Research Analyst

Job title: Research Analyst

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

Contract Type: Full-Time, Permanent

Salary Grade: Grade B - C (£46,805 - £68,995)

About us

We are a climate analytics nonprofit established in 2021. We provide system modelling data, software and analysis to support energy transition planning and decision-making. We are grant-funded by the Quadrature Climate Foundation, Google.org, Sequoia Climate Foundation, Bloomberg Philanthropies, and European Climate Foundation, among others. Our data, software and analysis is used by developers, financiers, planners and think tanks internationally.

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 nonprofit in our vertical, spearheading innovative data solutions through our culture of inclusivity and adaptability. Now we are looking for an experienced Research Analyst, to focus on Heavy Industry.

Our people are our greatest asset, and the diverse experience, skills and perspectives individuals bring to our organisation are the driving force of our success. 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

Heavy industry activity contributes around a quarter of global anthropogenic emissions, yet unlike the power sector, data remains sparse and inaccurate. TransitionZero is attempting to address this problem as a member of Climate TRACE, a coalition of non-profits founded by former U.S. Vice President Al Gore, which offers a global, independent inventory of greenhouse gas emissions. We use earth observation methods to estimate productivity and emissions from heavy industry facilities in regions where data is unavailable, untimely or unreliable.

TransitionZero has been a core member of Climate TRACE since its inception in 2021, providing emissions estimates for the steel, cement, aluminium, pulp & paper, and chemicals subsectors. To build on our remote sensing tooling, we have recently started work on an exciting project exploring potential pathways to reduce emissions from the steel industry using an open-source energy system modelling package.

We are looking for a Research Analyst to assist with this project and overall grant deliverables by researching data sources, gathering inputs, maintaining our datasets, helping to run our steel model, and analysing and validating the outputs. You will work with data across all of the listed sectors, with a particular focus on steel. In addition, you will engage with relevant stakeholders and develop occasional ‘Explainers’ and ‘Updates’. ‘Explainers’ are informative and educational, demystifying aspects of the energy system, either in a specific sector or country. ‘Updates’ are short analyses that provide insights for a focus country/region making use of TransitionZero’s in-house data and tools.

The successful candidate will work in collaboration with members of the Data Team and Analysis Team under the supervision of the grant lead and team member leading the Heavy Industry workstream.

The responsibilities of the successful candidate will include:

Short-term goals (~6 months after joining)

• Consolidate historical and contemporary information about heavy industry demand projections, production capacity, emissions factors, technology costs, raw material supply sources, commodity prices etc. into our Data Warehouse
• Contribute to updating our global steel and cement geodatasets using in-house satellite imagery tooling to identify asset production and technology types
• Validate and produce analyses of emissions outputs delivered to Climate TRACE
• Engage with relevant domain-specific stakeholders and users of our Climate TRACE data

Long-term goals (~12 months after joining)

• Finalise a bundle of model runs exploring different decarbonisation pathways in the Japanese steel sector based on selected scenarios.
• Produce ‘Explainers’ and ‘Updates’ for a focus country/region or topic showcasing the use of in-house data and tools
• Assist with linking our steel model to our electricity system module, allowing for a more spatially detailed and granular representation of power needs. Over time, assist with adding modules for other commodities, such as natural gas and hydrogen, progressively evolving towards a comprehensive energy model.

Responsibilities

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 team can showcase the strengths of our modelling tools.

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

• Staying abreast of heavy industry & energy news
• Gathering new data, or validating data gathered or outputs produced by other colleagues
• Conducting and validating model runs
• Drafting slides with model results

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:

• Exceptional communication skills in English: writing (for research reports), reading (for conducting research), and speaking (for occasional presentations).
• Proven ability to gather key information through both digital research and direct human engagement
• Strong quantitative abilities, proficiency in Excel, and confidence working with large datasets and models.
• Sharp analytical thinking, with the ability to identify meaningful patterns in data, critically evaluate industry claims, and ask insightful questions.
• Data visualisation skills
• Keen attention to detail and a proactive approach to developing new data-driven insights.
• Bachelor’s degree
• 3-6 years of experience in a relevant sector.

We’d love to see:

• Post-graduate qualifications or professional experience in steel decarbonisation, mining, material sciences, commodities trading
• High proficiency in coding with SQL and Python with the goal of gathering, processing, and analyzing data
• Prior domain knowledge of heavy industries, particularly steel, is desirable, but we encourage you to apply if you have experience in the wider energy sector.

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 our People team (people@transitionzero.org) for an informal chat. We will make every effort to respond to your request for assistance as soon as possible.

Salary and benefits

• Competitive salary based on experience
• Enhanced pension scheme
• 25 days annual leave (excluding UK public holidays) and an additional day off on your birthday
• 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
• Yearly team offsite