Senior Research Officer - Banking Standards

ShareAction is an independent charity and an expert on responsible investment. We work to build a world where the financial system serves our planet and its people. We set ambitious standards for how financial institutions, through their investment decisions, can protect our planet and its people and campaign for this approach to become the norm. We convene shareholders to collectively push companies to tackle climate crisis, protect nature, improve workers’ rights and shape healthier societies. In the UK and EU, we advocate for financial regulation that has society’s best interests at its core.

What you’ll do (key responsibilities)

The Banking Standards team works with banks, investors, NGOs, and other stakeholders to ensure that the banking sector takes responsibility for its impact on people and planet. We have a history of campaigning on key aspects of banks’ climate strategies–such as their emission reduction targets or their fossil fuel policies–and we are gradually expanding our campaigning, research, and engagement work to other sustainability themes and banking regulation.

You will be joining us at an exciting time when there is rising interest in how banks are addressing climate change and fostering the transition to a fairer, cleaner, and safer world. We have achieved significant wins lately, such as contributing to HSBC becoming the world’s largest bank to cease financing for new oil and gas fields, Barclays to dramatically cut its oil sands financing, and mobilising investors to call on Societe Generale to set a renewable energy target.

We are a fast-paced team and are looking for someone with excellent organisational, research and interpersonal skills, who is proactive and has a genuine passion for making a difference.

As a Senior Research Officer, you will analyse banks’ positions on climate change among other themes such as biodiversity. You will also conduct research on related industry standards and market developments. Together with a Senior Research Manager and Research Manager, you will translate these insights into actionable recommendations for banks and investors engaging with banks. Your research will also contribute to shaping climate and sustainability standards for the banking sector.

If you would like to get a feel of the research that we do, have a look at our assessment framework of bank’s climate plans, our banking survey, and our oil and gas expansion report.

Specifically, you will support the following areas of work:

• Assessing banks’ climate commitments and conducting ad-hoc research on bank’s climate performance to generate insights that support campaigning needs and ongoing dialogue with key stakeholders;
• Maintaining an internal database tracking banks’ sector policies and climate targets, enabling accurate and efficient use across various research and campaigning activities;
• Drafting investor briefings and similar research materials in close collaboration with campaigners to support engagement with focus banks, members of our investor coalitions, journalists, and others;
• Once comfortable in the role, presenting research to banks and providing technical expertise during calls with banks, investors, and other key stakeholders with support from others in the team;
• Conducting thematic research to inform ShareAction’s position and recommendations on climate change and other sustainability themes;
• Contributing to the development of a survey methodology, collecting data, and analysing feedback to produce ShareAction’s banking benchmark (see for example the 2022 In Debt to the Planet report);
• Working closely with our communications team to coordinate press and social media around publications, and providing ad-hoc research support to the media team;
• Assisting in the submissions of responses to external consultations and taking ownership of consultations in specific areas of expertise;
• Supporting our engagement workstream by helping organise webinars, sending research reports to banks, and helping colleagues answer banks and investors’ technical research questions;
• On an ad-hoc basis, support other areas of work in the banking team such as filing shareholder resolutions, drafting investor letters and AGM questions, and other operational needs.

Please note that this list is not exhaustive and the role might change slightly from time to time

What you’ll bring to the team

• Knowledge of climate change issues and/or the banking sector;
• Passion to hold banks accountable for their impact on people and planet, and averting the worst consequences of the climate crisis.
• Excellent analytical skills – ability to quickly get to grips with new and complex subject areas, assimilate information, and pull out the relevant points;
• Excellent attention to detail and a commitment to accuracy;
• Comfortable doing quantitative and qualitative research;
• Excellent written and oral communication skills – ability to adapt writing style for a range of different audiences, and to present ideas and concepts effectively and persuasively;
• Excellent organisational and time management skills - ability to work under pressure, plan, and prioritise work effectively and meet deadlines;
• Comfortable planning or leading sub-areas of research where agreed with oversight from the Senior Research Manager;
• Great team player, willing to help support projects for the banking campaign on an ad-hoc basis, such as the filing of resolutions, and drafting of AGM questions (if needed);

It would also be great – but not essential - if you have:

• Experience using financial databases such as Eikon and Bloomberg, or picking up new types of technologies or software quickly.
• Experience developing and/or managing a database using Excel or other applications;
• Knowledge and interest in biodiversity and the financial sector;
• Experience working with CRM systems, ideally Salesforce;
• Basic knowledge of data protection regulations / GDPR.

