ESG Research Associate

ESG RESEARCH ASSOCIATE

Solutions for Today’s Challenges. Vision for Tomorrow’s Opportunities. Join the Premier Global Boutique: William Blair.

At William Blair, serving our clients starts with the capabilities and collaboration of our team—making our employees our most important asset. Unlike others, we're an independent partnership that is personally committed to our people and clients. What sets us apart is the way we do it—our culture, our values, and our commitment to local communities.

We strive to attract the most qualified, passionate candidates who specialize in investment banking, investment management, private wealth management, and a variety of other business functions.

Currently, our firm has more than 1,700 employees throughout North America, Europe, Asia and Australia.

A top priority of ours is talent development, fostering professional and personal growth of our employees. We take pride in empowering our people to bring their best thinking each day so we can deliver the tailored, thoughtful work and problem-solving abilities that our clients have come to expect.

We work tirelessly to create an inclusive culture. Our employees have unique experiences, perspectives and backgrounds to thoughtfully meet the evolving challenges and opportunities facing our global client base amid dynamic market conditions and varying industries, whether technological, economic or geopolitical.

We are equally proud of our long-term partnerships with the communities in which we live and work, a legacy we inherited from our founder more than 85 years ago.

For more information about our firm, log onto williamblair.com.

ABOUT THE TEAM:

William Blair’s U.S. Growth & Core research team is responsible for identifying quality companies that will generate above-average results for clients over time with generally less risk than the market. The team identifies these companies through a combination of rigorous fundamental research and systematic inputs, following a disciplined process that emphasizes team collaboration.

JOB SUMMARY & RESPONSIBILITIES:

The qualified candidate will support the U.S. Growth & Core team’s continued integration of environmental, social and governance (ESG) analysis into the research process across all portfolios.  In addition, this position will help support the U.S. Sustainability strategy.

• Work alongside U.S. Research Analysts and Associates to help them understand critical ESG topics.  This includes: assisting with the application of frameworks to sectors or companies to better understand the materiality of ESG issues, or taking a particularly important topic for a given company and performing a thorough qualitative and quantitative review of its potential impact on the fundamentals; supporting all company engagement initiatives, including maintenance of our engagement records, background research on the critical issues before a specific engagement, and assist with tracking progress post engagements; and other ESG research efforts on a company specific or broader basis, as needed.

Support the U.S. Sustainability Analyst in activities around integrating ESG analysis into our research process.  These activities include performing research on key ESG issues and presenting findings to the Research team, and other efforts that support the team’s ESG efforts. Work with the U.S. Sustainability Analyst in support of the U.S. Sustainability Portfolio, including around execution, communication and marketing, effectiveness and authenticity of the strategy.  Document and maintain information pertaining to analysis activities. Ensure all work activities are in compliance with applicable rules, regulations, policies and procedures. Additional responsibilities as requested.

QUALIFICATIONS:

• Bachelor’s degree required, preferably in accounting, finance, environmental engineering or ecology. Candidate should have a strong interest in equity investing as well as topics related to ESG, sustainability, corporate social responsibility, and stakeholder value creation. Working knowledge of accounting and finance. Strong conceptual and critical thinking skills. Excellent quantitative reasoning, problem solving and analytical skills. Detail oriented and able to prioritize tasks. Able to exercise independent thought and judgment and adapt to new tasks with little notice. Capable of simplifying and summarizing complex information. Ability to build relationships and collaborate with investment and research teams. Delivers clear, effective verbal and written communication and takes responsibility for understanding others. Responds to requests in a timely manner. Delivers clear, effective communication and commits to understanding others. Proficient in Microsoft Excel, Word and PowerPoint.

William Blair is an equal opportunity employer. It complies with all laws and regulations that prohibit discrimination in employment practice because of race, color, religion, creed, ancestry, marital status, gender, age, national origin, sexual orientation, unfavorable discharge from the military service or on the basis of a physical or mental disability that is unrelated to the employee's ability to perform the duties of the job applied for.

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