Job Description

Company Description

It is said that \xe2\x80\x9cmoney makes the world go around\xe2\x80\x9d but the global financial system in its current form is in danger of making our world a very inhospitable place for future generations.

Today, the global financial system has a huge impact on many of the existential challenges we face. These include biodiversity loss, climate change and the growing gap between rich and poor in terms of both income and health. Investment, lending, and insuring decisions can enable destructive and exploitative industries, or they can support a transition to a more sustainable way of living and use of precious resources. ShareAction believes responsible investors must consider both social and environmental impacts as seriously as financial risk and return.

ShareAction\'s vision is of a world where the financial system serves our planet and its people. Our mission is to define the highest standards of responsible investment and to drive change until these standards are adopted worldwide. We work towards our mission by:

• advocating for change in the investment industry using our research and rankings
• campaigning with allies to strengthen investor stewardship and change corporate behaviour
• pushing for public policy reform to transform the financial system

Position

ShareAction\'s Financial Sector Research team works towards holding financial institutions accountable for their impact on climate change, human rights, biodiversity loss, and other important issues, by:

• Researching the sector\'s current performance and producing reports and rankings, covering

, , * Carrying out an annual workstream on

• Engaging individually with relevant institutions and providing them with detailed recommendations for improvement
• Monitoring how these recommendations are taken up between each survey

Working alongside six other researchers, you would contribute to ShareAction\'s key reports ranking financial institutions. This involves collecting information from institutions and databases, analysing quantitative and qualitative data, producing engaging graphics to communicate results and translating this analysis into actionable steps for financial institutions to take. You would collaborate with teams across ShareAction and may join meetings with financial institutions, other NGOs, or regulators, to discuss this research.

You would be joining us at an incredibly exciting time. ShareAction has grown considerably, and the issues we work on are being taken increasingly seriously by industry and government. The Financial Sector Research team is publishing the next major survey of the insurance industry in 2024, checking if these \xe2\x80\x9cguardians of risk\xe2\x80\x9d are truly taking account of urgent global problems. We\'re also pressing on with our annual shareholder voting work: setting and monitoring , and measuring how asset managers vote across a broader range of environmental and social resolutions at key global companies. You could meaningfully influence this research.

In this rapidly evolving field, we are looking for people with excellent research and communication skills, and passion to make a difference, to join our team.

Key responsibilities:

• Supporting with the development of ranking frameworks, and conducting data collection and auditing, quantitative and qualitative analysis, report writing, and presenting our research
• Contributing to shorter \xe2\x80\x9cprogress update\xe2\x80\x9d surveys of financial institutions between ranking reports, and associated monitoring and evaluation work
• Contributing to our Resolutions to Watch and Voting Matters projects
• Contacting and maintaining relationships with financial institutions to invite them to participate in our research
• Responding to queries about the research process from financial institutions
• Participating in the development of personalised feedback sheets for post-survey engagement, and generalised recommendations with examples of leading practice
• Organising, participating in and/or taking notes during follow-up meetings with financial institutions
• Conducting exploratory research covering topic areas or sets of financial institutions which may be new to the team
• Supporting the team by contributing information for fundraising bids and reports
• Providing input to responses representing ShareAction\'s views on responsible investment-related topics to a range of public, private, and civil society consultations

One of the successful candidates will primarily work on shareholder voting, while the other will primarily work on the surveys and the associated \xe2\x80\x9cprogress update\xe2\x80\x9d monitoring surveys. There is room for overlap.

Please note that responsibilities may be adjusted from time to time depending on the needs of the team/project.

Requirements

We welcome anyone who shares our enthusiasm for responsible investment. Please feel free to apply even if you\'re not sure you tick every box!

Essential

• Any kind of experience conducting research, corporate campaigning, or working with the finance sector
• A broad understanding of how the financial sector works, and how financial institutions can have an impact on environmental and social issues
• Excellent analytical skills, attention to detail, and a proven ability to conduct qualitative and quantitative research
• Excellent organisational skills, proven ability to manage competing demands while still meeting deadlines
• Strong communication skills in written and spoken English
• A high degree of familiarity with Microsoft Office applications, particularly Word, Excel and PowerPoint
• Strong teamwork skills, the ability to work collaboratively
• The desire to join a dynamic, creative team using data and evidence to drive change
• A passion for ShareAction\'s vision and mission

Desirable

• Subject matter knowledge in climate change, biodiversity or human/labour rights
• Knowledge of/experience with the finance sector; an understanding of responsible investment and its implications for different types of financial institutions
• Advanced Excel skills
• Any experience programming
• Experience with managing relationships with external stakeholders
• Experience with Microsoft Office 365, particularly SharePoint
• Experience with CRM systems, ideally Salesforce

Other information

Hours: Full-time, but with some flexibility possible

Who it reports to: Research Manager - Financial Sector

Salary: \xc2\xa331,700 - \xc2\xa337,640 + 8% pension contribution

Deadline for applications: 9am, Monday 7th August

Interview dates: First round week commencing 14th of August

Second round week commencing 21st of August

ShareAction values and respects all differences in people (seen and unseen) and welcome applications from all backgrounds, communities and industries. We are committed to having a team that is made up of diverse skills, experiences and abilities and so if you are not 100 per cent sure that you meet all the requirements but believe you could excel in this role, we encourage you to apply and use the application questions to tell us about your experience and what you hope to bring to this role.

We also actively encourage staff to work in ways that best suit their needs and our flexible working policy outlines many of the options available- such as part-time and term-time working, job sharing, home working and working compressed hours. Please talk to us at the interview about the flexibility you need. We can\'t promise to give you exactly what you want, but we do promise not to judge you for asking.

Please note that to be considered for this post you must be legally eligible to work in the UK. Due to current restrictions we are unable to hire anyone that isn\'t already living in the UK. Due to our size we are unable to sponsor visas.

ShareAction