Business Engagement Lead - The Hidden Bill of Green Conflict
Institute for Human Rights & BusinessABOUT IHRB
The Institute for Human Rights and Business (IHRB) was founded in 2009. Our vision is to achieve a more just and regenerative global economy where:
Workers and communities are free and able to use their voices effectively to ensure their rights are respected.
Businesses demonstrate respect for the rights of workers and communities, and the natural systems they depend on, in their purpose, operations, relationships, and value creation.
Financial actors use their leverage to positively impact the scale and performance of their partners’ human rights and environmental responsibilities.
Governments actively implement a smart mix of long-term incentives and disincentives that drive rights-respecting and planet-aligned business.
IHRB’s mission is to make respect for people and planet part of everyday business. We advance our mission through human rights-based research, targeted convening, and development of collaborative action with businesses, governments and civil society to shape policy, advance practice, and strengthen accountability at all levels.
ABOUT IHRB’S WORK ON CLIMATE
IHRB’s Just Transitions Programme focuses on a central challenge: current climate action models are structurally misaligned, and this is undermining delivery. Decision-making remains top-down across sectors, financial systems misprice social risk, adaptation and mitigation are siloed, and practitioners lack awareness of usable, investable models. The result is an implementation gap, where ambition is rising but delivery is contested, delayed, or fragile, raising material risks for workers and communities, company operations, and the transition itself.
Our core contention is that climate action succeeds when governed as a social process, not just a technical or financial one. Embedding the rights and agency of workers, communities, and affected stakeholders into how decisions are designed, sequenced, and financed is a precondition for effective, investable climate action. This approach is grounded in international standards, including the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights, which establish participation, accountability, and due diligence as baseline conditions.
IHRB works to shift practice through three interconnected approaches:
making risk visible, by demonstrating how social exclusion translates into financial and operational costs
making the possible tangible, by identifying real-world models and mechanisms, and translating them into operational insights for diverse practitioners
making change actionable, by convening and engaging business, finance, policy, and civil society in dialogue on shared challenges and emerging issues
PROJECT OVERVIEW
When renewable energy projects advance without the meaningful participation of the communities that host them, opposition follows, and with it come delays, cancellations, litigation, tighter financing conditions and higher insurance exposure. These costs are real within a business, but they are often hidden in plain sight, scattered across different budgets, departments and project stages, beyond the view of those making investment and governance decisions.
Over the last two years, IHRB has built the first structured evidence base for the renewables sector on this problem. This was build on foundational analysis of 47 cases of active wind and solar conflicts, deep engagement across the industry with more than 60 practitioner interviews, and field research in La Guajira, Colombia. It shows that poorly managed community conflict is a material enterprise risk, capable of affecting project viability, financing conditions, insurance exposure and long-term asset value.
Over the next two years, IHRB will be deepening this work to embed this evidence into institutional practice. IHRB will work directly with renewable energy companies, investors, and insurers to build human rights risk prevention and social value creation into the systems and decisions that shape energy infrastructure. During this work, IHRB will also test whether the Hidden Bill methodology holds in a rapidly evolving sector: data centres, where community opposition over water, energy, and meaningful engagement is growing quickly and the industry is ill equipped with the tools or experience to better manage their local relationships.
The work runs through four interconnected workstreams:
Developer/Operator pilots: Developing partnereships with 3-4 renewable energy developers to pilot the Hidden Bill taxonomy and operational pathways internally - real governance and project environments.
Financial system engagement: Deepen the Hidden Bill engagement and evidence on how community conflict affects financing conditions, risk exposure and asset value to investors, lenders and insurers.
Practitioner tools and governance frameworks: Based on what the developer pilots and financial engagement reveal, translating that learning into a small suite of tested tools for wider sectoral uptake.
Data centre sprint study: Applying the Hidden Bill methodology to the development of data centres and AI infrastructure across key global geographies, based on direct engagement with developers and other actors across the data centre value chain.
Clifford Chance is a key project partner with IHRB, providing legal analysis on how frameworks such as CSDDD, disclosure regulation and fiduciary duty are reshaping governance expectations. Practitioner convenings will be hosted at the firm’s offices in London and Washington D.C.
