Applied Researcher (Climate)

PLEASE NOTE: THIS IS A 2-STAGE APPLICATION PROCESS. TO APPLY, PLEASE (1) SUBMIT YOUR CV BY CLICKING APPLY FOR THIS POSITION BELOW AND (2) COMPLETE THIS ROLE-BASED QUESTIONNAIRE.

We’re looking for an Applied Researcher (Climate) to identify and evaluate high-impact funding opportunities to enable our members and the broader public to give as effectively as possible.

You’ll join our Research Team, who provide recommendations across a range of cause areas as follows: (1) the long-term future of humanity, (2) helping the current generation & people living today, (3) animal welfare. Our aim is to provide the highest-impact funding opportunities across these areas. Since 2017, we have rigorously evaluated climate change interventions and our work has been featured in the NYT, Vox, Washington Post and the Guardian. We’re now looking to further scale our research-based grantmaking program.

Prior experience in researching climate-relevant fields would be an asset for this role. You’ll have experience working on rigorous research projects, as well as the ability to autonomously lead them. This is a fantastic opportunity to influence tens of millions of dollars in some of the most high-impact climate opportunities globally.

You’ll conduct:

• Intervention area and landscaping investigations: Investigations into particular strategies to address climate change (such as avoiding carbon lock-in via affecting climate finance) or into questions of relevance to prioritization within climate (such as the shape of expected climate damage).
• Funding opportunity investigations: Individual investigations into promising funding opportunities to see if they meet our bar for recommendation. You’ll be responsible for making funding opportunity recommendations and writing them up.
• Shallow investigations: Internal investigations of less than a week into a particular problem area or methodological question relevant to our research, such as policy dynamics in different countries, emissions trends in different sectors, the impact of global warming potential (GWP) metrics on prioritization choices, or the likely curvature of climate damage.

You might also support our Philanthropic Advisors to provide expert advice and recommendations based on our research, as well as providing support to our Programmes & Events teams by presenting research findings to our members.

Some projects similar to those you might work on in your first few months, depending on your existing skills and those you want to build:

• Helping to get better traction on comparing different promising theories of change, such as innovation advocacy and avoiding carbon lock-in by reviewing scientific literature, talking to experts and building quantitative back-of-the-envelope models.
• Developing cost-effectiveness models of specific promising interventions, such as strengthening clean energy entrepreneurial ecosystems in emerging economies or accelerating and de-risking the adoption of alternative proteins.
• Evaluating specific funding opportunities and forming views about the expected impact of additional funding.
• Investigating blindspots of current climate philanthropy and action by comparing global decarbonization priorities with existing efforts.

Salary: Up to £60k/$90k/€60k depending on experience

Location: UK, USA, Europe (Eastern time preferred, but flexible depending on experience).

ABOUT YOU

You’re likely to have:

• A commitment to social impact with strong understanding of impact maximisation and the nuances of charity evaluation from multiple worldviews. 
• Intellectual curiosity and openness: A willingness to consider alternative points of view, to follow good arguments wherever they lead, and an openness to changing your mind.
• Excellent analytical skills: Comfort expressing views numerically and working with systematic quantitative frameworks; understanding of, and the ability to build, quantitative models.
• Good knowledge and/or a keen interest in climate research (with the opportunity to play a key role in our Climate Change Fund, depending on your experience). 
• Good calibration: Knowledge of the extent of your own knowledge, and a good sense of how confident you should be in your beliefs.
• Clear writing: The ability to express nuanced evidence and complex concepts in a clear way.
• Conscientiousness and prioritisation skills: A willingness to work hard and to focus time on top priorities.
• Good judgement: For example, the ability to decide how long to spend on a project, or what sections to include in a report.
• The ability to work well with others, to communicate honestly and directly, and to be open to feedback.
• Willingness to work in a high-growth, dynamic start-up environment and be comfortable with ambiguity.
• The experience or potential to lead your own research, working independently (but we are open to candidates of varying seniority).

We’re especially interested in candidates with specific expertise in the following areas (please note, this is a ‘nice to have’ and by no means essential):

• Innovation policy in OECD economies
• Carbon removal
• Climate and energy in emerging economies
• China
• Energy systems

PLEASE NOTE: THIS IS A 2-STAGE APPLICATION PROCESS. TO APPLY, PLEASE (1) SUBMIT YOUR CV BY CLICKING APPLY FOR THIS POSITION BELOW AND (2) COMPLETE THIS ROLE-BASED QUESTIONNAIRE.

WHY WORK WITH US?

You can find more about the benefits we offer here, but what makes us truly special is both our mission and our people. We’re a diverse team, from both charitable and commercial backgrounds, who believe that amazing things can happen when we tackle problems together. We offer a flat structure and an opportunity to help shape the future of philanthropy.

We have a global flexible first approach to working. This means that there's no expectation for you to attend an office on a regular basis. At the same time, if you think you’d benefit from a desk in a co-working space close to your home, this can be arranged. Otherwise, you just need a great home wifi connection and we’ll provide you with everything else you need to be successful in your role.

On top of this, we’ll bring the global team together ​once per year (when it’s safe to do so)!

We are proud to be an equal opportunity employer and value diversity at Founders Pledge. We seek people with different strengths, experiences and backgrounds, who share our drive to understand and solve complex social challenges. We do not discriminate on the basis of race, religion, colour, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, age, marital status, veteran status, or disability status.

Finding solutions to the world’s most pressing problems requires different perspectives and unique ways of thinking and we are committed to building an inclusive and diverse workplace where everyone can do their best work.