While we hope we’ll find someone with the majority of these skills and experience, we’re keen to hear from you, even if you don’t have them all. We appreciate lots of skills are transferable and we welcome opportunities to explore different ways of achieving our goals.

What we will do for you

We are a fast-paced organisation that has grown substantially over the past few years. We recognise that our people work hard to advocate for responsible investment and drive meaningful engagement with those who have the power to create a brighter future. Every day they bring their expertise, passion and persistence to build a world where the financial system serves our people and planet. We want to ensure we provide the right environment for our colleagues to thrive and we are committed to improving our employee offer where possible.

Currently we are pleased to offer:

• Commitment to flexible working; over 60% of our employees have some sort of flexible working arrangement in place
• Hybrid working; we are committed to supporting our staff to work in a way that suits their lifestyle and meets the requirements of their role
• Internal promotion and development opportunities; we offer a range of ways to improve your skills and focus on what you love, including promotion, secondment, or sideways development opportunities. For some levels of roles, we also offer direct progression.
• Opportunity to help make a difference; we tackle some of the world’s biggest social and environmental challenges. We offer opportunities for you to develop your skills and experience in a friendly, flexible and supportive working environment.
• Unionised work environment; our staff have the opportunity to join the union, and are supported by our recognised union, Unite. We regularly consult and negotiate with our employees on workplace matters ranging from working conditions to pay.
• Regular in-person meetings; including all-staff away days, retreats and directorate strategy days to create connected teams.
• 8% non-contributory pension; invested with NEST and their green funds.
• Healthcare cash plan; with Westfield that gives you money back on your healthcare costs.
• Employee assistance programme; advice and support, lifestyle discounts and short-term counselling.
• 25 days’ annual leave (increasing with length of service) plus office closure at the end of the year; ensuring everyone gets time to switch off together.
• Enhanced family leave pay; up to 18 weeks’ paid at 90% for either parent.
• Enhanced sick pay; starting at 5 weeks’ full pay from day 1.
• Season ticket loan and cycle to work scheme.

Contract type: Permanent

Who it reports to: Senior Research Manager

Salary: £33,900 – 37,653 + 8% pension contribution

(We normally offer a starting salary at the start of the range)

Deadline for applications: 9am on Monday 23rd September

Interview dates: There will be 2 rounds. The first round of interviews will take place online in the week commencing 7th October. The second round of interviews will take place on 18th or 21st October, and will also likely be online.

We are currently formalising our hybrid working policy. However, the Banking team meets in the office every Tuesday as we find this helps with team bonding and productivity. We expect candidates based in London to come into the office at least once a week every Tuesday and candidates based outside of London to come into the office at least twice a month on a Tuesday.

ShareAction values and respects all differences in people (seen and unseen) and welcomes applications from all backgrounds, communities and industries. We are committed to having a team that is made up of diverse skills, experiences and abilities and we are working hard to provide an environment where all can bring their authentic selves to work. We know that some people won’t apply for a role unless they meet all the requirements listed in the job description. If this is the case for you, but you think you would excel in this role, we want to hear from you!

Our hiring process is anonymised, we won’t ask for a cover letter and we don’t look at CVs until the interview stage. We do this so that we reduce the opportunity for unconscious biases to affect our decision making and so we prioritise skills and expertise over how well you can write a CV.

We also actively encourage incoming staff to consider flexible working arrangements; recognising that a better work-life balance can improve employee motivation, performance and reduce stress. Please talk to us at the interview about the flexibility you need. We can’t promise to give you exactly what you want, but we do promise not to judge you for asking.

While we embrace hybrid working at ShareAction, we also think there is a lot of value in spending time together in person. We run all-staff away days, a yearly retreat and more regular team and directorate meet-ups so that we can develop our ideas and plans together. As part of the induction process, we’ll invite you to our office in Aldgate so you can meet and get to know your line manager, team and others from across the organisation.

To be considered for this post you must be legally eligible to work in the UK, unfortunately we are unable to provide visa sponsorship.

Please be aware that when shortlisting we are really keen to get a sense of your unique voice and individual experience, especially if you are using generative AI tools as part of your drafting process.