Overview

OVERVIEW

• Role: Catalyses the formation of the CC Insights division aimed at keeping Conservation Capital at the forefront of its field, developing its IP and providing project research support
• Position: full time, mid-career position
• Location: Edinburgh, United Kingdom
• Application deadline: 31^st August 2019 

ABOUT CONSERVATION CAPITAL

Conservation Capital (www.conservation-capital.com) is a leader in the rapidly developing field of commercial conservation enterprise and related investment financing. Our work is both important and exciting – it drives innovation, changes mindsets and is organised around two principal disciplines:

Sustainable Ecosystems: To endure, natural ecosystems – together with the critical services they provide – need to prove their economic, social and political relevance. We design, build and support the implementation of smart business plans for terrestrial and marine conservation areas. Our approach uses commercial business and innovative institutional structures to support the long-term financial and ecological health of these natural environments. Our project areas range from single sites, through to entire conservation landscapes and networks of protected areas.

Innovative Finance: Across the globe, there is a chronic shortage of funding for nature conservation. Consequently, there is an urgent need for new private sector investment approaches to improve efficiency and supplement traditional public and philanthropic funding. The accelerating trend for impact and ESG investing, coupled with new regulations targeting biodiversity management obligations, are creating new opportunities for conservation finance. We operate at the forefront of this field, researching, designing and incubating innovative financing mechanisms that raise and invest new capital into a range of progressive conservation projects and businesses.

Our current team combines decades of experience in finance, commerce, law and management with a passion for the natural world, bringing the rigour of corporate finance and business development to high priority conservation initiatives.

While we are a small, boutique firm, our track record points to our impact: we have helped raise and structure more than US$ 250 million across nearly 100 conservation initiatives and businesses in more than 25 countries that:

• Generate more than US$ 50 million in annual commercial revenues;
• Deliver more than US$ 15 million p.a. in direct cash contributions for conservation management;
• Sustain more than 2,500 jobs;
• Are a primary source of further income for more than 150,000 people, mostly from marginalised rural communities; and
• Directly support the conservation of millions of acres of vital habitat.

The conservation and related business initiatives that we have supported have been nominated for more than 50 national and international conservation and related social impact awards.

THE ROLE

Conservation Capital is seeking to appoint a driven Research & Development Analyst to manage its new CC Insights function. This will be central to Conservation Capital’s ambitions to retain, extend and leverage its established global thought leadership in the rapidly emerging conservation enterprise and financing arena.

• Front Line Client Team Support: Supporting client teams on a case by case basis with subject matter research and related presentation needs as relevant to each assignment concerned.
• Direct Bespoke Client Projects: Servicing specific client research and presentation requests, and working with the Conservation Capital leadership team to promote and build this capability.
• Internal ‘IP’ Capture & Management: Ensuring that all ‘IP’ generated by the company is constantly captured, organised and presented in a manner that ensures that there is no operational ‘reinventing of wheels’ on a go forward basis.
• Thought Leadership – Fundamentals: Ensuring that all core knowledge relevant to Conservation Capital’s work and the ability of its people to consistently present themselves as informed and engaged professionals in this field is clearly summarised, kept up to date and made readily and easily accessible at all times.
• Thought Leadership – New Frontiers: Working with the Conservation Capital leadership team always to ensure that the company is anticipating, developing (or accessing) newly emerging, ‘front of the wave’ knowledge relevant to its field of work.
• Internal Content Management: Ensuring that all Conservation Capital’s internal communication materials and tools are up to date and of a high quality.
• Database Management: Ensuring that all the information generated within CC Insights is presented and organised in a manner that optimises efficient accessibility by the wider Conservation Capital team at all times.
• Training Support: Supporting access to, and the development of, training and development materials for new joiners

THE PERSON

• Research: An inquiring and creative mind combined with an outstanding ability to use a variety of research tools and processes to generate the very best possible information required to fulfil the needs of this role.
• Synthesis: An ability to distil large amounts of information on any given subject matter down to its most relevant and synthesised components.
• Presentation and Communication: An ability to organise and present these components in a clear, concise and easily digestible written (electronic) form.
• Team and Service Orientated: A strong team ethic recognising the essence of CC Insights as a support function to Conservation Capital’s wider work flow.
• Organisational Skills: a highly structured approach to managing and delivering required workstreams.
• Passion: a strong and inherent interest in solving some of the globe’s most pressing conservation challenges.
• Ambition: the ability to engage with a small but pioneering and well-respected company and help grow it into what is an increasingly significant and front-line space.

COMPENSATION

To be determined based on the experience and quality of the successful candidate. Conservation Capital believes that a clear opportunity exists for the successful candidate to rapidly build the value of CC Insights within Conservation Capital, and therefore the basis for the agreed starting remuneration to grow accordingly.

APPLICATION

If you are interested, please send a full CV plus a one-page letter for the attention of Barbara Mayer at applications@conservation-capital.com headed ‘Research & Development Analyst – CC Insights – Expression of Interest’ explaining why, and what value you would hope to bring to the role. The application deadline is 31^st August 2019.