, municipal and regional governments, universities and research institutes, as well as non-governmental organisations and civil society actors.

Climate KIC leads the implementation of the European Union’s Mission on Climate-Neutral and Smart Cities and the launch pilot of the Mission on Adaptation to Climate Change, both with the objective of catalysing rapid and deep transformation on a large scale, creating the precedent and economic transition conditions for demonstration, learning, capacity building, fast followership and investment. Achieving the EU Cities Mission will mean avoided scope 1 and 2 emissions alone of an estimated 0.7GT CO2e between now and 2040.

Climate KIC has a Remote-First approach, where colleagues work remotely from home based in one of the countries where we have a branch or employing entity (and can work out of local offices or co-working seats, where they exist). We meet at our local offices to exchange and connect and use online collaboration tools to work with each other and with our community. On occasion, we meet in person as teams, and once per year as an organisation.

As a mission-driven organisation dedicated to climate transformation, we consider the climate impact of our own actions, for example travel, catering, or IT equipment.

**ABOUT THE ROLE**

Climate KIC contributes with its expertise and experience on Climate Innovation, Monitoring Evaluation and Learning and System Innovation to the Higher Education institutions’ Initiatives. Since 2021 Climate KIC has led the activities on Monitoring Evaluation and Learning within the Initiative, delivered various System Innovation Training and managed 9 projects.

The EIT Higher Education Institution (HEI) Capacity Building Initiative is a pan-European Cross-KIC initiative aimed at creating systemic impact in higher education by supporting Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) to increase their innovation and entrepreneurial capacity and better integrate into and engage with innovation ecosystems. The project mobilises KIC partner and non-partner HEIs and supports them along a trajectory toward a stronger systemic contribution to innovation ecosystems through (i) education and human capital development, (ii) innovation and knowledge transfer, (iii) innovation pathways to EIT/KIC instruments to support enterprise development; (iv) broader societal engagement and local/regional leadership.

In this context, we are looking for a Project Officer to support the efficient and effective implementation of the EIT HEI Initiative-related activities at Climate KIC.

Currently, Climate KIC supports 7 HEI Initiative projects, involving 62 organisations from 25 countries.

**Key Responsibilities**
- Act as the primary point-of-contact for EIT Higher Education Initiative-funded projects and an intermediary between the projects and Climate KIC and the central EIT HEI coordination Team (RawMaterials)
- Proactively seek and establish connections between HEI Initiative projects and Climate KIC activities, opportunities, and clusters
- Monitor progress of HEI Initiative Projects regarding their timelines, budgets, deliverables, milestones, and scope of activities through monthly meetings and performance reviews in accordance with their project plan
- Autonomously manage project performance reporting on EIT key perfor