Overview
Role: Principal Consultant – Carbon Pricing Policy
Location: London / Harwell / Shoreham / Bristol / Manchester / Glasgow / Madrid / Italy / Belgium - Hybrid
Role ID: 2025-3026
Ricardo plc is a global strategic, environmental, and engineering consulting company. With over 100 years of engineering excellence and employing close to 3,000 employees in more than 20 countries, we provide expertise in delivering cross‑sector sustainable products and solutions. We enable our customers to solve complex challenges to help achieve a safe and sustainable world.
Role Purpose
We have an opportunity for a Principal carbon pricing and climate policy specialist to support business development and delivery within our Policy, Strategy and Economics Practice. We are one of Europe’s leading consultancies supporting the UK Government, the European Commission, overseas governments and multilateral development agencies in the development, implementation and appraisal of climate change policy and carbon pricing. The team works across many climate change mitigation policy areas and you will bring technical expertise on one or more of these, including international climate change agreements, national mitigation policy instruments especially carbon pricing and market-based measures, industry sectoral incentives, and innovation technologies and funding. Our work is multidisciplinary and expertise in economic analysis/modelling, legal analysis or engineering would be advantageous.
Your work will involve project management, technical delivery and business development activities including competitive bidding, client and partner relationship management and participation in promotional events. You will also be responsible for technical leadership and supporting the development of junior staff within the practice. You will have the capability to work across the project life cycle, from early stage prospecting through bidding and successful delivery of projects. A strong commercial awareness and energy for growing the business in your technical area are important. Ideally, you will have experience leading or working on proposals and projects for clients such as development banks, the European Commission and national governments.
Key Responsibilities
* Monitoring market developments and shaping company business development activities to take advantage of emerging opportunities.
* Development and maintenance of close client and partner relationships at high level to support winning new business.
* Leading, managing and contributing to complex proposals.
* Leading the delivery of large, complex projects or tasks within such projects, with responsibility for client satisfaction, timely delivery, project financial management and high-quality outputs.
* Leading and mentoring other staff in their involvement in bids and projects.
* Carrying out detailed technical work to contribute to high-quality project delivery.
* Leading and participating in capacity building activities including workshop facilitation and presentation delivery.
* Presenting Ricardo Energy & Environment’s work at client meetings and conferences.
Key Competencies and Experience
* Educated to at least Bachelor’s degree level in scientific, engineering, environmental, legal or economic fields.
* Experience leading business development and/or competitive bid writing in a consultancy environment is essential.
* Experience working within multidisciplinary teams is essential; experience managing large project teams is desirable.
* Experience managing or working within projects for clients such as the European Commission, World Bank, GIZ, EBRD, Asian Development Bank and UK Government is essential.
* Strong understanding of the climate change policy and global carbon pricing landscape is essential, with particular expertise in one or more of the following areas desirable:
* EU energy and climate change policy, including measures under the EU Emissions Trading Directive, the Energy Efficiency Directive, and the Effort Sharing Regulation; familiarity with the EU Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism is desirable.
* International climate change negotiations especially the market mechanisms envisaged under the Paris Agreement.
* Carbon taxes and trading systems in place or planned around the world.
* UK low carbon initiatives including the Net Zero agenda, Clean Growth Strategy, Industrial Strategy and decarbonisation policy measures.
Desirable
* Strong project management skills with a track record in leading complex projects.
* Excellent written and spoken English; fluency in other European languages is advantageous. Strong Spanish or French language skills are a particular strength.
* Strong oral and written communication, including concise and precise report writing.
* Strong analytical skills.
* Good team worker and experienced delegator.
* Strong level of commercial awareness and understanding of project financial management principles.
Working here
You will be warmly welcomed into our workplace where every voice matters. We are diverse thinkers and doers, coming together to create a culture of inclusion. We will support you to find your place and use your passion and expertise to make a positive impact through the projects you work on.
Your knowledge and desire to bring about change will help deliver innovative solutions that support communities across the globe in becoming safer and more sustainable.
Work life balance
We offer flexible approaches to work, whether that is working from home, in the office, or as a hybrid worker. We’re happy to discuss flexible working arrangements. Wellbeing is central to our culture, allowing employees to flourish and reach their full potential.
Benefits
We want you to know how much you are valued. Your remuneration and benefits package will reflect that. You will receive a range of benefits including support for your physical and mental health.
Diversity, Equality, and Inclusion
We are an Equal Opportunity Employer and are committed to diversity, equality, and inclusion. We are a recognised disability confident employer. If you require adjustments to support you through the recruitment process, please contact recruit@ricardo.com.
Next steps
Once you have submitted your application, a member of our Recruitment Team will be in touch. Timing can vary based on application volume. We may start reviewing applications prior to the closing date.
Ricardo is a Disability confident employer. Please advise the recruitment team via recruit@ricardo.com if you require any adjustments to support you throughout the recruitment process.
Seniority level: Mid-Senior level
Employment type: Full-time
Job function: Other
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