Financial Business Leader

We are hiring a Biodiversity and Business Lead. The Integrated Biodiversity Assessment Tool (IBAT) is the product of the IBAT Alliance - a ground-breaking collaboration between four of the world’s most influential conservation organisations: BirdLife International, Conservation International, the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), and the UN Environment Programme World Conservation Monitoring Centre (UNEP-WCMC). Headquartered in the David Attenborough Building in central Cambridge, we support IBAT’s growing community of 30,000+ users around the world, as they use IBAT to integrate biodiversity into their decision making.

IBAT is undergoing a significant period of transformation to enhance its ability to channel increasing investment into the datasets and align its product with core business needs. As a member of the Leadership Team and lead expert on business and biodiversity, this role will play a significant role in this transformation. While this role is hosted by IUCN and will sit within IUCN’s Business and Nature Team, you will be part of the IBAT secretariat and build relationships across the IBAT Alliance partners to help deliver IBAT.

The Biodiversity and Business Lead is the senior expert within IBAT on the application of biodiversity, nature and conservation science to business practice. This is a key strategic role, driving the integration of scientific rigour into a rapidly evolving product designed to support corporate users to identify and act on their business’ interface with biodiversity. Using their knowledge and insights of business practices, including voluntary and mandatory disclosure requirements, they will guide the development of in-demand tools and analysis that can increase the uptake and reach of IBAT, including through leveraging the scientific expertise of IBAT’s Alliance Partners.

This role has significant leadership responsibility within the IBAT team through:

• Providing advice across multiple IBAT functions (e.g. marketing, sales customer success and product).
• Coordinating cross team initiatives as a member of the leadership team.
• Line management of the Product function.
• Acting as a Deputy to the MD.
• Representing IBAT on a global stage, including with key standard setters.
• Interfacing with Alliance Partners on key scientific issues.

Manage the pipeline of investment made by IBAT into scientific developments to directly contribute towards IBAT’s strategic product direction. Lead IBAT’s positioning with respect to the current and future evolution of key regulatory frameworks. Guide the marketing, sales and customer success team to communicate the underlying scientific logic of the product to users. Guide IBAT’s customer facing team’s engagement with users, including corporates and financial institutions, in the application of biodiversity data to understand biodiversity related risks, opportunities, impacts and dependencies, and corporate action towards credible contributions to achieving the Global Biodiversity Framework and reversing nature loss by 2030. Interface with Alliance Partners to progress IBAT’s product development, balancing scientific best practice with commercial viability and market appetite. Play a key role in ensuring that IBAT’s investment in scientific research support is managed to contribute to strategic product direction. Represent and promote IBAT on a global stage – at webinars and in person events - demonstrating IBAT’s understanding of and unique position within the business landscape on biodiversity and nature. Support IBAT’s engagement with key collaborators to strengthen IBAT’s strategic partnerships, particularly relating to the use of biodiversity data.

Capacity building, knowledge generation and communication:

• Build the capacity of the IBAT team, particularly junior professionals, on business and biodiversity topics.
• Develop and review content on biodiversity and business topics for a range of uses, including thought leadership pieces, blogs and newsletters.
• Develop industry guidance, briefing notes and supporting materials on the application of biodiversity data for positive nature outcomes through business.
• People manage the Product Team, working productively with the Product Manager to contribute expertise business practice on biodiversity and nature issues.
• Coordinate cross function initiatives that benefit from this role’s business and biodiversity expertise.

Master’s degree in Biodiversity, Biology, Ecology, Natural Resources Management, Environmental Policy, Sustainability Management, Economics or Business or another relevant field required. Strong grounding in biodiversity, conservation, sustainable development and social science concepts and theory and its application to business. Minimum 8-10 years of professional experience, working for industry or consulting in a biodiversity related role focusing on analytics/ risk screening/ building a nature strategy. Demonstrate a deep understanding of how businesses use biodiversity data to drive decisions at both site and corporate level, ideally across a range of business sectors. Technical understanding on the fast-evolving topic of state of nature metrics, associated tools and regulatory frameworks, with a deep understanding of how companies are and should be reporting their impacts and dependencies on nature. Interest in getting experience in translating business problems and science into the development of a tech product, and openness to learning about product field of expertise. Exceptional written and oral communication skills in English, with meticulous attention to detail. Desired proficiency in written and spoken French and/or Spanish. Desired understanding of the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species, World Database on Protected and Conserved Areas and World Database of Key Biodiversity Areas. Desired experience representing organisations at high level events, and is well respected in the field of business and biodiversity.