• Location: Irvine, CA (Preferred Location) or Washington, D.C.
• Type: Hybrid Role (In-person and Remote)
• Status: Full Time
• Compensation: $130,000 annually

About Us

Sequoia Climate Foundation is a new philanthropy that seeks to decarbonize the world economy at a speed and scale equal to the challenge. We support bold strategies and efforts that will have both near-term impact and the greatest probability of long-term success. We believe that solving climate change requires the adoption of ambitious, evidence-based policy solutions that transform markets, advance clean technology, and lead to large‐scale change. Our focus areas include power, transportation, buildings, industry, land use, agriculture and forestry, finance, communications, and public engagement. Sequoia Climate Foundation is active in major emitting geographies, including China, the United States, India, the European Union, among others. We are dedicated to building the political will and powerful coalitions needed to achieve these bold policy solutions. Our office and staff are based in Irvine, California.

About The Role

We are looking for a Research Officer who will conduct cutting-edge, timely policy research and quantitative analyses on the potential and realized impacts of climate mitigation strategies (across major greenhouse gas emitters).  This role will support Sequoia’s Program teams to develop cutting-edge, impactful strategies for the transformation of climate action based on quantitative analysis.  The Research Officer will design and analyze policy scenarios in Sequoia’s in-house tool, as well as other external tools (including Energy Policy Simulator, En-ROADs, and, where appropriate, integrated assessment models).

Key Responsibilities

• Co-design and implement a novel framework for the use of impact evaluation in philanthropic decision-making that aligns with Sequoia’s broader Evidence and Learning agenda.
• Lead quantitative and mixed methods approach to evaluate the systems-wide impact of climate mitigation actions, with a focus on the speed, scale, likelihood of success, and cost of emissions reductions.
• Supports the development and execution of Sequoia’s strategies, goals, policies, and initiatives.
• Collaborates closely with Sequoia’s Operations team with a specific focus on areas where the Evidence and Learning portfolio interacts with our operations functions.
• Engages with the Evidence and Learning Community of aligned donors and practitioners working to advance the goals of Sequoia.
• Identifies partners and collaborations to advance grantmaking strategies, including, as appropriate, active participation in collaboratives, conferences, and workshops.
• Foster a culture of iterative experimentation and learning among Sequoia staff and our partner by providing technical support, guidance, and thought leadership on novel uses of impact evaluation to inform decision-making.
• Informed by targeted impact evaluations and portfolio-wide Bayesian-probability models and monitoring, lead the development & implementation of Sequoia’s impact reporting.
• Coordinate evaluation processes across Sequoia Climate Foundation’s program teams.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in science, engineering, or mathematics required. Advanced degree preferred.
• A minimum of three years working in energy or climate policy modeling, or a related field is required.
• Demonstrated experience developing and implementing models in VenSim, Python, or R required.
• Experience with collaborative model building preferred.

Compensation & Location

Sequoia Climate Foundation offers a generous benefits package and a competitive salary commensurate with experience.  We provide competitive wages, health insurance, paid time off, and other perks to promote work/life harmony. We operate in a hybrid model, which means both workdays from home and in the office for our Irvine, California location.  The expectation is this role will be our beautiful office at least three days a week (though never five, lots of opportunities to still work remotely a few days a week). We can be flexible on relocation timelines and offer a small amount of relocation assistance.