Team Lead / Lead Quantitative Researcher - Work on Climate

[About Work on Climate] Work On Climate is a leading non-profit focused on building the workforce to solve climate change equitably and justly. You probably know us for our online community that has helped thousands of people find jobs and start companies, highlighted in most major business press, from Fast Company to New York Times. However, our work goes even farther: we are creating change in systems that produce the workforce in the first place - learn more about our approach in this deck.

Most of Work On Climate has been created by a nimble team of highly talented and dedicated volunteers. Supporting the workforce is a uniquely impactful climate solution that helps all other climate solutions, and by volunteering with our team, you can be on the leading edge of this critical work.

[About the team] Simply put, the Impact Research team studies the impact of Work on Climate’s community through surveys and data on the usage of our programs. Our team’s findings guide program design and prove impact to our allies and funders. Today, the team is located throughout the United States.

[Role Summary] We’re looking for a volunteer Team Lead / Lead Researcher (quant or qual) to lead the Impact Research Team and guide its trajectory. You’ll first join the team as a co-lead of the team, taking over more and more responsibility until the current team lead transitions out of the role by August 31, 2024.

We are looking for someone with significant experience dealing with quantitative research and project management; people management experience is ideal, but not required.

⏰ Time commitment: Approximately 10 hours/week consistently for the next 6+ months (ideally 12 months or longer)

🎁 What’s in it for me?: In addition to playing a critical role in enabling the climate talent transition, you will get to:

• Add to your portfolio of research projects - much of your team’s work will be publicly visible (see an example of this team’s work).
• Gain hands-on experience leading a team of expert researchers and data analysts and doing all that leading a team entails (e.g. finding volunteers, onboarding, setting goals, project management, and more)
• Collaborate with and learn from our all-star team (50+ volunteers total, about 40% of whom are themselves founders or executives)
• Be instrumental in helping us secure funding to drive as many people into climate work as possible
• Build a strong climate network in your area of interest
• Add a great line to your resume! Employers know and respect us.
• We will support you – both in this role and on your personal path to working in climate – and will provide the necessary resources for you to succeed!

🛠️ What will I do?: In short, you will lead a successful team of researchers and data analysts. In practice, this means you will:

• Work with stakeholders to determine the most important impact-related questions to research
• Lead your team or subteams through conducting research to answer these questions, pitching in where additional hands are needed
• Lead your team or subteams through presenting the research findings in a way that maximizes the impact of those findings for Work on Climate
• Maintain an impact-oriented culture on your team that makes your team members feel fulfilled
• Maintain the team through looking for and onboarding volunteers, maintaining team morale, and offboarding volunteers

✅ What skills and commitment do I need?

We are looking for someone with significant experience dealing with quantitative research and project management; people management experience is ideal, but not required. This role is ideal for someone who has the time and energy to manage a volunteer team for a substantial period of time (6 months at a minimum, ideally 12 months or longer).

• Research and Quantitative thinking. You must have at least a basic understanding of the most common quantitative and qualitative research methodologies and very strong quantitative thinking skills.
• Project management. Leading a team at Work on Climate is very similar to project management.
• Managing people. The team lead will manage many volunteers. Our ideal candidate has people management experience.
• Data analysis. Because there are data analysts on the team, a basic understanding of data analysis is a plus.
• Committed. Being a team lead means almost always responding to team members and other volunteers within 24 business hours and showing up for almost every meeting. The most successful team leads should be able to spend time on their Work on Climate volunteering at least a little bit each day.
• A “get it done” attitude. Organizing volunteers is very difficult! You do what it takes—even if it means pitching in yourself or learning new skills—so that your team accomplishes its goals. The buck stops at you.

🤔 Common Challenges

• Your team is made of volunteers who are located across multiple time zones and have external obligations, so it is especially critical that you show up consistently and reliably for weekly calls to build relationships, carry project work forward, and brainstorm with the team and internal stakeholders.
• Producing rigorous, usable, high-quality results from limited samples and heterogeneous data is always challenging (e.g. due to low survey response rates and non-response bias), and especially so with limited time and volunteer labor. As the Lead, you will need to have top-notch intuition for what approaches will or won’t work, so that you can guide the team towards project decisions that produce usable data while being feasible under the constraints.

✋🏽 I’m interested! What do I do?

Yay! We’re excited to learn more about you. Please fill out this application form to tell us about your skills and interests in volunteering with our awesome team. If you are selected for an interview, our team will be in touch in 1-2 weeks.