Head of Carbona and Sustainability Accounting Team

Are you looking to make a real difference on a global scale? As the Head of CSAT, you’ll lead the team through all aspects of carbon and sustainability accounting and compliance management. You will have the opportunity to drive transformational and sustainable strategies, ensuring projects implementation from across various regions in a truly global, multicultural workspace.  Join us in making a difference in this world.

We offer a highly competitive, full compensation package to include Base Salary, Short-Term Incentives (STI) and Long-Term Incentives (LTI) schemes, generous corporate benefits, and a broad range of company perks.

C-Quest Capital LLC (CQC) is an award winning leading global carbon project developer, social impact investor and climate finance specialist. Our mission is to transform the lives of families in the poorest communities in developing countries by providing access to clean and sustainable energy solutions and improving the health and wellbeing of women and children. Since 2010, we have been making investments in carbon reduction and removal programs, providing clean and efficient energy appliances, small-scale agriculture and forestry services to the rural poor.

We are committed to catalyzing a sustained transition to a climate resilient future for communities whose health and economic well-being are most at risk from climate change. Our ambition is to use carbon finance to achieve a long-term transition to more sustainable alternatives at scale. We aim to have a lasting impact on the planet, people, and their prosperity, which is why our projects are delivered under the banner of Transformation Carbon – projects that are truly transforming lives, behaviors, and technologies.

CQC is headquartered in Washington DC, USA, with subsidiaries in India, Malaysia, Singapore, Cambodia and Australia and operations in over 20 countries across Sub-Saharan Africa, Central America, and South and Southeast Asia.  We currently have c. 300 employees and over 1,000 contracted staff serving our clients and investors.

In each region where we operate, we aim to reach a critical scale to drive permanent change, integrating production, supply chain, and inputs to create robust ecosystems in the communities and markets we serve. CQC’s carbon programs have already improved the lives of over 20 million people in Africa, India, Southeast Asia and Central America. Our ambition is to reach over 100 million people and generate over 1 billion carbon credits by 2030 and we are well on our path to do so with our committed funding, which is currently in excess of $350 million.

Follow our journey at www.cquestcapital.com

About the team:

The Carbon and Sustainability Accounting Team (CSAT), which is headquartered in Delhi, is responsible for all aspects of carbon and sustainability accounting and compliance management for CQC’s growing portfolio of projects, which currently number more than 50 projects and growing.  CQC is active in a number of different carbon verticals in both reductions and avoidance including Household devices, fuel switching, industrial energy efficiency, renewable energy, avoided methane emissions and methane capture and use, as well as nature-based carbon credits, including, but not limited to those associated with bamboo afforestation, restoration forestry, farmer managed natural restoration, assisted natural restoration, other forms of regenerative agriculture and sustainable forestry management and soil carbon accumulation. There are currently 15 members of the CSAT team, the vast majority of whom are based in Delhi and other Indian regional cities, with total head count budgeted to grow to more than 30 staff by the end of 2023.

The Head of CSAT will be based in Delhi and will be a member of the Leadership Team. The position will report to the Group COO, who is based in Washington D.C.

Key Responsibilities:

• Provide leadership, direction and management of the Carbon and Sustainability Accounting Team (CSAT) to deliver effective and time efficient issuance of carbon credits.
• Designate carbon compliance related project management responsibilities to CSAT team members, track their progress and provide frequent progress reporting to the Executive Management and Leadership Teams.
• Develop, coordinate and enforce systems, policies, procedures, and productivity standards.
• Analyze performance/timelines of processing projects through the carbon project cycles to resolve quality and delivery issues and recommend system improvements.
• Interact with third party carbon auditors (Validation and Verification Bodies “VVBs”), carbon standard bodies such as Verra and various other project stakeholders on a regular basis.
• Recruit members to the team, manage their orientation, and continued development.

Relevant Prior Experience

The successful candidate must have experience working in a senior management position in a fast-paced working environment with a lot of moving pieces and should be comfortable with managing a team of 30-45 members.  Prior experience would include:

• 15+ years of relevant working experience in a fast-paced environment with a matrix organization structure, of which 5+ years working in India.
• General knowledge and experience of carbon markets, carbon and sustainability programs such as Verified Carbon Standard (VCS) and Sustainable Development Verified Impact Standard (SDVista) is required.
• Working experience with a multi-country/multi-cultural team and/or with developmental agencies.
• A master’s degree in the field of energy and/or environment, engineering or an MBA is desirable.
• Applicants from Big 4 and similar consulting firms who are Director level and have managed similar sized teams of professional staff, focused on reporting on environmental processes and procedures, are encouraged to apply.

Key Attributes

CQC is both a social impact investment company as well as being one of the world’s largest carbon development companies.  The Company is looking to attract an individual who is supportive and empathetic to the broader mission of the Group and displays the following key attributes:

• Excellent people management skills in a culturally diverse environment
• Strong project management and organizational and progress tracking skills, including the ability to prioritize and deliver efficiently and effectively under deadlines.
• Excellent communication, presentation, and interpersonal skills and the ability to clearly and concisely articulate their communications when interacting with a wide range of stakeholders across various levels including executive management and other department heads.
• Ability to manage teams spread across different locations in India and Africa.
• A good understanding of the challenges that climate change presents and the role that carbon markets can play to address it.
• A passion to actively help the rural poor in less developed countries in line with the UN Sustainable Development Goals.
• Good numerate skills.
• An ability to fit in with the high-performance and collaborative culture of CQC.
• An ability to self-manage day to day activities.

Travel:  The expectation is that the Head of CSAT will travel to meet with colleagues and partners in the operating regions, but the majority of the time this role will be Delhi-based.

Hiring entity: CQC India entity (Brightspark Energy Private Ltd.)

Location: Delhi, India