Head of Climate Funds Research and Evaluation

What We Are Building: 

A climate solution investment intelligence platform that enables large-scale private, impact-focused, and public sector investors to readily allocate capital to the highest leverage climate investment opportunities while meeting risk/return objectives.

About Capital For Climate:  

Achieving a 1.5℃ outcome depends on providing the means to exponentially increase the speed of investment in the highest leverage climate solutions.  With $50 trillion of private capital engaged on climate and focused increasingly on net zero by 2050, there’s no shortage of capital. What capital lacks though is a compass and guide to the most important investments, the means to understand and source them, and a platform through which to vet and diligence potential commitments.    Capital For Climate was founded in 2019 to build a premier investor platform that can provide asset owners, financial institutions and public sector investors the landscape, navigational guide and real time intelligence required to confidently deploy capital to validated, impactful, and immediately investable climate solutions. There are more than a thousand talented investment managers globally across alternatives and green credit already focused on investment opportunities providing climate solutions.  However, due to over-intermediation and a fragmented market, they are not easily visible to climate-engaged allocators.  We aim to create transparency and to speed up commitments to institutional quality solution investment managers worldwide.  

We are seeking a motivated builder and leader to take on the critical role of Head of Funds/Vehicles Research and Evaluation.  A primary responsibility of this leader will be to oversee the continued buildout and maintenance of the most comprehensive intelligence system on climate-solution focused funds assembled to date.  This work spans funds investing in climate solutions in energy, industry, transportation, agriculture, forests/forestry, natural capital/biodiversity, the built environment/cities and CO2/GHG capture and conversion to value.  The role will report to the founding team and become a member of the senior leadership team. 

What you will be responsible for in this position:

• Build and maintain the definitive digital resource on funds, vehicles, large projects, prizes and incubators that are investing (or driving investment) in climate solutions aligned to C4C’s science-based roadmaps.  This will include assessment of fund alignment to the roadmap, fund portfolio summaries, manager evaluation, fund performance assessment and impact metrics assessment.

• Engage and incentivize the climate-forward GP community to provide their perspective and analysis to the asset owner community via C4C

• Engage with leading climate-focused investor networks and platform customers  to continuously improve the platform and user experience

• Manage fund manager relationships including vetting funds, providing oversight to fund diligence and soliciting input from GPs to evolve the platform over time to most effectively engage asset owners (LPs) and create the most value for GPs

• Maintain C4C knowledge of the funds universe in C4C’s professional network; commercial, NGO, public, and innovation center databases; and news sources to assure comprehensive scanning for fund and vehicle formation and launch data

• Collaborate with the platform architecture team to assure continuous improvement 

• Stay on top of developments in climate and impact investment globally, and engage with investment industry leaders to evaluate, analyze and report on trends in the space 

• Develop, research, and advise on the execution of climate investment strategies on behalf of asset owners and large asset managers

• Collaboratively develop knowledge products that can be monetized and become part of of the climate solution investment intelligence platform

• Write and publish timely research reports

The ideal candidate will have: 

• 15+ years of experience having worked in a funds research and/or manager selection role at a pension consultancy; in the research arm of a major financial institution; at a leading strategy consultancy, or finance think tank

• A proven track record of successfully leading and developing a team of fund/vehicle researchers or analysts, with international team management a plus

• Proven expertise evaluating, vetting, diligencing and recommending alternative asset investment vehicles with credit and green bond market knowledge a plus

• A passion for finding investment solutions to the climate crisis 

• Knowledge of the impact/ESG/climate/sustainability investment space and its evolution

• Technical experience with research design, methods and tools, including data architecture, open source, and quantitative and qualitative research methods

• Experience evaluating emerging climate/sustainability impact metrics tools and ESG analytics programs

• A+ written and verbal communication skills at the C-suite level, with media training a plus

• Education:  MBA or Master’s/PhD in Finance/Economics, sustainable finance, a hard science, or data science

• Nice to have: experience working in a high-growth, start-up environment 

Please include a cover letter with your application.

Due to volume of applications, only those candidates considered for an interview will be contacted. C4C is an equal opportunity employer. Qualified applicants will receive consideration without regard to their race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability, or status as a protected veteran.