Senior Manager - Place and Environment (Permanent) at National Wealth Fund

Deadline to Apply: 14th Sept 2025. Early submission is encouraged, and applications will be reviewed on an ongoing basis. Please submit a covering letter with your application.

Interview Timings: First stage interviews to take place w/c 22nd September. Final stage interviews to take place w/c 6th October.

About Us: At the National Wealth Fund, our mission is to increase investment across the UK and accelerate delivery of the government’s growth and clean energy missions, whilst achieving a fair balance of risk and reward between the public and private sector. We are the UK government’s principal investor charged with deploying capital at scale in the projects and companies that support two strategic objectives: regional and local economic growth and tackling climate change.
 
Headquartered in Leeds, we are capitalised with £27.8 billion and have a team of investment professionals with expertise to invest across the capital structure, enabling projects to get off the ground and support frontier industries to reach commercial scale. We are looking for skilled and results oriented individuals who are motivated to help us build the National Wealth Fund to deliver on this unique mandate.
 
Job Purpose: The Senior Manager- Place and Environment will provide thought-leadership on the National Wealth Fund’s approach to investing in places to deliver on our growth and clean energy missions, and ensure delivery is integrated across the Fund’s functions. They will lead the Fund’s relationships across Government departments and local and devolved administration key partners in support of the Fund’s strategic objectives.

Key Accountabilities:

• Develop the Fund’s approach to delivering investments in places across the country, as well as our investment strategy for waste and water priority sectors and investment opportunities in nature-based solutions, the built environment (energy efficiency and heat networks) and climate resilience. Provide valued thought leadership on these topics both internally and externally, drawing on own expert knowledge. Identify connections between complex public policy and private market developments in order to enable the Fund to deliver on our objectives. ​

• Develop strong, effective relationships with government departments including MHCLG and Defra, and devolved administrations. Together with the NWF local authority function, develop and maintain strong links with mayoral strategic authorities and regional and local government. Leverage these relationships to enable policy makers to use the Fund’s operational experience in policy development, and ensure the Fund can deliver on government policy priorities. ​

• Lead projects and work in matrix teams with functions across the Fund, including banking, risk, impact, local authority lending and advisory and portfolio management, to deliver joint outputs that ensure that place-based investing and support for environment, including water and waste, is embedded into all operations. ​

• Deliver strategic investment opportunities in pursuit of our mission. Lead matrix teams internally with banking, impact, and local authority colleagues and externally with partners to proactively identify and support a strong pipeline of investments in place based investing and areas such as water, waste, nature-based solutions, the built environment (energy efficiency and heating), climate resilience. Where needed work with partners to make markets in pursuit of our strategic objectives. ​

• ​Lead on the appraisal of individual investment proposals against the Fund’s strategic objectives and supporting due diligence processes on individual transactions, contributing to Investment Committee (IC) papers and attending IC meetings as well as verbal and written briefings for Chief Policy and Strategy Officer and other IC members to ensure alignment with the Fund’s strategic objectives. ​

• Provide leadership both as a line manager to policy advisors, and across the wider Fund, helping to attract and retain high performing talent and expertise and develop and support secondees from government. Interact in an open, constructive and collaborative manner with senior colleagues across the Fund to share expert knowledge and experience, supporting decision making by the Fund’s Executive Committee and Board to fulfil the strategic mission of the Fund. ​

• Build and leverage a wide range of relationships with civil society groups and practitioners, both nationally and regionally, to both learn from these experiences and to build the Fund’s influence and reputation.​

• Act as an effective ambassador for the Fund with a wide range of organisations and senior stakeholders, including representing the Fund on public platforms.

Experience, Knowledge and Skills:

• Extensive experience of the delivery of government public policy​

• Experience developing and implementing strategy, resolving complex issues effectively and quickly​

• Confident and capable engaging with and influencing senior partners, creating and nurturing strategic relationships​

• Significant experience of working at a senior level within an investment-focused government department, local authority, delivery partner or public finance institution​

• Relevant degree level education, or equivalent experience​

• Personally enthused by the Fund’s twin growth and clean energy missions. ​

• Be a skilled communicator, both in writing and in person, and passionate about contributing to the positive culture of the organisation.​