About the Role: 

This Programme Manager role presents a rare and important opportunity to make an impact on the world’s transition to net zero, by leading the programming for the Agri-Food Systems Summit  at COP29 and supporting on the programming for the Climate Action Innovation Zone: convened at the annual COP meetings. 

The successful candidate will be expected to feel comfortable working at the highest level of UN, business, and government, and have a deep knowledge of sustainable agriculture, food systems and supply chains as well as climate change policy and the UNFCCC COP process. 

The role will suit an ambitious, highly passionate conference producer with a minimum of 4 years production experience, who is looking for a challenging but rewarding opportunity to play an instrumental role in shaping and building a sponsorship driven portfolio of events, that delivers positive environmental and social impact.  
 
About Climate Action: 
Climate Action is a mission led company that has been working at the intersection of climate change policy, innovation, and sustainable finance for 18 years. Our mission is to accelerate the transition to a global green economy to speed the achievement of the UN Global Goals and the Paris Climate Agreement. 

Climate Action’s digital and physical events create tangible partnerships between business, government, policy makers and investors to accelerate the global transition to net zero. (url removed)  

• Climate Action Innovation Zone at COP28: The goal watch here  

• Climate Action Innovation Zone at COP28: Outcomes & highlights watch here 

The Agri-Food Systems Summit was launched in technical collaboration with the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO).  Find out more here: (url removed)  

The Agri-Food Systems Summit aimed to explore ways in which we can achieve SDG2 – making our food systems more efficient, resilient, and sustainable. The key areas of focus included the development of sustainable food chains, with particular attention to addressing water scarcity and harnessing the power of innovation and technology to facilitate this transformative process. By fostering innovation and collaboration throughout the entire agricultural value chain, the Summit aimed to drive progress towards a sustainable agri-food economy and stimulate positive change within the industry. 

Main Duties and Responsibilities: 

• Programme Curation: Define themes, draft sessions, set topics, and outline outcomes aligned to the event's value proposition. 
• Content Strategy and Agenda Development: Craft and oversee content strategy and event agenda for in-person and online event format, focusing on key thematic verticals. 
• Content Development: Create content for conference sessions, interviews, speaker/host scripts, and production briefs by collaborating with internal and external stakeholders. 
• Value proposition (Narrative) Creation: Create compelling event value proposition to attract high-level speakers, sponsors, key partners and target audience. 
• Programme Management: Implement and monitor content strategies, ensuring milestones are met and targets achieved throughout the event lifecycle. 
• Speaker Management: Identify, invite, and confirm high-level speakers and moderators, managing all their session requirements. 
• Speaker Engagement: Secure global climate leaders and influential speakers (star speakers, principles only) through sector knowledge and experience. 
• Project Management: Oversee event project management and post-event analysis, ensuring smooth execution from start to finish. 
• Market Research: Conduct in-depth research on market trends, competitor landscapes, and industry challenges. 
• Speaker & Panel Briefings: Prepare briefing documents and coordinate all speaker sessions. 
• Programme Viability: Ensure agendas are commercially viable while maintaining impactful content and supporting sales team on commercial calls to provide support on alignments to secure sponsorship. 
• Milestone Tracking: Monitor and track progress to ensure KPIs and event targets are achieved. 
• Stakeholder Engagement: Secure partners and coordinate their participation and sponsorship. 
• Team Coordination: Lead the creation and delivery of event briefs for marketing, sales, and operations teams. 
• Revenue Targets: Establish content and speaking inventories to meet revenue goals. 
• Audience Strategy: Develop and implement strategies for target audience acquisition and engagement. 
• Customer Service: Provide exceptional service to partners, speakers, and stakeholders, resolving issues promptly. 
• Performance Tracking: Monitor content strategies, milestones, and targets to achieve event KPIs. 
• Marketing Copywriting: Create promotional copy for marketing channels and editorial needs. 
• Website Management: Keep event websites updated with the latest information, speakers, partners, and sessions. 
• Onsite Delivery: Manage onsite event delivery, ensuring objectives and expectations are met. 
• Post-Event Analysis: Conduct evaluations and prepare detailed reports highlighting event outcomes. 

Requirements

Essential role requirements:

• At least 4 years in B2B conference production specifically for Agri-Food related.
• In-depth knowledge of the agri-food value chain and sustainable agriculture.
• This is an urgent hire so ideally we need candidates who are immediately available! We can consider freelancers for this role also

Ideal role requirements:

• Agenda Production: Proven ability to design and curate conference agendas, and secure high-level speakers (principals only). Experience in managing speaker invitations, onboarding, and briefings.
• Project management experience.
• Demonstrated experience in supporting commercial teams to achieve revenue targets, including participation in sales calls, pitching content to prospects, identifying sponsorship opportunities, creating sales briefs, and contributing to marketing strategies to drive delegate sales and engagement.
• Skilled in creating event materials for marketing purposes (copywriting), ensuring they align with conference themes and objectives.
• Experience in a single market sector including evidence of strong relationships with key players across the industry such as sustainable innovation; investment; agriculture and agribusiness; international climate finance; sustainable business; supply chains; climate policy etc.  
• Alignment with Climate Action’s mission and our business objectives. 
• Desirable to have sustainability/climate related qualification/s.
• Extensive knowledge about climate change, policy and sustainability.
• Knowledge and experience of climate issues, with reference to sustainability issues, subnational climate commitments and the UNFCCC COP process.
• An impactful leader in your own right with the ability to drive through ideas, build community alliances and negotiate complex networks.

Benefits

What we offer:

• Hybrid working arrangement between our WeWork offices in Victoria and remote with three days working in our office weekly 
• Generous and achievable bonus scheme 
• WeWork wellbeing benefits such as yoga sessions and meditation 
• Barista, community bar, table tennis, showers, and ability to bring your pet to work
• Opportunity to attend COP in Baku, Azerbaijan and work with globally recognised sustainability and climate leaders 
• Join a rapidly growing, mission-led company, making a positive impact on our planet