ROLE OVERVIEW
IHRB is seeking an experienced Business Engagement Lead to drive the project’s institutional engagement: building relationships and trust with renewable energy developers/operators to secure and run pilot partnerships and bringing the Hidden Bill taxonomy and operational pathways into the financial institutions that price and insure infrastructure risk; and convening the practitioners whose decisions determine whether social conflict risk is proactively managed or an unmitigated cost centre.
IHRB is looking for an experienced human rights and social risk practitioner who understands how renewables companies actually work: how decisions get made inside them, who holds influence, what their internal culture incentivises, and what it takes for new practice to be embedded effectively. Each partner company and pilot will be unique, and the core of this role is a curiosity to identify the technical, operational, and human barriers to embedding respect for human rights into the core business practice of the renewables sectors.
ROLE OBJECTIVES
To lead the process of:
Designing and executing an engagement strategy for turning the Hidden Bill evidence into operational partnerships with renewable energy developers, investors, and insurers
Securing and stewarding pilot partnerships with 3-4 wind and solar developers/operators willing to build Hidden Bill governance tools into project development and investment decisions, and and engagement with 2-3 financial institutions to explore the leverage and limits of investor and insurance influence over the sector's social performance
Designing and convening the project’s roundtables and practitioner convenings, in partnership with the wider IHRB team and Clifford Chance
Developing practitioner tools coming out of the learnings from pilots, ensuring they are usable inside real corporate and financial decision processes
Advance the data centre study by building relationships directly with industry and investor practitioners
Track engagement and influence signals and feed them back into project implementation and reporting
Represent IHRB in sector forums, panels and bilateral conversations
Travel internationally as required to support pilots, wider practitioner engagement, and convenings
WHAT SUCCESS LOOKS LIKE
3-4 renewable energy companies and 2-3 financial institutions using Hidden Bill governance tools in project development and investment decision-making
Pilot partnerships that generate usable learning for public-facing tools that advance the practice and impact of the wider industry, with renewables partners willing to speak to that learning
Evidence that social conflict risk is starting to appear in due diligence, credit, underwriting or board reporting at engaged institutions
Roundtables and convenings that practitioners value enough to return to and act on, evidenced through repeat engagement and follow-on requests
A practitioner network that supports IHRB’s long-term work to advance a strong human rights legacy for the renewables sector
KEY RESPONSIBILITIES
Developer Pilots
Map, build relations, and secure pilots with 3-4 renewable energy developers
Translate the Hidden Bill recommendations into concrete pilot propositions for each partner, matched to its project portfolio, internal processes and appetite for engagement
Agree the terms of each pilot with partner companies: scope, internal counterparts, data access, confidentiality, and what the company commits to test
Work across teams within these renewables companies (sustainability, community relations, project development, risk and finance) to stress-test internal risk-tracking processes and apply social risk and governance tools to live project conditions
Co-develop dashboards and frameworks that operationalise the integration of social risk and value alongside financial and environmental risk in project decision-making
Financial System Engagement
Use the Hidden Bill findings as the starting point for engagement with financial institutions
Lead bilateral engagement with senior counterparts at infrastructure investors, lenders and insurers on integrating social conflict risk and value into ESG due diligence, credit assessment, underwriting and risk pricing
Develop practical metrics and frameworks that financial institutions can adopt, drawing on Clifford Chance’s project finance and investment management practice where helpful
Design and deliver 1-2 confidential roundtables in which financial actors share learning on pricing and managing social conflict risk
Convening and Representation
Design and deliver the project’s practitioner convenings in London and/or Washington DC, from participant selection and agenda design to follow-up, working with Clifford Chance and the wider IHRB team
Represent IHRB credibly in panels, briefings and bilateral meetings with senior business, finance and policy actors
Identify the sector forums - renewables industry, infrastructure finance, insurance - where the project’s findings and tools can shape practice
Practitioner Tools
Bring the learning from the pilots and financial engagement into tool design, so that the practical learnings from the pilots are converted into public goods for wider sectoral benefit
Assessing the development of the tools, to ensure they are practical, operable, and effective inside developers and financial institutions
Shape how the tools are framed and positioned for business and finance audiences, and secure early users and testers among pilot partners
Lead the business-facing side of dissemination and wider rollout of the tools in Year 2
Adaptive Learning and MEL
Track engagement using CRM-style tools: contacts engaged, nature and timing of interactions, follow-up requests, commitments made, and evidence of tools entering decision processes
Synthesise these signals into clear internal feedback on what is working, with whom and why, and feed it into the project’s adaptation and annual reporting to the funder
ABOUT YOU
We are open about background. Strong candidates may come from corporate human rights, sustainability or social performance roles; from consultancies advising companies on social risk and stakeholder engagement; from NGOs or think tanks with a serious track record of business engagement; or from financial institutions working on ESG and social risk. What matters is that you understand how companies work from the inside, can open doors, and can hold your own navigating the substantive complexity once you are in the room. Experience across more than one sector is an advantage.
