Nature Opportunities Engagement Associate

About Global Canopy

Global Canopy is a data-driven not for profit delivering real transparency and accountability for market impacts on nature and people. Our special focus is on ending deforestation – an essential step in achieving urgent global goals on climate, nature and human rights.

Shifting financial flows from enabling nature destruction towards activities that credibly support nature protection and restoration is crucial. Global Canopy is working to enable the mobilisation of investment at scale into activities that deliver positive outcomes for nature and people, and to reverse the current imbalance, where financial flows to nature-destroying activities sit at USD7 trillion while financial flows towards Nature-based Solutions remain at USD230 billion.

Turning this tide requires both reducing financial flows to nature-negative activities and significantly scaling up finance for activities that deliver for nature and people.

About Nature-Positive

Nature-Positive is a new, exciting and extremely ambitious programme within Global Canopy and we work closely with likeminded partners, including Oxford University, UNEP Finance Initiative, and UNEP’s State of Finance for Nature initiative.

We also work closely with other teams across Global Canopy, bringing the organisation’s longstanding expertise and market-leading data for finance and corporate supply chains, and nature, deforestation and human rights impacts.

Our very first project under the Nature-Positive Transitions programme, in partnership with the Nature Positive Hub at the University of Oxford, focuses on building the data infrastructure to enable credibility and comparability in assessing nature-related opportunities.

To ensure that the data infrastructure we deliver supports investor decision-making, we are establishing an engagement workstream to steer the technical work, inform the final data offering, and build capacity in the sector to test new modalities of nature investing. The engagement workstream will bring together a small but ambitious group of private wealth holders, operating as champions, and a wider group of institutional asset owners, initially as observers.

About the Role

We are looking for an Engagement Associate to manage the engagement workstream in close collaboration with the Nature Positive Lead and suits someone who believes in the financial sector's role in supporting the transition to a nature-positive economy, prioritises business models that deliver for nature and people, and has experience conveying nature-related, finance-relevant matters to the financial sector.

The project’s engagement workstream is key to supporting the successful development and delivery of the technical workstream, and we are seeking someone to play a leading role in developing and maintaining a network of key target audiences throughout the project.

Engagement and network building (70%)

• Develop, maintain and deliver the project’s engagement plan in alignment with the project strategy
• Plan and organise the meetings, one-to-one engagements and events associated with the engagement workstream to enable the delivery of the project’s strategy.
• Identify and recruit relevant investors (both private wealth holders and institutional asset owners) to participate in the project working groups and committees, in consultation with the Nature Positive Lead.
• Coordinate consultations, information sharing, and involvement of project partners, including the University of Oxford and Just Climate, as appropriate.
• Keep the investor network informed of relevant project progress and maintain buy-in to the project’s objectives.
• Maintain decision-useful information on project-related engagement progress in the CRM system.
• Maintain a map of programme-relevant initiatives and allies and include relevant engagement priorities with these stakeholders in the engagement plan.
• Coordinate project consultations with the network of initiatives and allies, particularly to ensure methodological alignment, support and avoid duplication with these allies and initiatives.

Events and communications support (20%)

• Organise programmatic events involving the network of investors convened by the project, in collaboration with the project team and GC Communications team.
• Collaborate with the Communications team on opportunities to showcase the project, to produce and advise on messaging and mentions about the project (e.g. on social media), and to review relevant statements as necessary

Strategy and fundraising (10%)

• Contribute to funder reporting and MEL, especially on the engagement workstream.
• Contribute to programmatic fundraising efforts and the ongoing development of the Nature-Positive Strategy.
• Represent Global Canopy as an organisation in external meetings and events.

Requirements

To be successful in the role, these are the things that will matter most:

• Excellent relationship management and external communications experience working with demanding stakeholders.
• Ability to identify target audiences, to support and motivate active network members, and to convert passive/reluctant contacts into active network members by engaging on potentially challenging topics with warmth, credibility and nuance.
• Demonstrable experience credibly engaging with the financial sector on nature and/or biodiversity themes.
• Excellent verbal communication skills in English.
• Demonstrable, significant experience of delivering on a multi-year action plan in an area relevant to private wealth and/or financial sector engagement.
• Experience planning and delivering events that bring together external stakeholders.

Essential behavioural competencies

• Demonstrable alignment with the project’s vision and mission, as well as Global Canopy’s strategy, through education and experience in nature, sustainability, and/or finance.
• Proactive, resilient and self-motivated
• Intellectually curious and willing to learn and progress through areas where they are less knowledgeable
• Collaborative but able to work independently and with a view to continuous improvement

Desirable

• Experience working with private wealth holders and/or family offices.
• Experience working for an organisation with a global scope
• Familiarity with the nexus between human rights and nature-related issues.

Benefits

Salary: £42,000 full time equivalent. This role sits within Band D on Global Canopy’s remuneration framework.

Nature of contract: Full-time, permanent.

Base: Our office is in Oxford, with flexible home-working arrangements in place. Attendance at the office would be required once a month at minimum (and twice a month during initial probation period). Right-to-work in the UK is required for this position.

Holidays: 36 days (including bank/public holidays) for discretionary use across the annual leave year. Option to purchase up to an additional 5 days or equivalent of one week’s leave.

Pension: Employer pension contribution of 8%.

Healthcare cashback plan: Covering dental fees, eye-care, wellbeing, physiotherapy, chiropody and much more – for you and any children.

Employee Assistance Programme: Which provides free, confidential advice on personal and legal matters.

Other: Huge range of discounts and cashback deals at gyms, restaurants, holidays, and much more.

How to Apply

To apply for the position, please submit your CV and answers the following three questions designed to assess your personal experience and judgement. Please answer in your own words, based on real situations you've been part of. We may follow up on specific details in the interview.

• Describe one engagement activity you planned for an asset owner or institutional stakeholder. Include: the type of institution involved, one specific logistical or relationship challenge you had to solve, and one thing you would do differently if you ran it again. (max 250 words)
• Imagine an asset owner asks you: 'Why should a pension fund care about biodiversity loss when our mandate is financial returns?' Write the actual reply you would send them in email or briefing note format as if this is going directly to that stakeholder. (max 150 words)
• Why is this role at Global Canopy an attractive opportunity at this point in your career? (max 150 words)

The closing date for applications is Monday, 19 October at 9am BST. Early application encouraged. We may close applications early if enough suitable candidates are identified.

The recruitment process for this position is intended to be as follows:

• First-round interview of 30 mins (to be held w/c 26 October)
• Written assessment to complete in your own time
• Final interview of 1 hour (to be held w/c 16 November)

This recruitment process will take place online via video. The entire process is likely to take 5 weeks to complete from the closing date of this advert. Due to the volume of interest, we are unable to provide all applicants with individual feedback.