Sustainable Finance Standards, Senior Manager

We are a remote-first place workplace but the candidates for this role must be based in the Netherlands, or England at the start of employment. Please visit our Careers page to review all opportunities and submit your application for the role(s) that best fit your experiences and location. This is a Full-Time Role (40 hours per week) with the option to apply for reduced hours per week after one year in the role.

About B Lab

B Lab is the nonprofit network transforming the global economy to benefit all people, communities, and the planet. A leader in economic systems change, our global network creates standards, policies, and tools for business, and we certify companies — known as B Corps — who are leading the way. As we continue to repair and rebuild from COVID-19, our vision for an inclusive, equitable, and regenerative economic system, has never been more relevant or needed than it is now.  

About the Opportunity

At the core of B Lab’s work are social and environmental business performance standards that  are the basis for B Corp Certification requirements, B Lab’s impact management tools the B Impact Assessment and SDG Action Manager, and other aspects of B Lab’s work - the content of which is developed and managed by B Lab’s Standards team.
The Senior Manager, Sustainable Finance Standards, has the exciting opportunity to lead the development of new, leading, standards for financial service companies designed to determine eligibility for B Corp Certification and to be used by companies for ongoing impact management and improvement.  The role will, at the outset, lead the development of the new standards through project management, research, and stakeholder engagement.

After the standards have been developed, the position will continue to support the ongoing application, implementation, and improvement of the standards for B Corps and additional programs to engage financial service companies towards improving their social and environmental practices. 

Core Responsibilities 

Finance Standards Management and Development
The focus will start with setting these standards, and then shift to ongoing management of these standards

• Overseeing the development of finance sector standards via credible processes for standards development, as announced for development beginning in 2023 through 2024  
• Leading research and stakeholder engagement, including the management of expert stakeholder working groups, to gather best practices in the industry and develop, iterate, and test the standards  
• Developing and managing relationships with relevant stakeholders, internal and external to the B Lab network, to gather input into the finance standards on an ongoing basis and support their development and implementation 
• Considering the concepts of justice, equity, diversity and inclusion in the content of the standards and development processes
• Developing resources to explain the standards for various audiences, including companies adopting them and verifiers assessing a company's performance against them

Standards Interpretation, Guidance, and Support 

• Supporting the interpretation of the finance standards on an ongoing basis by companies, verifiers, and other stakeholders
• Planning and developing ongoing improvements over time, following credible best practices, to ensure finance standards are relevant to evolving expectations and market developments    
• Maintaining knowledge about existing and emerging best practices and identifying ongoing opportunities to improve the standards over time 
• Advising and supporting both existing and new B Lab initiatives that support collective action and/or performance improvement in the finance sector (as necessary)
• Identifying and developing resources to financial service companies as they look to improve on social sustainability related performance aspects of their business
• Leveraging expertise to advise on other aspects of B Lab’s standards relevant to the finance sector on an ongoing basis

About you

• 4+ years of experience in a field directly related to the social and environmental impacts of the finance sector, including “ESG” and/or impact investing
• Familiarity with relevant finance related initiatives and regulations related to sustainable finance, including, including but not limited to, for example, the Global Impact Investing Network, UN Principles for Responsible Investment, the Global Alliance for Banking on Values, the EU taxonomy, etc. 
• Familiarity and/or experience with credible standards development processes
• Excellent communication and critical thinking skills, particularly involving challenging and technical topics
• Experience in project and relationship management, with ability to tackle and support multiple complex projects, with a diverse set of stakeholders and significant change management, to deliver them in a timely and effective manner
• Familiarity with and a passion for addressing the intersections of business and social and environmental issues
• Comfort in an entrepreneurial environment
• An expertise or willingness to work in ways that demonstrate a commitment to justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion

For success in this role, the ideal candidate will have familiarity with:

• Existing and emerging sustainability disclosure standards, processes (such as materiality assessments), and regulations 
• Sustainable finance
• Working with regulators, standards setters, and other relevant partners related to corporate governance, reporting, and sustainability, with a particular emphasis on the European Union
• Working globally, virtually, and across cultures to support B Lab’s work around the world

Compensation Details

B Lab has a compensation plan that includes:

• An annual salary of €75,000 inclusive of holiday allowance
• B Lab pension scheme
• After your first year of employment, 40 hours paid time off for community service; paid parental leave; and a professional development budget (we assess this PD budget annually)
• 20 Vacation days per year, prorated to your start date - front-loaded and restarting each January 1; increased with tenure.
• Sick & personal leave
• Flexibility to use floating holidays Additional time off during org- wide closures when the entire organization is closed (not including holidays)
• Allowance to make your home-based workspace more comfortable
• Remote-first workplace

Hiring Process

We require the following in order to consider your application:

• Resume
• In lieu of a cover letter we ask that all candidates respond to a standard set of application questions

If you progress through additional stages in the hiring process you can expect to:

• Step 1: Complete a one-way video interview presented by our team via Spark Hire 
• Step 2: Participate in an interview with a panel via Google Meet
• Step 3: Complete a brief hiring exercise & participate in a final interview with a panel via Google Meet

We will begin reviewing applications on October 24th and will continue until we identify a diverse and qualified candidate pool.

Please note: All applications will be reviewed by our team, and all candidates will receive a status update via email after their application has been reviewed, which we expect to complete by November 14th. Due to capacity constraints on our hiring team, we are unable to provide you with a specific status update beyond these parameters. Our ideal start date for this role is February 1st, 2023.

If we can offer reasonable accommodations to you in the application or interview processes, or if you have feedback on how we could improve the equity or accessibility of our recruitment, you are welcome to contact us at careers@bcorporation.net with the subject line “Accommodation request - Finance Standards, Senior Manager”. Please note that we are unable to respond to general status inquiries or other messages that are unrelated to accessing our application or interview processes.