Head of Knowledge & Technical Excellence

Place of work:                             Remote – (at home or preferred work-place)
Anticipated start of work:    Aug/Sept 2025
Duration:                                      Initial contract until Dec 2025 – 5 days per week
Opportunity to renew annually subject to satisfactory performance and available funding

Individual Contractor Position (Remote Working)

The Global Buildings Performance Network (GBPN) is a globally and regionally focused non-government not-for-profit organisation whose mission is to provide policy expertise and technical assistance to advance building energy performance and realise sustainable built environments for all. With team members located around the World in Indonesia, India, Australia, and Europe, GBPN brings over 10 years of knowledge and innovation to sustainable building policy reform. With every project, governments leverage our intellectual capital, our experience, analysis, evidence and our network. GBPN goal is to contribute to the building sector achieving its full energy savings and CO2 mitigation potential of more than 2.1 Gt by 2030. To do that, GBPN assists governments and industry to implement climate change actions in their building sectors that help achieve their commitment to the Paris Climate Agreement and Sustainable Development Goals (SDG).

Position Overview

Over the past three years, GBPN has experienced rapid organisational growth and expansion of services. With an ambitious growth plan in place, we aim to continue this trajectory of scale into the next few years. GBPN is seeking a strategic and experienced Head of Knowledge & Technical Excellence to develop and execute GBPNs knowledge strategy and provide technical guidance and advisory to ensure standardised excellence across country and global programs and projects. This is a cross-cutting leadership role that integrates knowledge strategy implementation and technical advisory support, ensuring GBPN’s work is informed by evidence, aligned with global best practices, and effectively shared to drive impact across our region.

The primary objectives are to:

1. Ensure the systematic generation, management, and dissemination of high- quality knowledge that drives step-changes and measurable change across the region.
2. Ensure all projects are designed and implemented with technical excellence to achieve the highest possible impact in line with GBPNs Goals and Theory of Change.

The Head of Knowledge & Technical Excellence role sits at the intersection of knowledge management, technical leadership, and capacity building — helping ensure that our programs are grounded in rigorous evidence and our partners are equipped with the tools and know-how to drive transformation in the building sector. This role is ideal for someone who has strong knowledge management experience and technical skills in building sector climate action and evidence-based project design for policy reform. It is critical that the Head of Knowledge & Technical Excellence also has a hands-on approach, is a motivated ‘doer’ and enjoys executing operational tasks. If you are excited by the opportunity to join an organisation with ambitious goals and a dynamic, multicultural team, this role is for you.

Scope of Work

Key Responsibility

1. Knowledge Management Strategy & Implementation
   • Responsible for developing GBPNs knowledge management strategy and the successful implementation of the strategy. This should be in alignment with our Theory of Change, and achieve the flow of knowledge across countries, partners, and teams.
   • Define key priorities and success indicators for external and internal knowledge generation, flow, and use. Lead change management efforts to embed knowledge-sharing behaviors and practices across the organization.
2. Knowledge Management – Technology & Operational Processes
   • Support the development, implementation and utilisation of Knowledge Management tools and processes for capturing, curating, and sharing
     knowledge internally and externally. This includes:
     • Lead the categorization and management of GBPN’s project knowledge to enable seamless access to methodologies, learnings, and best practices.
     • Drive internal knowledge-sharing initiatives to disseminate best practices and technical expertise across country teams.
     • Lead global knowledge-sharing initiatives within country programs to exchange best practices and technical insights with external partners.
3. Global Knowledge Sharing initiatives
   • Support the integration of global knowledge initiatives into program/project designs, embedding peer-to-peer learning and knowledge exchange as core components.
   • Lead the execution of the global knowledge-sharing initiatives within projects, working closely with country teams. Includes:
     • PLN project Indonesia
     • Kerala and Tamil Nadu Project, India
   • Work closely with the Networks Manager to identify key experts, particularly technical specialists, from our global network to support project implementation.
   • Oversee and monitor that technical expertise, best practices, and critical insights are adapted to local contexts for smooth implementation.
   • Monitor and evaluate the effectiveness of knowledge-sharing initiatives, using feedback to continuously improve relevance, participation, and reach.
4. Internal Knowledge Sharing and Toolkits
   • Lead the systematic capture and documentation of insights, lessons learned, tools, and methodologies from programs/projects and teams, structured and categorised around GBPN’s ToC Change levers
   • Ensure that key knowledge and lessons learned from projects—including technical methodologies—are distilled into accessible, well-organized resources for ongoing learning, replication, and adaptation.
   • Develop templates and guidance for teams to contribute to GBPNs knowledge base.
   • Conduct quarterly knowledge sharing/ capacity-building workshops for GBPN team members on methodologies, toolkits, and new innovations.
5. Technical Excellence and Advisory Support to Country Teams
   • Provide direct technical advice to country teams on program and project design, ensuring global best practices and approaches are considered and utilised.
   • Review project proposals, methodologies, and implementation plans to optimize high and sustainable impact.
   • Assess and provide feedback on project milestones and key results to ensure technical rigor and effectiveness.
   •  Support country teams in integrating innovative, data-driven solutions for building energy efficiency and decarbonization.
   • Ensure consistency and quality in technical approaches across all GBPN country programs
6. Monitoring, Evaluation, Learning and Impact
   • Support the development of a standardised impact metrics framework to measure progress against GBPN’s ToC.
   • Support teams to identify technical metrics to measure the effectiveness of our programs/projects
   • Support the process of aggregating technical data at Global Level to measure the overall impact of GBPN country programs.
   • Identify opportunities to enhance project impact through improved methodologies, policy engagement and the application of new innovations.
7. Stakeholder Engagement and Representation
   • Support country teams, as needed, in engaging with governments, policymakers, and industry stakeholders by providing technical expertise.
   • Represent GBPN, as required, in global and regional forums, to strengthen GBPN’s influence and partnerships in the sector.

