Specialist Water Efficiency Policies

Job Description

Title: Water Efficiency Policies Specialist

Section: Energy & Water Efficiency Policies

Department: Energy & Water Efficiency Accelerators

Sector: Energy Policy

Entity: Department of Energy

Role Purpose:

The Water Efficiency Policies Specialist is responsible for providing insight, technical and methodological expertise in shaping and developing water-related policies and strategies (including wastewater, groundwater, desalinated water, and recycled water) in all sectors, including residential, commercial, government, industrial, and agriculture, and in accordance with the Abu Dhabi Energy and Water Efficiency Centre’s vision and objectives.
Furthermore, the Water Efficiency Policies Senior Specialist is responsible for ensuring that the policies and strategies proposed are consistent with the DoE’s broader plans for moving the sector forward in an effective and efficient manner, and that they are properly documented, updated, communicated, and enforced to drive improvement and change in the sector.
Additionally, the Water Efficiency Policies Senior Specialist is in charge of effectively disseminating information on water-related issues in order to foster informed discussions, engagement, and decision making.

Key Responsibilities:

Contribute to the development and maintenance of the governance framework(s) for the relevant scenario design and development work and suggest modifications and enhancements. Additionally, ensuring that this framework(s) complies with all applicable local, federal, regional, and global requirements.
Assist the modeling team in the periodic updating of energy, water, and integrated energy models through data entry, model operation, and maintenance activities
In coordination with the modeling team, support the development of models/forms for the entered energy, water, and electricity modeling data, as well as the keeping and updating of these models/forms, including a list of information covering updates from various key stakeholders or available sources locally, federally, regionally, and globally.
Assist the Abu Dhabi Executive Office (ADEO) in updating the WO 2050 and IEPF 2050, as well as in assessing the impact and benchmarking of broader energy, water, and electricity models, as well as in implementing recommendations, and developing new areas.
Support the management aspects of the main stakeholders in the areas of scenario design and development work and the final drafting of the entered models’ data.
Assist in the process of conducting extensive research and collaborating with various institutions to gain a better understanding of the process of developing scenarios and development issues and comparing them to those established elsewhere for the purposes of performance measurement and benchmarking.

Requirements:

Bachelor’s degree in a relevant discipline e.g., public policy, environmental policy, engineering, environmental sciences.

Experience & Exposure

Minimum of 3 -5 years of experience in a relevant field
Comprehensive knowledge of water-related activities, such as production and distribution, wastewater, recycled water, demand-side management (DSM), and environmental protection (for both groundwater and seawater).
Experience in water sector policymaking, including preparation of policy proposals, evaluation and collecting feedback
Adequate knowledge of the Abu Dhabi energy and environment sectors, their strategic directions, and developments, as well as the sectors’ objectives and the needs of the key stakeholders.
Thorough understanding of the broader energy sector, including its strategic direction and developments, in the wider region and globally.

Core Capabilities:

Ability to influence and motivate team members
Ability to drive and adapt to change in a dynamic environment.
Ability to work with key stakeholders, DoE leadership and management, external parties, and advisors
Ability to scan the external environment to understand the impact on the sector and regulatory operations

Responsibilities

Delivers strong, evidence-based water efficiency policies in collaboration with the Government and private sector stakeholders.
Provides reliable and unbiased information and insight on water efficiency matters.
Support the implementation of water efficiency policies, programs, and initiatives by providing the necessary technical assistance.
Provide advice and raise awareness about energy efficiency issues.
Manage the development and administration of policies related to the water sector (including wastewater, groundwater, desalination water and recycled water) and document and communicate the policies based on established laws, DoE strategy and best practices.
Contribute to water policy and strategy development and reform for tariffs and subsidies, through ensuring that tariff policies and strategies set are aligned to governmental social and economic objectives.
Ensure that water policies continue to be relevant and up-to-date and communicate them to the various directorates within the DoE to ensure these are factored in partnership agreements, sector investment decisions, innovation efforts, risk assessment and management, etc.
Coordinate with the Regulatory Affairs Sector on the effectiveness of water policies passed challenges of implementation and gaps in current policies.
Undertake or commission research to support the development and implementation of the water sector policies, identifying gaps, possible alternatives and contributing to the policy development process to ensure that policies remain in line with government decisions, best practices and new trends and technologies.
Work closely with the Legal Affairs Office to ensure the alignment of water sector policies and plans with the set legislations and laws.
Develop methodologies to measure the impact of new policies and plans on the sector from a social, economic, and environmental perspective.
Communicate with external stakeholders and coordinate working groups, committee meetings, to support engagement as well as policy development and implementation.

Supervise the collection of data related to existing policies and other relevant data, in coordination with the Measurement & Insight & Reporting team that will enable enhanced policy planning and decision making.