Director, climate resilience

Remote within the United States, Bratislava, Manila, Nairobi, San Jose (Costa Rica) & United Kingdom

The Director, Climate Resilience will lead Habitat for Humanity International’s global approach for climate resilience, ensuring National Organizations, Area Offices, and the people we serve are better equipped to withstand and adapt to climate-related risks. This role will drive innovation, and will influence global housing ecosystems through partnerships and technical leadership. The position will champion integration of climate resilience across all programmatic areas, leveraging cutting-edge approaches such as nature-based solutions, climate-smart housing design, and climate finance mechanisms.

• Define and lead Habitat’s global climate resilience approach, embedding housing-focused resilience into organizational priorities and global programs.
• Drive innovation in housing resilience through partnerships with research institutions, private sector firms, and governments.
• Provide thought leadership on emerging trends such as nature-based solutions, circular economy principles, and digital risk modeling.

• Lead on co-creation of advanced technical guidance for the global network across the program cycle, including climate risk assessments, adaptation planning, and capacity-building for climate resilience in housing ecosystems.
• Support the Director, Habitability in progressively strengthening the climate resilient construction content in the global Habitability Guidelines.
• Advise on climate finance strategies and integration of resilience into housing market systems and related financial services.
• Support higher level program design and specific proposal development for climate resilience initiatives globally.
• Lead a global Community of Practice on climate resilience, fostering knowledge exchange and best practice documentation and sharing across HFHI entities.
• Ensure alignment with disaster risk reduction, urban resilience, and sustainability initiatives across HFHI.
• Collaborate with internal teams (e.g. Government Relations & Advocacy, Terwilliger Center for Innovation in Shelter, Housing Disaster Resilience & Recovery) to ensure integrated approaches.

• Provide technical support to the Government Relations and Advocacy team in their initiatives to influence global policy and funding for housing resilience.
• Communicate HFHI’s climate resilience approach to external audiences through thought leadership, publications, and targeted sector engagement.
• Represent HFHI at prioritized global forums, as agreed with line manager (with a main focus on COP participation).

• Bachelor’s degree in environmental science, climate policy, sustainable development, or related field (or equivalent experience).

• 5+ years of experience in international development.
• 5+ years in climate resilience and housing systems.
• Demonstrable experience in proposal development and program design.
• Experience in monitoring, evaluation, accountability, learning (MEAL) and program management.

• Demonstrated ability to interpret organizational strategies and to lead a collaborative process to develop technical approach mainstreaming guidance and tools nested under this.
• Deep understanding of complex dynamics of climate resilience and poverty, disaster response and mitigation, including in relation to low-income settlements.
• Well organized and able to lead, coordinate and engage effectively with multiple processes simultaneously.
• Excellent research, writing and communication skills.
• Expertise in climate finance, risk modeling, and resilience metrics.
• Fluency in English. Ability to speak other languages such as French, Spanish, etc., would be an added advantage.

• Master’s degree in environmental science, climate policy, sustainable development, or related field.
• 10+ years of experience in international development.
• Experience with digital tools for climate risk mapping and data-driven decision-making.
• Familiarity with nature-based solutions and circular economy principles in housing.