IBAT Biodiversity and Business Lead in Cambridge

Background

The Integrated Biodiversity Assessment Tool (IBAT) is the product of the IBAT Alliance – a collaboration between BirdLife International, Conservation International, the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), and the United Nations Environment Programme World Conservation Monitoring Centre (UNEP‑WCMC). The tool integrates data from core global biodiversity datasets – the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species, World Database of Key Biodiversity Areas, and the World Database on Protected and Conserved Areas – into a single platform to support decision makers from industry, finance and governments.

Overall Responsibility

The Biodiversity and Business Lead is the senior expert within IBAT on applying biodiversity, nature and conservation science to business practice. In this strategic role the candidate will drive the integration of scientific rigor into IBAT’s rapidly evolving product and guide the development of tools and analysis that increase the uptake and reach of IBAT across corporate users.

Specific Duties and Responsibilities

• Use strategic understanding of business and biodiversity to contribute to IBAT’s product direction.
• Develop and review robust methodologies relevant to IBAT products to meet growing corporate needs for nature‑related metrics and tools.
• Coordinate the pipeline of investment into scientific developments that align with IBAT’s strategic product direction.
• Lead IBAT’s positioning with respect to current and future regulatory frameworks (e.g. TNFD, CSRD, NPI, SBTN), including engagement with standard setters.
• Guide the marketing, sales and customer‑success teams to communicate the underlying scientific logic of the product to users.
• Advise IBAT’s customer‑facing team on engaging users, including corporates and financial institutions, in applying biodiversity data to understand risks, opportunities, impacts and dependencies, and in supporting corporate action toward the Global Biodiversity Framework and reversing nature loss by 2030.
• Work closely with the IBAT technical team and support user testing to develop, test and refine products.

Cross‑cutting Stakeholder Engagement

• Interface with Alliance Partners to advance IBAT’s product development, balancing scientific best practice with commercial viability and market appetite.
• Represent and promote IBAT on a global stage – at webinars and in‑person events – demonstrating IBAT’s unique position within the business landscape on biodiversity and nature.
• Support IBAT’s engagement with key collaborators to strengthen strategic partnerships, particularly relating to the use of biodiversity data.
• Represent IBAT on technical working groups, particularly relating to the evolution of frameworks and standards.

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 thought leadership pieces, blogs and newsletters.
• Create industry guidance, briefing notes and supporting materials on applying biodiversity data for positive nature outcomes through business.

IBAT Team Leadership

• Lead the IBAT Secretariat when the IBAT Managing Director is unavailable.
• People‑manage the Product Team, working productively with the Product Manager to contribute expertise on business practice and biodiversity and nature issues.
• Serve as a key contributor to IBAT’s Senior Leadership team, set IBAT’s goals and ensure alignment on critical cross‑team initiatives.

Requirements

• Master’s degree in Biodiversity, Biology, Ecology, Natural Resources Management, Environmental Policy, Sustainability Management, Economics or Business, or another relevant field.
• Strong grounding in biodiversity, conservation, sustainable development and social science concepts and theory and their application to business.
• Minimum 8–10 years of professional experience in a biodiversity‑related role focusing on analytics, risk screening or building a nature strategy in industry or consulting.
• Technical understanding of state‑of‑nature metrics, associated tools and regulatory frameworks, with a deep understanding of how companies report their impacts and dependencies on nature (including TNFD, CSRD, ESRS, SBTN, GRI and EUDR).
• Robust understanding of key biodiversity‑related datasets.
• Experience managing people with professional expertise different from their own.
• Excellent communication skills with the ability to persuade and support effective knowledge uptake for specialist and non‑specialist audiences.
• Strong initiative, good judgment, lateral thinking and the ability to convene stakeholders to resolve complex issues.
• Exceptional written and oral communication skills in English, with meticulous attention to detail.
• Desired proficiency in 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 being well respected in the field of business and biodiversity.

Salary

The minimum gross annual salary for this position is GBP 64,928. Salaries may be adjusted in accordance with IUCN’s compensation practices.