East Asia Analyst

Analysis
Written By Anna Hughes

Job title: East Asia Analyst, Analysis

Location: London, UK (Hybrid, minimum 2 days per week in office)

Contract Type: Full-Time, Permanent 

Salary Grade: Grade C (£51,393 - £62, 469) depending on experience

About Us

We are a climate analytics not-for-profit established in 2021. We provide energy system modelling software and analysis to support efficient and effective energy transition planning. We are entirely grant-funded by the Quadrature Climate Foundation, Google.org, Sequoia Climate Foundation, Bloomberg Philanthropies, among others. Our data and software is used by developers, financiers, planners and think tanks internationally.

We are looking for an experienced energy systems analyst, familiar with modelling software and principles for electricity and other energy markets with a strong understanding of East Asian economies.  Proven fluency in Mandarin Chinese is mandatory, and an additional East Asian language desirable. At TransitionZero, we understand that diversity is an essential component of a successful team, whether that be diverse ways of thinking, personal, or professional backgrounds and skills. We aim to be the most talented not-for-profit in our vertical, spearheading innovative data solutions through our culture of inclusivity and adaptability.

Our people are our greatest asset, and the diverse skills and perspectives individuals bring to our organisation are the driving force of our success. As an equal opportunity employer, we do not discriminate based on any protected attribute. Our commitment is to provide equal opportunities, an inclusive work environment, and fairness to everyone. We will therefore consider all qualified applicants in the recruitment process as we welcome all the unique qualities and experiences that make you, you.

About the Role

The scope of our activities has expanded covering new themes and new geographies.  We have recently started work on an exciting project in partnership with Google.org investigating the implementation of hour-by-hour matching of carbon-free electricity (24/7 CFE) consumption against commissioned power purchase agreements. As part of this we will investigate working on Taiwan as one of our focus geographies. The successful candidate will  gather inputs from specialised local databases for a model to be used to project the future evolution of the Taiwanese power market, validate inputs against official high-level statistics and policy documents, run the model, and produce policy grade deliverables.

Upon completion of the project, the  successful candidate will continue to work on Taiwan or other countries, e.g. constructing modelling inputs and deliverables from information gathered from primary sources based on language ability, or engaging in other modelling and deliverable tasks within the Analysis team.

The working language at TransitionZero is English.

Responsibilities

The successful candidate will be part of the TransitionZero’s Analysis Team, reporting directly to the East Asia Lead Analyst, under the Head of Analysis.  

The role is primarily one of research, involving the identification of high quality quantitative and qualitative data, which will be integrated into our platforms with the assistance of our Data Team.  The analyst will be a user of our in-house software suite for energy systems modelling, and will frequently interface with colleagues from the Software team to further assist the development of our tools.  Finally, it will be the analyst’s responsibility to sense check model outputs, so that the output of the Analysis Team can showcase the strengths of our modelling tools.

Day-to-day the work will include the following activities:

  • Staying abreast of energy news in your region of focus

  • Gathering new data, or validating data gathered or outputs produced by other colleagues

  • Conducting and validating model runs

  • Drafting slides with model results

Short-term goals (6 months after joining):

  • By collaborating with our Data Team and other members of the Analysis team, in particular under the supervision of the East Asia Lead Analyst, to:

  • Consolidate historical and contemporary information about power plants, generation patterns, interconnector activity, and wholesale market prices and power sector emissions in Taiwan into our Data Warehouse

  • Produce an in-house view about future power demand, commodity prices and policy objectives for Taiwan

  • Finalise a bundle of model runs exploring the implementation of 24/7 CFE in Taiwan and produce a presentation explaining initial findings to our Working Group of external validators

  • Assist the East Asia Lead in identifying and recruiting external validators, and organising a Roadshow to the region to present in-person initial findings to external validators in closed door meeting

Long-term goals (12 months after joining):

  • Incorporate feedback gathered from the roadshow to refine modelling approach and model outputs

  • Update presentation deck with new findings

  • Assist the East Asia Lead in organising further roadshows, including a public event launching our findings for external consumption, with an emphasis on policy practitioners and market participants

  • Assist other Analysis colleagues with ongoing grants, and colleagues in other teams with cross-company collaboration

  • Assist TransitionZero in gaining new grants, by helping produce methodologies and project implementation schedules for new projects

About You:

You should be deeply curious about energy and efficient and effective energy transition planning. All of us at TransitionZero are passionate about the transition to an emissions-free world economy, and are looking for like-minded colleagues. In addition to seeking out people with a proactive, problem-solving attitude and an eye for detail, as a growing organisation, we greatly value collegiality and empathy for our coworkers. 

We welcome people with a proven ability to juggle multiple projects at a time and to collaborate across teams, some of whom are based outside of the UK. 

While we are a rapidly growing tech startup, we are also a non-profit, so a high level of adaptability and willingness to approach challenges with creativity and curiosity is essential.


Skills and Experience:

Essential

  • Proven business-level fluency in Mandarin Chinese, ideally familiar with reading both simplified and traditional characters

  • Familiarity with electricity markets, policy, modelling approaches and modelling software

  • In-depth familiarity with advanced Excel features, including pivoting and data cleaning

  • Ability to compose terse, effective slides, in compliance with company guidelines and standards

Skills & Abilities: 

  • An interest in sustainability and a desire to work in a start-up environment

  • Collaborative team player with good communication skills

  • Ability to self-organise work and contribute to team’s Agile way of working

Beneficial

Experience & Knowledge:

  • Prior experience in consulting or collaborative project work

  • Familiarity with overall energy markets, policy and modelling

  • Prior exposure to SQL

  • Some familiarity with coding, in particular Python

  • A network of energy sector contacts in Taiwan and ideally also Greater China

  • Comfortable to function in another East Asian or Southeast Asian (ASEAN) language

"Studies have shown that some people from marginalised or underrepresented groups are less likely to apply to a role unless they meet all of the hiring guidelines or qualifications.  Whoever you are, even if you don't meet all of the criteria, if you can demonstrate a variety of skills and experience relevant to this role, we encourage you to apply as you might just be the candidate we hire! At TransitionZero, we're looking for people who are genuinely passionate about what they do, and we welcome all people, regardless of their background.

If you would like to discuss any reasonable adjustments to the application or hiring process that may better facilitate your participation, please contact Stephanie Ajimokun (stephanie.a@transitionzero.org) for an informal chat. We will make every effort to respond to your request for assistance as soon as possible.

Application Process:

Pre-screening with a member of the Operations team

Stage 1: Intro call with Alex Luta (Lead East Asia Analyst)

Stage 2: You will be asked to complete an assessment, which is followed by a technical interview focused on the assessment brief, your experience, and skills, with members of the Analysis team

Stage 3: Final interview with Matt Gray (CEO) and Laura O’Neill (People Operations Manager)

Salary and Benefits:

  • Competitive salary based on experience

  • 25 days annual leave (excluding UK public holidays) and an additional day off on your birthday

  • Annual Winter Office Closure

  • 20 days annual allowance to work from anywhere in the world

  • Hybrid working and core working hours model

  • Allowance to set up your home office

  • Annual budget and dedicated leave time for relevant training courses

  • Enhanced gender-neutral parental leave (4 months full paid)

  • Private healthcare following successful completion of the probation period

  • Twice yearly offsites


    To apply, please visit https://transitionzero.typeform.com/ea-analyst

Anna Hughes