Program Lead

Purpose

The Industrial Sustainability (IS) team aims to support India’s low-carbon growth aspirations by advancing the adoption of green hydrogen and developing initiatives to accelerate industrial decarbonisation. The IS team is working on several different initiatives that include energy transitions in the oil and gas sector, an assessment of alternative fuels like green hydrogen uptake across difficult-to-decarbonise sectors in industrial applications, developing optimal decarbonisation trajectory for the hard-to-abate sectors, such as, steel, cement and chemicals, assessing the prospects on carbon capture utilisation and storage (CCUS) in India and characterising the industrial sector value chains to analyse various aspects such as carbon footprint, financial strength, resource requirements, and jobs supported.

The IS team seeks to hire a highly committed candidate to build and expand our programme in the above-mentioned sectors, as well as to support government engagements. The candidate should be flexible in working on multiple projects in parallel, depending on the team's priorities. This role requires high-quality research to provide direction, support, and insights to policy planners and industry leaders on decarbonisation options. The candidate should have an active and self-directed interest towards the assessment and production of alternative fuels, including green hydrogen and derivatives, CCUS, industrial decarbonisation and other related sectors. She/he should be able to perform resource assessments, material-energy balance, techno-economic analysis, emissions analysis, scenario comparisons, etc. The candidate should be willing to collaborate with other researchers in the respective domain and independently drive collaboration with international experts on the topic. Further, the candidate should have good oral and written communication skills and have the capability to independently drive government engagements, draft briefing notes and policy documents.

Job Duties and Accountabilities

Strategic Leadership

• Constantly review developments in the ecosystem linked with green hydrogen and industrial sustainability from varied lenses of geopolitics, technology, economics, equity, jobs, etc.

• Support the team lead and senior researchers in shaping existing and developing new research programmes

• Supervising and mentoring Programme Associates and Research Analysts in a growing and young team.

• Expand the Industrial Sustainability team by assisting in hiring the right set of people at a Research Analyst and Programme Associate level to drive the strategy and execute the plan

• Participate in relevant conferences, workshops, and training programmes as necessary to communicate research findings and gain insights on new research in focus areas.
• Develop and maintain a network across government and industries to shape programmatic strategy and strengthen outreach

• Delivering training to other staff on research, policy, or other skills.

Research management

• Conceptualise and implement new research projects, methodologies, and market solutions for decarbonising the industrial sector.
• Supervise publication of high-quality research reports, policy papers, issue briefs, memos, opinion-pieces, blogs, etc.
• Work with team members to conduct comprehensive research, utilising primary and secondary sources, to assess various technologies and decarbonisation levers and develop business models for their adoption.
• Develop strong relationships with researchers and industry, government, and international agencies.
• End-to-end ownership of a few flagship team projects/products and lead multiple proposals under competitive grants.

Project and people management

• Manage a team of multi-disciplinary team of Programme Associates and Research Analysts on a day-to-day basis and take full ownership of their performance and deliverables
• Support stakeholder engagement and relevant convening, including policy and technical exchanges among government officials, R&D facilities, subject experts, etc.
• Drive daily analytical requirements of the team in responding to short-turnaround requests or studies
• Manage and support senior researchers in reporting financial budgets to the funders
• Some international travel might be required in addition to domestic travel

Shortlisting Criteria

Qualification

• Master's degree in chemical, energy, industrial, production, mechanical engineering or other graduate courses along these lines.
• Sound understanding of India’s energy markets and policy and regulatory environment
• Strong research background with an adequate understanding of research methods and quantitative skills

Work experience

• At least 6-14 years of relevant work experience in the field of research, policy/industry engagement and project management in the area of fossil fuels, alternative fuels and industrial decarbonisation
• Prior experience in writing white papers, articles, policy briefs and research reports
• Strong track record of team and project management, including timely delivery of outputs
• Prior experience in consulting firms or think tanks would be preferred

Main skills

• Ability and proven expertise to conduct techno-economic analysis, cost & benefit analysis, material-energy balances, and sound knowledge of basic economic principles.
• Managing a team and delivering under tight deadlines
• Basic understanding of the industrial sector and handling external (including government) engagements
• Proficiency in Excel is essential. Experience with software programmes such as Python, Matlab is a plus.
• Good written and oral communication skills.
• Willingness for occasional travel to stakeholder offices or operations

Personality

• Willingness to learn new research and project management skills.
• Ability to identify creative solutions to vexing challenges in taking policy to action.
• Ability to adapt and deliver under tight deadlines in a professional environment.
• Striving for rigour in research and quality in work output.
• Ability to effectively work in a team while being able to independently drive research with minimum assistance, when time demands.
• Willingness to learn, grow and develop at personal and professional front, at a rapid pace with a steep learning curve.
• Ability to work in an interdisciplinary and multicultural environment.

CEEW operates in a dynamic environment and the candidate will be required to show flexibility in undertaking a variety of tasks.

Compensation

Competitive compensation – commensurate to the experience and matching the best of standards adopted by the industry or other similar organisations for similar roles.

Application Process

CEEW is an equal opportunity employer, and the selection process does not discriminate on the basis of age, gender, caste, ethnicity, religion, or sexuality. Female candidates are encouraged to apply.

Applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis. Interested applicants are advised to apply at the earliest possible. Only shortlisted candidates will be contacted. We appreciate your interest.