Reporting to: Founder & CEO
Environment: London - Hybrid + Some Travel (E.g, conferences, client visits, offsites)
Package: GBP 80,000 - 110,000 p/annum (depending on experience) + Options. 25 days holiday + bank holidays, statutory pension, home setup allowance. Open to contract or contract to perm.
Other: We cannot sponsor visas at this time.
Opna’s Vision
Imagine a thriving, equitable planet where everyone actively participates and benefits from building projects that contribute to a low-carbon economy, safeguarding our environment, and combating climate change. At Opna, we want to make this vision a reality - by unlocking the needed capital for every high-quality climate project that addresses climate change with speed, scale, and equity.
Our Solution
Opna offers a software platform for climate-action-committed companies to finance and manage high-quality carbon projects in a standardised, transparent, and cost-effective way.
The world’s leading climate-action committed companies are moving away from simply buying carbon credits, to directly financing carbon projects. Thousands of other companies, big and small, must follow suit but simply do not have the in-house resources, expertise, or large budgets to contract with projects in a cost-effective, transparent, and knowledgeable way.
Opna’s software allows companies to discover a wide range of high-quality carbon projects, understand their risk and impact using Opna’s proprietary risk-assessment engine, finance projects using standardised tools, and finally, monitor and report on projects’ post-financing.
Our Team
We are HQ’ed in London but also have team members in Berlin and Barcelona. Collectively we have deep experience and expertise across capital markets, carbon markets, startups, climate finance, and FinTech. We hold each other accountable and give regular and open communication. We share our optimism for finding solutions to climate change. We’re gritty and actively practise empathy.
We are backed by leading multi-stage and climate tech VCs such as Atomico, Pale Blue Dot, My Climate Journey and supported by unicorn founders and accomplished operators from Klarna, Stripe, Eventbrite and Kinnevik amongst others.
Your Mission in this role
As our Head of Science, you will lead on building and communicating the scientific rigor expected of high-quality projects on Opna's platform. You will help shape our risk-assessment models and due diligence standards, further positioning Opna as the go-to trusted partner to our corporate and project development partners.
Responsibilities
You will own the research, analysis, and implementation of the frameworks/assessments for nature-based and technological approaches to carbon reduction and removal. This role requires individual contribution, cross-collaboration with the wider team at Opna, the ability to work directly with clients, and to also lead and build Opna's scientific team.
* Technology Risk Assessment: Identify and assess scientific risks associated with existing and emerging carbon removal/reduction technologies to identify improvements and advise on creating more effective/robust pathways for our customers.
* Science Leadership and Ecosystem Building: Build shareable and accessible scientific thesis and knowledge across the carbon removal/reduction space and for specific project types in the nature-based and engineered solutions. Be the go-to person at Opna for liaising with and building out a wider scientific community.
* Scientific Due Diligence: Identify opportunities to enhance our scientific due diligence process and actively support its implementation to ensure the highest standards of scientific rigor.
* Standards and Methodologies Analysis: Conduct thorough and ongoing analysis of the various carbon markets standards and methodologies (in some cases, collaborating with our industry partners) to highlight gaps and opportunities for improvements.
* Deliver Actionable Insights: Work closely with the commercial and product teams at Opna to integrate and embed scientific knowledge/inputs into our product/model but to also demystify the science for customers and stakeholders.
* Help Co-create and Drive the Company's Positioning and Strategy: Work closely with our CEO and other founding team members to shape/communicate Opna's value proposition, positioning, and brand in the ecosystem.
Required Qualifications/Experience:
* PhD in natural sciences such as chemistry, chemical engineering, biology, physics, environmental science, or a related field.
* Deep understanding of the carbon removal space with expertise in at least one or more pathways for removal.
* A strong network of peers in the scientific community that you would be comfortable bringing in for further perspectives on evaluating emerging/existing technologies and projects.
* Leadership experience - ownership of strategic, visible projects and ability to set strong direction/vision for the projects based on your expertise and research.
Preferred Qualifications/Experience:
* Strong understanding of voluntary carbon markets.
* Understanding of carbon accounting, net-zero pathways, and previous experience in advising private corporations on this subject matter.
* Thought leadership - via public speaking, social media experience, and/or frequent content or publications.
To Thrive in This Role, You Have:
* An ownership mindset to drive a new, key function in an early-stage, fast-paced, and mission-driven environment.
* The ability to work independently on complex scientific topics while also being able to work collaboratively to inform the strategy and work of the wider team.
* A mindset of seeking constant improvement/questioning so we can stay ahead as the science evolves and as carbon markets mature.
* You have excellent communication skills - verbal and written - Your work will involve a lot of communication internally, and externally.
* You truly want your work to have an enormous impact on finding scalable robust solutions to climate change.
* You are not afraid to be non-consensus - You want to bring and advocate for fresh ideas, within our team but also in this emerging nascent landscape of carbon markets.
Our Interview Process
We’re swift at moving things along for you. We need you to meet several people (onsite/virtually) because of the responsibility that comes with this role and ensure this is right for you.
* Screening with recruiter/Opna Chief of Staff Matt
* Video call with our CEO, Shilpika Gautam
* Carbon Markets Task (onsite in London, preferably)
* Meet the team
* Call with a board member/investor + References + personality test.
* Final offer.
Diversity & Inclusion
We know that diversity is multifaceted and intersectional, and we want to build a company where different identities and perspectives can come together to deliver on our mission and vision. We are a venture-backed company founded and led by a woman of colour. 100% of our team today has their roots in the global south, and over half of our pre-seed investors identify as women. We speak English, Hindi, Spanish and French across our team.
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