Head of Science

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 hol+ bank hols, stat pension, home setup allowance. Open to contract or contract to perm

Other: We cannot sponsor visas at this time

Please apply even if you do not see yourself meeting every criterion on this job spec. We want to build an inclusive, thriving team representing the world we want to build and live in. We are led by our Founder/CEO who is a Woman of Colour and deeply values equity and inclusion

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 inhouse 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.

We’re making carbon projects financing more accessible, cheaper and 100% transparent, enabling companies big and small to take credible climate action. This also helps solve the massive project financing gap and brings net-new supply of high quality carbon projects to the market.

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 serious about our work, but don’t take ourselves too seriously!

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, 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 scaleable 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

Competitive salary, generous options, 25 days holiday + bank holidays, pension, homeworking set-up allowance.

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.