Climate Risk and Value Creation - Associate

Role Overview

The AWM Private Climate Strategy platform plays a critical role in meeting climate regulations and providing expert advice, programs, tools, and capabilities, and strategic direction on climate throughout the division. Operating across Private Equity, Private Credit, Real Estate, Infrastructure, and Growth business sleeves, the platform aims to broadly share best practices, advise investment teams and divisional leadership, develop strategic partnerships, and enable investors and portfolio companies to meet climate-related regulations, client requirements and objectives. As part of the AWM Private's Sustainability & Impact team, the Climate Risk and Value Creation Associate will play a crucial role in developing the Climate Strategy platform and will support key components of the division's risk, regulatory, and reporting activities on climate as well as value creation activities, reporting to the Head of Climate Strategy for AWM Private.

• Support the development of strategic frameworks for integrating the challenges and opportunities that climate change and the global energy transition may present to our business and investments. This role will act as an in-house expert and engage across the business, division, and firm.
• Act as a crucial first-line risk manager to ensure alignment with evolving regulatory requirements, stakeholder expectations, and internal procedures.
• Engage on value creation projects as a strategic thought and execution partner with portfolio companies and Client deal teams.
• This role will support the Head of Climate Strategy for AWM Private.

Key Responsibilities

• Lead day-to-day work on rollout of transition and physical risk analytics, including supporting the ongoing development and improvement of analytics, socialization and educational materials, and process integration into deal lifecycles, with guidance from the Head of Climate Strategy.
• Advance value creation frameworks, tools, and advisory touches with portfolio companies on resilience, decarbonization, and product-related topics.
• Monitor cross-regional regulatory requirements in climate and ensure climate risk, transition planning, and other related value acceleration programs appropriately reflect requirements.
• Manage processes and relationships on regular GHG and climate risk reporting relationships at a fund and portfolio company level.
• Oversee appropriate documentation, implementation, and road-mapping of quantitative improvements to tools and resources for portfolio companies and deal teams.
• Advance communication and formalization of climate-related process integration through the development of management-level presentations.
• Support bespoke and systematic diligence related to climate risk and opportunity assessments.
• Support vendor relationship management with reporting and analytics providers, including the development of partnerships as needed across new capability areas.
• Ensure alignment of reporting practices with regulatory requirements and standards as a first line of defense.
• Act as a subject matter expert and frontline risk advisor for deal teams, other sustainability team members, and portfolio companies.

Education Qualifications

The ideal candidate will possess the following qualifications and key skills:

• At least 2-3 years of experience in Financial Services or an investing related field and 5+ years of experience overall.
• Strong demonstrated quantitative background and capabilities, with the ability to work in Excel and translate analytical concepts into documentation and to technical teams.
• Willingness to dig up sleeves, build tools, and advance stakeholder conversations a must.
• Experience developing executive-level written communication materials, strong relationship and stakeholder management skills.
• Ability and willingness to quickly learn, deal with ambiguity, and adapt to changing circumstances.
• Knowledge of climate-related scenario analysis, GHG accounting, decarbonization, resilience, reporting and target-setting frameworks.
• Prior experience in a climate-related role in strategy, program management, risk management, or reporting strongly preferred.
• A technical or hands-on background in engineering, energy efficiency, resilience preferred.