IBAT Biodiversity and Business Lead

JOB DESCRIPTION

Overall Responsibility
The Biodiversity and Business Lead is the senior expert within IBAT about 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 practises, 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: i) providing advice across multiple IBAT functions (e.g. marketing, sales customer success and product), ii) coordinating cross team initiatives as a member of the leadership team, iii) line management of the Product function, iv) acting as a Deputy to the MD, v) representing IBAT on a global stage, including with key standard setters, and vi) interfacing with Alliance Partners on key scientific issues. (See further detail on each of these below).

Specific duties and responsibilities
Biodiversity related tools, methodologies, and frameworks
• Use their strategic understanding of the business and biodiversity landscape to be a senior contributor towards IBAT’s strategic product direction.
• Develop and review robust methodologies relevant to IBAT products to service growing corporate needs for nature related metrics and tools. 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 the evolution of key regulatory frameworks (e.g. TNFD, CSRD, NPI (Nature Positive Initiative), SBTN), including through engagement with those standard setters as appropriate.
• Guide the marketing, sales and customer success team to communicate the underlying scientific logic of the product to users (including new IBAT functionality, user guidance documentation or practical case studies).
• 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.
• 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 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 (upto six figures) 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.
• 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 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.
IBAT Team Leadership
• Lead the IBAT Secretariat (~19+ staff spread across multiple teams and hosted across multiple institutions) when the IBAT Managing Director is not in post.
• People manage the Product Team, working productively with the Product Manager to contribute expertise business practice on biodiversity and nature issues. The Product Team is a new and critical part of the IBAT team and will undergo significant change over the coming years.
• Be a key contributor to IBAT’s Senior Leadership team, who collectively set IBAT’s goals and ensure alignment on critical cross team initiatives. Coordinate cross function initiatives that benefit from this role’s business and biodiversity expertise. REQUIREMENTS • 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 (including in relation to: TNFD, CSRD, ESRS, SBTN, GRI and EUDR).
• Robust understanding of key biodiversity-related datasets.
• An experienced people manager – able to manage teams with professional expertise that is different from their own.
• Experience in communicating effectively with both specialist and non-specialist audiences, to both persuade and support effective knowledge uptake.
• Ability to take initiative, exercise good judgment, think laterally and convene stakeholders effectively to resolve complex issues.
• Skilfully prioritizes, manages, and balances operational task flows and can identify, anticipate and address critical operational dependencies. Successfully manages competing demands and deadlines.
• 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. SALARY The minimum gross annual salary for this position is GBP 64'928. While this is an indicative amount effective as of the current date, changes may occur as per IUCN's compensation practices without prior notice. The same applies to other organisations hosted by IUCN.