Job&Internship Posting

Sustainability Research Analyst 

The World Benchmarking Alliance (WBA) is a global organisation building a movement to measure, incentivise and encourage business’ impact towards a sustainable future for everyone. To empower this movement, we publish free and public corporate benchmarks on systemic issues related to sustainable development. We assess and engage with 2,000 companies across seven system transformations: digital, food and agriculture, nature and biodiversity, decarbonisation and energy, finance, social, and urban, and we collaborate with more than 350 Allies worldwide to facilitate the use of our research insights for stakeholder action.

In the coming year, we will be working towards the publication of all our corporate benchmarks: climate and energy, food and agriculture, finance, digital inclusion, human rights, gender, social, nature, and urban. We are seeking to scale up and strengthen our research on how companies perform on a range of sustainable development topics and are therefore looking to grow our research team.

We have several openings for the role of “Sustainability Research Analyst”. In this role, you will undertake research, from data collection to analysis, to shed light on how companies are contributing to the positive system changes needed to achieve the 17 United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals. You will be objectively assessing companies to identify gaps and opportunities for improvement. You should thrive in a fast-paced and purpose-driven work environment that provides high levels of autonomy. 

What you will do: 

• Accurately and objectively assess company performance on sustainable development by applying several WBA benchmark methodologies and scoring guidelines on publicly available information. This could involve undertaking initial data collection from corporate disclosures and public databases and/or reviewing the initial data collected by external research partners.
• Draft company scorecards that provide clear insights into a company’s leading practices as well as risks and opportunities.
• Communicate and engage with benchmarked companies to ensure they understand the relevant methodologies, provide feedback or additional information, share their experiences on how benchmarking influences positive changes at the company level, and participate in peer learning activities and other relevant WBA convenings.
• Participate in the team’s effort towards data cleaning, data management, data analysis, and data visualization.
• Contribute towards the drafting of key findings, research reports and articles.

• Suggest ways to improve methodologies, scoring guidelines, research workflows, and analytical techniques.
• When required, undertake additional data collection and analysis to support the development of more nuanced and contextualized insights on corporate performance.
• Cooperate with your team to deliver accurate research outputs in a timely manner.
• Continually upskill on research methods and tools while enhancing your understanding of relevant industry trends and policy environments.

What we are looking for: 

• At least three years of professional research experience in relevant fields. For this recruitment round, we are especially interested in candidates who are knowledgeable and familiar with the Assessment for Low-Carbon Transition (ACT), OR candidates with training and experience relevant to the Urban sector OR the Finance sector.
• Strong academic qualifications and research skills, or equivalent hands-on experience. A relevant research PhD is an advantage and counts towards years of professional experience. 

• Strong verbal and written English communication skills; able to write clearly and concisely for professional audiences. Additional language skills are a plus.
• Solid grasp of applied statistics and data analysis as well as facility with database querying and spreadsheets. Ability to script in R or Python is a plus.
• Strong interest in research, especially on corporate performance on sustainable development and the business and policy environments that shape that performance.
• Passion for making a difference with a curious mindset and a ‘can do’, hands-on and professional attitude.
• Potential to thrive in a teal culture based on self-managed teams, able to take initiative, self-reflect and collaborate with colleagues.

• Comfortable in a globally inclusive, multi-cultural, fast-paced, agile, and virtual/hybrid environment that promotes flexibility whilst being able to meet deadlines. 

Our offer: 

We stimulate personal growth and believe in flexible working arrangements, and you will receive market-based employment benefits (the equivalent of the all-in annual compensation range of €44k - €49k gross for an employee based in the Netherlands). We have a physical presence in Amsterdam and London, alongside many employees who work across the world. You can be based anywhere for this role as inclusivity is one of our values. We particularly welcome applicants from low- and middle-income countries. 

Interested? 

Send us your resume by clicking the 'apply for this job' button addressed to Lourdes Montenegro, including a brief cover letter explaining why you’d like to join WBA and how you match the role description. Ideally, you should also be able to provide a link to your writing sample in your resume. For any questions regarding the role, please contact Luís Costa (l.costa@worldbenchmarkingalliance.org ) or Bosco Lliso (b.lliso@worldbenchmarkingalliance.org). We are happy for you to apply as soon as possible but at the latest by 5 pm CET, 22 September 2023. The first virtual interviews will be held from 27 September 2023. For more information about WBA and our benchmarks please see our website or follow @SDGBenchmarks on Twitter.