Website link here: https://careers.microsoft.com/us/en/job/852929/Sustainability-Science-Global-Lead

As the environmental challenges facing the world grow, so too has Microsoft’s commitment to ensuring that the company’s activities are in-line with the best available science and the expectations of leading stakeholder communities. The CELA Environmental Sustainability (ES) team coordinates overall science-based, measurable, and scalable sustainability investments and outcomes across the company – engaging with business groups to set goals related to reductions in the environmental impacts of business operations and positive environmental outcomes resulting from technology and policy development.

 

Reporting to Microsoft’s Chief Environmental Officer, the Sustainability Science Global Lead will oversee a global team of scientists focusing on ensuring Microsoft’s sustainability commitments are led by the best available science and on co-innovating technology-enabled sustainability solutions with customers and engineering groups.  In addition to setting the strategy and managing the Sustainability Science team, this role will also serve as the North America team representative.

Responsibilities

The successful candidate will be a globally recognized leader in one or more scientific fields related to Microsoft’s four sustainability focus areas of carbon, water, waste, and ecosystems with an overarching integration of the stabilization of climate systems. This role and team will serve as an internal and external focal point on matters pertaining to the scientific credibility of corporate environmental sustainability goals while driving awareness and education of the role Microsoft’s technology can play in assisting with global environmental solutions. The team will accomplish this by

  • Lead programs and initiatives to ensure scientific and technological rigor and credibility, including providing input summarized from the scientific literature and external scientific advisors.
  • Assist with relevant opportunities across the company, including government, enterprise, university, and non-profit sales teams in the area of natural resources, particularly as a point of engagement with chief scientists and senior academics working at the intersection of environmental solutions and computing.
  • Provide external leadership in the technology and science communities by serving on national boards and leadership forums of key academic and nonprofit centers, institutes, etc and delivering keynotes at academic conferences
  • Engaging in the international policy and research community through authorship of influential reports, assessments, and peer-reviewed scientific research
  • Partner with the Sustainability Product and Partner lead, identify, track, and ideate solutions around Microsoft’s relevant technology offerings and work closely with senior internal stakeholders to align sustainability outcomes with planned technology releases.
  • Engage directly with customers, in collaboration with the field organization, to help identify digital transformation opportunities in the pursuit of achieving sustainability commitments or other activities in the natural resources sector.

Qualifications

The successful candidate will have the following qualifications:

  • 10+ years of science program leadership in a technology or engineering organization, academic, non-profit, or governmental agency, with experience across multiple disciplines
  • 5+ years of experience working at the intersection of environment and technology
  • A PhD in climate or other environmental or natural sciences or environmental economics
  • Fluency with R, Python, Jupyter, GitHub, and other scientific data processing frameworks
  • Experience in designing cloud technologies to advance sustainability goals
  • Qualifications commensurate with academic leadership (Publications, citations, awards, committees, etc.)

The ideal candidate will also have:

  • Background in sustainability, environmental science, or other natural sciences
  • Attention to detail, strong strategic execution
  • Success collaborating across multiple teams and levels
  • Proven track record in project and business management
  • Experience leading and executing projects in a complex organizational environment and work on several diverse projects simultaneously
  • Strong analytical, financial acumen and communication skills with the ability to influence across non-direct reporting teams
  • Ability to translate ideas into clear, high impact communications
  • Ability to accel in an ambiguous environment

Microsoft is an equal opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to age, ancestry, color, family or medical care leave, gender identity or expression, genetic information, marital status, medical condition, national origin, physical or mental disability, political affiliation, protected veteran status, race, religion, sex (including pregnancy), sexual orientation, or any other characteristic protected by applicable laws, regulations and ordinances.  We also consider qualified applicants regardless of criminal histories, consistent with legal requirements. If you need assistance and/or a reasonable accommodation due to a disability during the application or the recruiting process, please send a request via the Accommodation request form.

 

Benefits/perks listed below may vary depending on the nature of your employment with Microsoft and the country where you work.