Blue Finance Specialist

The duration of this role is until March 2026

The World Economic Forum, committed to improving the state of the world, is the international organization for public-private cooperation. 

The Forum engages the foremost political, business, and other leaders of society to shape global, regional and industry agendas.

Why we are recruiting

Despite its fundamental importance to the global sustainable development agenda, Sustainable Development Goal 14 (SDG14) – the ocean goal – receives the least investment of all the development goals. Yet, healthy oceans are essential for climate stability, biodiversity, and the well-being of communities worldwide.

The World Economic Forum’s Centre for Nature and Climate (CNC) drives innovative solutions and transformative partnerships to advance the climate and nature agenda at speed and scale, through multi-stakeholder collaboration.

Within CNC, the Ocean agenda brings together leaders from business, government, academia, and civil society to fast-track ambitious solutions for ocean health. The Ocean agenda focuses on three core areas: 1) supporting industry transitions to nature-positive operations, 2) enabling technological innovation for ocean stewardship, and 3) guiding investment into both ocean-positive business opportunities as well as the restoration of marine and coastal ecosystems.

A key initiative, the Blue Carbon Action Partnership (BCAP), serves as a global platform to convene diverse stakeholders, catalyze high-level dialogue, and drive systemic change for blue carbon ecosystem conservation and restoration. BCAP works to increase investment into blue carbon ecosystems and local communities through coordinating action at global and national scales.

To unlock the billions needed for ocean-positive action, the Ocean agenda is seeking a Blue Finance Specialist. This role will be instrumental in designing and piloting innovative financing models, mobilizing private and philanthropic capital, and engaging the full investment value chain – from banks and investors to insurers and public capital providers. By demonstrating new approaches to blue finance, the Blue Finance Specialist will help build a thriving investment ecosystem for ocean health.

Reporting Lines & Interactions

This position will be based in the Forum’s Geneva office, joining the Ocean agenda team and reporting to the Ocean Economy and Finance Lead with a dotted line to the Blue Carbon Lead.

Internally this position requires strong collaboration with other teams within CNC, as well as colleagues from across the Forum especially from Financial Services, Business Engagement as well as Regional teams, Public Engagement, Global programming Group and others as relevant.

Externally, this role will work closely with a broad range of international stakeholders and partners focusing on innovative financing mechanisms for climate and nature, blended and development finance, philanthropists, corporates as well as ocean champions and experts.

Breakdown of main responsibilities & deliverables

Community engagement

• Support the development of a consolidated workplan for the community and the definition of community deliverables, across all finance workstream of the Ocean agenda

• Support the management of the finance stakeholders within the ocean communities, maintaining relationships with financiers, investors and philanthropists

• Sustain stakeholders engagement specifically with special focus on the activities of the Blue Carbon Action Partnership (BCAP) in the first year

• Explore opportunities for broader partner engagement across real economy/industrial players, and connect with other key organizations in the blended and development finance space

Content development

• Co-develop strategic progress reports on the finance workstreams across both industries as well as conservation and restoration

• Contribute to research and content development on innovative financing mechanisms to unlock capital in support of ocean opportunities, especially focused on the catalytic role that public and philanthropic capital can play to de-risk financing for SDG14

• Support strategic research outputs and collaborate on possible publications

Programming, communications and events

• Design, develop and deliver events (sessions, virtual meetings, and face-to-face workshops) and programming on innovative financing for the ocean.

In addition, the candidate will be expected to perform all other duties assigned by manager to support the overall deliverables of the ocean team, towards the goal to strengthen CNC as an impactful platform for dialogue and solution delivery to address the climate and nature challenges.

The successful candidate will be assessed on

• Experience in project / programme management, coordinating across complex ecosystems, different teams, internally and externally, and several geographies

• Demonstrate expertise in driving collaboration and multistakeholder partnerships across finance and climate and nature experts

• Experience in supporting international programming of events, agendas, and curation of communities. Proven track-record in event design and delivery to achieve a purpose.

• Strong communication and excellent relationship management skills, with a can-do attitude towards working with multi-stakeholder communities across public, private and philanthropic institutions

• Knowledge, understanding and experience in engaging financiers, investors and philanthropists on climate and natures issues at an international level

Preferred Requirements and Experience

• Broad intellectual background, with a master’s degree from a globally recognized institution. Specialization in sustainable finance and/or economic development preferred.

• 4-6 years’ relevant full-time professional experience, ideally across public and private sectors and/or in management consulting or project management.

• Exceptional organizational skills, with a clear ability to prioritize and a strong work ethic, as well as the capacity to handle multiple tasks and assignments simultaneously

• Ability to thrive in a fast-paced environment characterized by high levels of information ambiguity

• Stakeholder management experience in public-private partnership from business, governments, or international organizations, and passion for delivering climate & nature solutions

• Strong problem-solving and analytical skills, ability to communicate complex information succinctly and capacity to apply critical thinking

• Motivated self-started who enjoys working in a highly collaborative environment and is a quick learner

• Excellent interpersonal, verbal and written communication skills in English. Other languages desirable.

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Why work at the Forum:

The Forum believes that progress happens by bringing together people from all walks of life who have the drive and the influence to improve the state of the world by building awareness and cooperation, shaping mindsets and agendas, and driving collective action. Join us and become a driver for positive change!