University of Edinburgh
SSN Local Authority Programme Manager
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Grade UE08: £50,253 - £61,759 per annum
CSE / School of Geosciences / Edinburgh Climate Change Institute
Full-time: 35 hours per week
Open-ended (permanent) contract
The Opportunity:
Lead the development, management and delivery of the Sustainable Scotland Network’s expanded Local Authority Programme on climate change and sustainability.
The Sustainable Scotland Network (SSN) is the public sector’s network on climate change and sustainability. The SSN Secretariat is part of the University of Edinburgh, based at the Edinburgh Climate Change Institute. With increased funding from Scotland’s 32 local authorities, SSN is seeking a knowledgeable, experienced and committed individual to lead the development and delivery of its enhanced Local Authority Programme.
This new post is a senior appointment in the SSN Secretariat. The Local Authority Programme Manager will work with the SSN Director, SSN Local Authority members, and SSN Secretariat colleagues to develop and deliver a range of support services to local authority leaders and professionals. The Local Authority Programme Manager will develop and implement a programme of support that includes:
- Delivery of topic-based training and development on Public Bodies Climate Change Duties to ensure that local authorities are acting in compliance with these duties and relevant guidance.
- Delivery of events, resources and advice to local authority leaders and professionals on climate change and sustainability duties, to identify, promote and replicate good practice.
- Work with the SSN Local Authority members and the Local Authority Subcommittee to coordinate and communicate local authority practitioner voices into national policy and funding developments.
- Develop programmes of support for Early Career Professionals and local authority senior leaders on climate change and sustainability.
- Improve the use of mandatory Public Bodies Climate Change Duties Reports to inform policy and practice and to drive improvement.
- Engage with leaders and external stakeholders as the national representative for the SSN Local Authority Programme, including direct engagement with local authority Chief Executives, Elected Members and Departmental Heads.
- Bring programme management, innovation and business development experience to the SSN Local Authority Programme in order to build the programme over time and to deliver high-impact support and improved collaboration.
Scotland’s local authorities have stepped up to invest in SSN to improve the range and depth of support provided to local authority leaders, experienced professionals and those in the early stages of their career. SSN is seeking to appoint someone who can realise the full potential of this investment and who can deliver excellent and trusted support to local authorities while innovating new approaches and developing the programme into the future.
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The ideal candidate will be an experienced, knowledgeable and committed individual who has excellent appreciation of the support needs, pressures and opportunities facing local authority leaders and professionals in delivering on climate change and sustainability objectives. This is an opportunity for a suitable person to join a well-established and trusted network based at a world-leading University.
A career with us has a range of other benefits that can be tailored to your lifestyle and ways of working.
This post is full-time (35 hours per week); however, we are open to considering part-time or flexible working patterns. We are also open to considering requests for hybrid working (on a non-contractual basis) that combines a mix of remote and regular on-campus working.
View the full job description (opens in a new browser tab)
How to apply
Please include the following documents in your application:
- A CV tailored to the job description
- A cover letter that sets out clearly and concisely how you meet the essential and desirable criteria in the job description. We will use your covering letter alongside your CV to shortlist applications, so please make sure you set out how you meet the job description in a clear, concise and well-structured way.
As a valued member of our team, you can expect:
- A competitive salary.
- An exciting, positive, creative, challenging and rewarding place to work.
- To be part of a diverse and vibrant international community.
- Comprehensive Staff Benefits, including generous annual leave entitlement, a defined benefits pension scheme, a wide range of staff discounts, family-friendly initiatives, and flexible work options. Check out the full list on our staff benefits page [https://www.ed.ac.uk/human-resources/pay-reward/staff-benefits] and use our reward calculator to discover the value of your pay and benefits.
Championing equality, diversity, and inclusion
The University of Edinburgh holds a Silver Athena SWAN award in recognition of our commitment to advance gender equality in higher education. We are members of the Race Equality Charter, and we are also Stonewall Scotland Diversity Champions, actively promoting LGBT equality.
Prior to any employment commencing with the University, you will be required to evidence your right to work in the UK. Further information is available on our right to work webpages [https://www.ed.ac.uk/human-resources/demonstrating-rtw].
On this occasion the University will not consider applicants requiring sponsorship for this role. International workers will therefore only be able to take up this role if they can demonstrate an alternative right to work in the UK
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Key dates to note
The closing date for applications is 31st July 2026.
Unless stated otherwise, the closing time for applications is 11:59 pm (UK time). If you are applying from outside the UK, the closing time shown on our adverts will automatically adjust to your browser’s local time zone.
As a world-leading research-intensive University, we are here to address tomorrow’s greatest challenges. Between now and 2030 we will do that with a values-led approach to teaching, research and innovation, and through the strength of our relationships, both locally and globally.
The School of GeoSciences explores the factors and forces that shape our world. The School aims to understand the world through fundamental curiosity-driven research and to support prescient decision-making at individual to global scales. We undertake world-leading research; offer new ways of understanding natural and social drivers of change; provide inter-and trans-disciplinary solutions; and work in partnership to improve livelihoods and explore ways to manage the environment that are both sustainable and socially equitable.
With over 500 academics, researchers and research students, we are the largest and most successful interdisciplinary grouping of geoscientists and geographers in the UK. Research activity is coordinated within three main Research Institutes – Global Change, Earth and Planetary Science, and Geography and the Lived Environment – and within smaller research groupings that reach across and beyond the School.
A distinctive feature of the School is the combination of academic strength, intellectual breadth and societal relevance. Our interdisciplinary research and teaching builds on established core disciplines (ecology, environmental sciences, geography, geophysics, meteorology, oceanography) to provide a variety of approaches to understanding the world (including, for example, system-scale modelling, process studies and the development of urban and social theory). The School’s research covers fundamental ‘blue-skies’ questions, as well as having application to key societal challenges including inequality and vulnerability; urban precarity; nature and cultural meaning; development and sustainability; climate and environmental change; energy, food and water security; health and wellbeing; natural resources; and natural hazards.
The School of GeoSciences aims to recognise and value diversity in our staff and students, and to support flexible and family-friendly working.
More details about the School is available from http://www.ed.ac.uk/geosciences [http://www.ed.ac.uk/geosciences/]
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