Chef ou Cheffe de Service Plan Climat

The core mission is to pilot the climate strategy of both the Mairie de Toulouse and Toulouse Métropole through the elaboration, animation and monitoring of the Plan Climat. This means leading the revision and adoption of a new Climate Plan, then coordinating its deployment and evaluation so it stays coherent with the territory's wider environmental policies. You would also run the governance machinery, preparing agendas, secretariat, reporting and balances for the Comité Métropolitain de la Transition écologique, the Comité Technique gathering general directors, and the partenarial committee. Beyond strategy, the role carries operational oversight: tracking performance indicators, producing reporting on committed actions, and managing a dedicated team covering the metropolitan climate adaptation strategy, TETE labelling, the annual green budget, greenhouse gas emission inventories, and co-piloting the ecological transition skills plan for staff and elected officials. You would also handle regulatory, technical and strategic monitoring on climate and energy, lead internal and external communication, organise the Assises métropolitaines du Climat, and animate the network of ecological transition referents. Overall, this is a coordination-heavy, transversal position expected to align many internal departments, elected representatives and territorial partners around a single climate roadmap, while keeping the delivery and evaluation machinery running smoothly.

Sitting inside a large metropolitan authority, this role offers rare exposure to the full policy cycle of a climate plan, from drafting and political adoption through budgeting, implementation and evaluation. You would deepen your command of public climate governance, learning how to move a strategy through committees chaired by the Métropole president and technical bodies of general directors, which is a skill few private-sector roles can teach. Technically, you would build hands-on experience with tools such as the annual green budget, greenhouse gas emission inventories and TETE (Territoire à Énergie Positive pour la Croissance Verte) labelling, alongside adaptation strategy design. Managing a team and animating a network of referents would sharpen managerial and change-leadership capabilities, while coordinating the Assises métropolitaines du Climat offers high-visibility event and stakeholder management experience. The regulatory and strategic watch component would keep you current on French and European climate and energy frameworks, making this a strong platform if you later aim for director-level roles in local authorities, consultancies or climate agencies.

The ideal candidate holds at least a bac+3, ideally bac+5, in environment, energy, sustainable development or spatial planning, and is likely a territorial attaché or ingénieur. Significant experience conducting ecological transition projects is expected, along with a solid grasp of climate change, energy transition and public environmental policy. Familiarity with how French local authorities function is presented as essential, because the role operates in a complex, partnership-heavy environment. On the leadership side, they should be able to steer strategic projects, coordinate actors with divergent interests and animate partner networks. Excellent analytical and synthesis skills matter for indicator monitoring, policy evaluation and drafting strategic documents. As a recognised manager, the candidate must know how to support a team, develop colleagues' skills and build collective momentum. Soft skills are emphasised: autonomy, rigour, organisation, proactiveness, strong interpersonal and communication abilities, and the capacity to drive transversal projects. A genuine ability to federate and lead change is described as a real asset for succeeding in this function.

Because this is a territorial role in a large French city, standing out starts with showing you understand the institutional layer: demonstrate familiarity with how a Plan Climat is revised, adopted, evaluated and financed within a Métropole, including governance bodies and the green budget. Concrete examples of climate or energy projects you have steered, with indicators and results, will carry more weight than generic sustainability language. Tailor your application around the three pillars of the posting: strategic piloting (Plan Climat, adaptation), management (leading a team and a referent network), and transversal coordination (elected officials, directors, territorial partners). For the cover letter, articulate why the public-sector climate agenda of Toulouse specifically interests you, and reference the scale of the two collectivités rather than recycling a private-sector pitch. In interview, be ready to explain how you would animate governance, handle competing directorate priorities, and communicate to both elected officials and citizens. Showing a nuanced grasp of public procurement, budget cycles and political sensibilities would clearly differentiate you from candidates with only technical climate expertise.

The role is squarely focused on climate strategy and governance: revising and deploying the Plan Climat for the City and the Métropole, developing the metropolitan adaptation strategy, and tracking performance against climate objectives. It touches the mitigation side through greenhouse gas emission inventories and the energy transition agenda, and the adaptation side through resilience planning for a growing southern-European metropolis. It also intersects with internal sustainability transformation, since the service co-pilots the ecological transition skills plan for agents and elected officials, and animates the network of referents. The green budget work connects climate ambitions to public spending, while TETE labelling and the Assises métropolitaines du Climat place the role at the interface of territorial stakeholders and citizen engagement. Less centred on corporate ESG reporting, the focus is on public-policy environmental impact, how the collectivité decarbonises its operations, aligns its investments, and mobilises the territory behind shared climate targets.

A central difficulty is likely the sheer transversality: the Plan Climat spans two collectivités, many directorates and elected officials, so aligning interests and keeping momentum despite competing priorities could be demanding. The service does not own most of the levers it must pull, meaning influence and persuasion matter as much as technical authority. The revision and adoption of a new Plan Climat is politically sensitive, and reconciling ambitious climate goals with budget constraints, operational realities and citizen expectations may create tension. Managing a dedicated team while also animating a referent network adds a coordination load, and the reporting and indicator responsibilities require rigour without letting evaluation become an end in itself. Keeping regulatory and strategic watch current, organising events like the Assises, and maintaining communication across internal and external audiences round out a role where juggling strategic vision and operational detail is a constant balancing act.

A typical day might begin with internal team coordination, checking progress on adaptation work, the green budget or GHG inventories and unblocking issues. Much of the time would then go to preparation or follow-up of governance moments, drafting notes for the Comité Métropolitain or Comité Technique, or briefing the direction Climat et Transition Écologique ahead of political meetings. Mid-day and afternoon could involve cross-departmental meetings with other directorates to embed climate considerations into their policies, or exchanges with territorial partners and referents. You might spend time on indicator tracking and reporting, regulatory watch, or advancing the Assises métropolitaines du Climat logistics and communication. The rhythm likely varies with the political calendar (more intense around Plan Climat milestones, budget cycles or committee sessions) with a steady baseline of management, drafting and stakeholder animation in between.

Successfully steering the revision and deployment of a new Plan Climat would be a highly visible achievement within the collectivité, likely strengthening a candidacy for director-level posts in climate, transition or environmental services at Toulouse or other large authorities. The exposure to elected officials and general directors offers valuable political and institutional capital. Skill-wise, the role deepens expertise in public climate governance, green budgeting, adaptation planning and evaluation methodologies, a profile increasingly sought by métropoles, regions and state agencies. Managing a team and a referent network builds managerial credentials that transfer well into broader public-management positions. There is also lateral growth potential toward cross-cutting roles in territorial strategy, energy transition agencies or climate consultancies serving the public sector, and participation in metropolitan events like the Assises could raise your external profile among peers and partners.

Internally, you would interact closely with the direction Climat et Transition Écologique and your own service team, plus other directorates whose policies must align with the Plan Climat. General directors sit on the Comité Technique, so you would regularly prepare and present to senior management. Elected officials, notably the president of the Métropole, feature through the Comité Métropolitain, requiring careful, politically attuned communication. Externally, the role involves territorial partners gathered in the partenarial committee: neighbouring communes, agencies, associations and possibly businesses and citizen groups engaged in the transition. The network of ecological transition referents spans services and acts as a relay for implementation, so animating them is a recurring relationship. You would also deal with actors around the Assises métropolitaines du Climat and TETE labelling, making stakeholder management a mix of institutional diplomacy, partnership building and internal coordination.