Senior Director, Coal to Clean

Position: Senior Director, Coal to Clean

Contract: Full-time, 12-month employment contract, with the intention to extend

Location: Remote, based in Asia or Africa. You must have the right to work in your country of residence

Reporting to: CEO

Salary: USD 60,000 to 100,000 gross per year, set by country and experience

Closing date: 20 November 2026

About the Secure Energy Project

The Secure Energy Project (SEP) is a communications initiative that exists to build unstoppable support for a global shift to clean energy. We identify the obstacles slowing progress, then work with partners to design and run collaborative campaigns that remove them. We bring together allies across civil society, policy and industry to influence the narrative and politics of energy.

The transition to clean energy can improve everything: lower bills, better jobs, cleaner air and more connected communities. Yet progress is still too slow and increasingly vulnerable to misinformation and political backlash.

Now in our third year, SEP leads global communications efforts, coordinates campaign coalitions and runs audience-led interventions in key countries.

The Role

We are hiring a Senior Director to lead our Coal to Clean project, working with organisations around the world on countries’ transition to clean from coal. You will help them increase the communications impact of their work and drive the narrative that clean energy is the smarter, cleaner and cheaper option.

The role is focused on Asia, where the energy crisis and restrictions in oil and gas supply are hitting hardest. We are also open to candidates based in Africa, where the transition to clean from coal is a growing part of our work. You will work with partners in your region and beyond, using traditional and new media to build public, industry and political support for clean energy, and responding creatively and quickly to emerging threats and opportunities.

We need an established communications leader who knows their region, knows how to work with data experts to make news, and can build and deliver impactful strategies at pace while bringing others with them.

You'll be joining a growing organisation with big ambitions, as a senior member of the team. This role suits someone who is comfortable building while moving: testing, learning and improving quickly in a startup-like environment where structures are still forming.

Key Responsibilities

1. Project leadership: Coal to Clean

• Lead SEP’s Coal to Clean project, working closely with organisations around the world on countries’ transition to clean from coal, to increase the communications impact of their work.
• Run Coal to Clean coalition meetings with clear agendas and task management, and lead ideation and decision-making.
• Negotiate, advise, and help partners build and deliver communications strategies, media plans, message testing, media pitching and spokesperson training.
• Drive rapid-response energy crisis communications in your region, and coordinate others doing this globally.
• Lead other SEP projects in your region as they develop.

2. Communications strategy and delivery

• Work with network partners and SEP leaders to develop clean energy communication strategies that use political and industry moments to drive towards shared objectives.
• Co-create, develop and share narratives and messaging that support partners.
• Plan, pitch and deliver media moments.
• Track emerging narratives in your region and plan responsive work to neutralise opposition and build public support for solutions.

3. Line management and team support

• Line manage project staff, consultants or freelancers, setting clear objectives and workplans.
• Give regular guidance, feedback and practical support so team members can deliver high-quality work at pace.
• Support recruitment where needed, and provide pastoral support so people feel clear, supported and able to do their best work.

4. Partnering, advising and coalition work

• Support SEP partners as a communications adviser, delivery partner, or through pilots that can later scale across the movement.
• Support SEP's fundraising, especially for new communications projects.
• Take part in coalitions and, where appropriate, convene or lead working groups.
• Identify and develop practical tools, training and support that increase partner impact.

5. Analytics, learning and impact evidence

• Use audience insight and testing, polling, platform analytics, A/B experiments and creative iteration so content reliably reaches the audiences that matter.
• Maintain impact data that shows our value to partners and funders.

6. AI and innovation

• Explore and apply practical AI-boosted workflows for content, testing, distribution and insight, and help the team and partners do the same.

About you

You're a highly organised communications leader who is both strategic and hands-on. You are low ego and flexible: courteous, but willing to be pushy to hit media deadlines. You understand historic inequality and can work in an organisation led by feminist values of collaboration and generosity.

You are brave and diplomatic, and push to deliver change with care. You have deep tactical experience, strong creative judgement and a bias toward rapid prototyping: test, learn, improve. You're comfortable in a fast-moving environment with limited resources and evolving processes.

You understand how media and online narratives shape public debate, and how public debate creates political pressure. You quickly identify the audiences that matter and the formats and channels most likely to reach them, and you are as comfortable with tier-one media as with industry press.

You don't need an NGO background. What matters is evidence that you can work with complex data to create compelling traditional and digital communications that shift opinion, build engagement or disrupt established thinking, for a campaign, a product, a movement or a brand. You have a view on the climate movement and how it could win narrative battles more effectively.

Essential skills and experience

• 10+ years in communications roles, including 3+ years with significant responsibility for strategy and delivery in Asia or Africa.
• Sharp instincts for a news story and the ability to inspire others to back your ideas.
• A track record of designing and delivering communications strategies for campaigns, brands, ideas, products or movements.
• Experience communicating research and data to drive policy change (not necessarily on the energy transition).
• Confidence facilitating decisions and coordinating news stories across a community you can't control.
• Experience managing a small team, including setting objectives and workplans.
• Traditional media experience: media planning, pitching, press releases, and identifying and training spokespeople.
• An existing network of journalists and outlets in at least one major Asian or African country or region, and the confidence to build contacts in new ones.
• Crisis and rapid-response communications experience.
• Strong project management: briefing, coordinating sign-off, delivery and review, including overseeing freelancers, agencies or other contributors.
• A good understanding of how social platforms shape public debate, with recent examples of impact, and experience producing or commissioning digital content.
• The ability to turn complex issues and data into clear, motivating narratives, with excellent written and spoken English.
• Confidence giving constructive feedback on messaging and content with care, clarity and diplomacy.
• Proven ability to measure and improve communications performance, with working knowledge of monitoring, evaluation and learning approaches.
• Self-directed and adaptable in a fast-moving, evolving environment.
• Working familiarity with AI tools for communications, and a willingness to help others use them well.
• Budget management experience.

Desirable skills and experience

• Running digital communications across multiple regions and adapting work for different cultural contexts.
• Working on coal phase-out, just transition or power-sector reform.
• Building a creator or influencer ecosystem: identifying and briefing creators, and scaling reach through smart repurposing.
• Integrating paid media, creator partnerships or community growth tactics into campaigns.
• Brand and organisational communications (positioning, messaging frameworks, "shop window" materials).
• Languages relevant to the region you are based in.

What we offer

• The chance to lead high-impact work that accelerates the transition to clean, affordable energy.
• A senior role in a small, high-ambition feminist organisation with a growing reputation, at a stage where you can shape our direction and grow with us.
• A collaborative, flexible, values-driven team with space to test and learn.
• Flexible working, because childcare and caring responsibilities are not a hobby.
• Paid annual leave and public holidays.
• Opportunities to work across borders with partners and change-makers in climate and energy.

Salary, contract and benefits

Salary: USD 60,000 to 100,000 gross per year. We set salaries against local market data for the country you are based in, the responsibilities of the role, and your skills and experience. This range is set for hires based in Asia or Africa.

Contract: Full-time, 12-month employment contract, with the intention to extend.

Benefits: Statutory benefits, and some additional benefits, depend on employment law in your country and are provided through our employer of record (EOR) partner. We will confirm the full terms for your location during the hiring process.

Some international travel will be required.

How to apply

Please send your CV and a cover letter of no more than one page, explaining how you meet the essential criteria, to info@secureenergyproject.org by 20 November 2026, 9am GMT. Applications are reviewed on a rolling basis. We encourage early submission, as interviews may take place and an appointment may be made before the closing date.

We welcome applications from people of all backgrounds, and especially from people based in the regions where we work.