Head of Research

Job title - Head of Research

Job level - 3 (Lead)

Salary - £60-70k (DOE)

Team - Market Intelligence Research, Technical Development

Reporting to - Director of Technical Development

Direct reports - Market Intelligence research team, matrix responsibility for market related research reports

Purpose

To ensure the strategic relevance and authoritative market positioning of Climate Bonds’ market intelligence research and publications on green, sustainable, and transition debt finance, working in close collaboration with Director of Technical Development

The Global Research Lead will manage the Market Intelligence research pipeline to ensure that projects are adequately resourced and delivered on time, whilst maintaining quality assurance and optimising the standard of market research reports and publications. This will include working across the organisation in a coaching role, to assist in upskilling research and report writing skills whilst ensuring time management efficiencies.

Duties & responsibilities

- Manage and lead and develop the Market Intelligence Research team with oversight for all market related research reports to always ensure high quality standards and consistent messaging.

- Coaching and upskilling team members across the organisation to improve research, writing and time management skills.

- Collaborate with the Director of Technical Development to establish and set strategic goals for the team and translate these to individual SMART goals and objectives.

- Develop new ideas and test them against Climate Bonds and team-level strategic objectives and write the best-fitting ones into concept notes and proposals.

- Resource allocation of team members, working closely with Project Owners to understand their deliverables and timescales.

- Together with key stakeholders, including Commercial, PMO, and Communications teams, design and manage the Market Intelligence research pipeline and workflow including, Market surveys, periodic global and regional market updates, sector-specific and thematic research (e.g. hard-to-abate sector transitions, use of proceeds and impact, agri-foods)

- Ensure adequate resourcing and funding for all Market Intelligence research projects, including, as appropriate: Drafting project and programme budgets and involvement in proposal discussion and negotiations with partners/funders

- Ensure work is delivered according to agreed timelines

- Contribute views to methodology development for new and existing products.

- Disseminate key research ideas and findings to internal and external stakeholder groups to maximise the reach and impact of outputs.

- Help set key success metrics for research outputs (e.g. audience, reach, impact), utilise data from Communications and Commercial teams to assess effectiveness, and recalibrate activities where appropriate.

- Contribute to analyses of the competitive positioning of Climate Bonds market intelligence; use outputs to contribute to new product development and improvements in existing offerings together with relevant team Heads and other key staff.

- Represent Climate Bonds in expert groups, events, and other avenues for stakeholder engagement and promotion of Market Intelligence research publications

- Escalate any issues or technical questions to the Director of Technical Development to funnel to the technical committee or other relevant SLT committees for consideration

- Any other duties as required.

Key Relationships

Market Intelligence team: Supervise and contribute to the structure, content, and production of research reports. Oversee and support on the development of new research products including the Transition Plan Monitor.

Head of Technical Development: Support the Director of Technical Development in the achievement of team-level strategic objectives.

Commercial team: collaborate to foster and maintain excellent relationships with existing sponsors of publications and to engage potential ones, including by collaborating on new avenues of research.

Work with Fundraising and Programme Design team and Director of Climate Services to ensure funding opportunities are identified and secured for research output

Finance team: collaborate to track the financial status of the projects comprising the research pipeline.

Certification team: regularly to understand the latest bond/other debt issuance and disclosure practices and to make consistent decisions on eligible instruments and other contentious cases.

Communications team: collaborating on pipeline management , including blogs, publications, webinars, and report launches. Collaborate to ensure consistent messaging, maintain Climate Bonds market leader positioning, and maximise brand value.

· Collaborate on prioritisation of reports with Comms and pipeline/production coordinator

· Quality Assurance of all market related research to ensure all reports meet the expected standard prior to publication and release

Country and regional teams: collaborate on thematic research focused on individual countries/regions (e.g. ASEAN, China, Japan, India), and engage with local stakeholders such as issuers, SPO providers and other data providers and clients.

Policy team: support with data analysis and collaborate to map out partnership opportunities and new projects.

Current sponsors: engaging with existing research/publication sponsors and collaborators and support their information dissemination and idea development work.

Potential sponsors: engaging with potential sponsors by contributing to sales discussions and pitches for individual research publications, or publications as part of larger programmes.

Potential collaborators: participating in discussions about data collaboration / exchange activities for research purposes.

Industry bodies and research associations

· Representing Climate Bonds’ research externally in relevant forums and events (e.g. ICMA subgroups)

Maintaining and developing relationships with peers and other entities engaged in research on the sustainable debt capital market

Requirements

Essential

Qualifications

- Degree educated in relevant subject or equivalent

Experience

- Coaching/mentoring skills

- Competent in strategic planning and SMART objective setting

- Market intelligence research and publications on green, sustainable, and transition finance, with an emphasis on fixed income.

Skills and Competencies

· Self-motivated and enthusiastic, proven ability to deliver a pipeline of work in the required timeframe

- Knowledge of sustainable debt market development and trends, and relevant instruments

· An appreciation of the risks and implications of climate change for the whole economy

· Comprehension of green finance initiatives, environmental disclosure requirements, as well as local green finance regulations (e.g. EU taxonomy)

· Proven ability to research and analyse large quantities of information across different data fields

· Rigorous attention to detail

· Strong written and verbal communication skills

· A collegiate and enthusiastic attitude; a team player mindset

Desirable

· Experience of working with a multi-cultural team and across time zones

· Experience in working with a range of fixed income stakeholders, and strong negotiation and engagement skills

- Foreign language skills

Benefits

• Impactful responsibilities from the day you join with responsibility for your own learning curve, the role is what you make of it and the possibilities depend on you.
• Amazing opportunities for career progression and structured career development – we’ll work with you to explore your learning development and career potential

• We offer a structured and bespoke induction programme specifically suited to the team you’ll be joining and the specific role you’ll be doing. During your first few months, you’ll be given all the training you need to succeed in your role.
• Opportunity to attend a series of Lunch and Learns, delivered by internal subject matter experts and external guest speakers

• An international and diverse work atmosphere

• The chance to be part of our rapid growth and play a key role in the next exciting phase of Climate Bonds Initiative journey

• Everyone that joins us is given the opportunity to undertake our signature GSS+ Bonds Training, which is recognised and certified by CPD.