Qualifications and Experience

• Master’s degree in a relevant field such as Environmental Science, Architecture, Sustainability, Climate Policy or Engineering (Civil, Mechanical, Environmental).
• Minimum 10 years of experience in building energy efficiency, low-carbon construction, or related fields, with a strong track record of technical leadership.
• Demonstrated experience in knowledge management and capacity building across multicultural, multi-country contexts.
• Deep expertise in provision of technical assistance and policy frameworks related to building decarbonization such as building codes, energy performance standards, material performance labelling, and finance policies.
• Experience working in a multi-regional, multicultural environment, preferably in emerging markets.
• Strong research, analytical, and problem-solving skills with the ability to translate complex technical issues into actionable insights.
• Excellent stakeholder engagement and communication skills, with experience working with governments, donors, and industry stakeholders.

Preferred Skills and Attributes

• Experience working for or with Global NGOs
• Experience in digital tools and data analytics
• Familiarity with climate finance mechanisms and funding structures
• Ability to work in a fast-paced, dynamic environment and manage multiple priorities.
• Passion for sustainability and a strong commitment to GBPN’s mission

Conditions 

• Candidates should have the ability to work remotely with a suitable home office set up.
• Ideally, the role should be based in a location to support time zones across Australia, S.E. Asia, India, China, EU and East Africa. However other locations will be considered.
• The successful candidate must be fluent in spoken and written English.
• While the organisation prioritises the wellbeing of its team members, flexibility will be required at times, to support multiple time zones.

Place of work: Remote – (at home or preferred work-place)
Anticipated start of work: Aug/Sept 2025
Duration: Initial contract until Dec 2025 – 5 days per week
Opportunity to renew annually subject to satisfactory performance.

Direct Report

The Global Technical Lead will report directly to the Chief Operations Officer and work in close collaboration with the Operations team, especially the Head of Programs, the Networks Manager, Country Directors and Project Managers.

How to apply 

Email proposals by 5 PM GMT on 30th May 2025 to: [email protected] (include Global technical Lead in the email subject line).
Please provide:

1. Your CV and a cover letter detailing qualifications to perform the role, including
   relevant experience, and description and/or links to similar assignments. The
   letter should also indicate your preferred start date and fee.
2. A proposal detailing your approach for the services and scope of work described, including number of days per week and total number of days annually (base 230 days/annum for a full-time-equivalent), your daily rate (USD rate per 8h-day) and the total fee for services in $US Dollars including all applicable taxes and charges for the period of the contract.
3. Your professional Bio (optional)
4. List of references and their contact details.

– Only shortlisted candidates will be contacted
– The position will be filled as soon as a suitable final candidate is selected