Essential Experience and Knowledge
Substantial experience (typically 7+ years) working on human rights and social risk directly with companies or financial institutions
A strong understanding of how renewables companies work internally, including decision-making processes, governance, incentives and organisational culture, and the ability to use that understanding to embed new practice
A track record of building operational partnerships, not only dialogue, with companies or financial institutions where the partner actually changed a process, tool or decision as a result
Solid understanding of human rights due diligence, community engagement, benefit-sharing and operational-level grievance mechanisms
A working understanding of how investors, lenders and insurers assess risk, including due diligence and relevant performance standards (e.g. IFC Performance Standards, Equator Principles)
Expertise in rights-based frameworks (UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights, OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises) and emerging regulation such as CSDDD and sustainability disclosure requirements regionally/nationally
Research literacy: able to master the Hidden Bill evidence quickly, comfortable interpreting and presenting findings, and turning it into practical guidance for implementation
Demonstrated ability to design and run high-trust convenings (executive roundtables, closed-door dialogues, peer-learning formats or comparable)
Strongly Preferred
Experience in the energy sector, ideally in renewable energy or wider infrastructure, including a working understanding of how projects are developed, permitted and financed and where community conflict enters that cycle
Experience across multiple sectors, including investor and insurance spaces, giving you a sense of how social risk is handled across different industries
Experience designing or leading qualitative research, such as case analysis or practitioner interviews, and turning it into published outputs
Essential Skills and Abilities
Stakeholder mapping and engagement design: knowing who to engage, in what sequence, and on what terms to deepen practice
Negotiation and partnership-building skills, including inherited relationships and cold approaches, agreeing scope, confidentiality and commitments with corporate partners
Excellent written and spoken English, with the ability to translate research findings into operational language for business and finance audiences
Facilitation skills, including holding productive conversations about genuine dilemmas rather than rehearsed positions
Discipline around tracking and reporting engagement, including comfort with CRM-style tools
High emotional intelligence and political judgement, with the ability to read each company’s internal dynamics and work across the competing interests of developers, financiers, communities and civil society
Strongly Preferred
An existing senior network among renewable energy developers, infrastructure investors, lenders or insurers in Europe, North America or Latin America
Direct experience inside a company, infrastructure fund, lender, insurer or specialist advisory firm
Familiarity with the data centre or wider digital infrastructure sector
Spanish or other languages relevant to project geographies
Familiarity with IHRB’s work and with The Hidden Bill of Green Conflict report
Attitude
Proactive and self-motivating: an entrepreneurial attitude, with a proven ability to own and be accountable for end-to-end processes and outcomes.
Collaborative: genuinely invested in working as a pair with a research partner, and open to having your assumptions about what businesses will accept tested by evidence.
Flexible and adaptable: able to adjust aspects of the work, timelines and working style to the realities of a small, nimble organisation.
Diplomatic and tactful: treating others respectfully regardless of personal biases or beliefs, and acting as a bridge builder between actors with competing interests.
TIMEFRAME AND CONTRACTING
Reporting to: Head of Just Transitions, IHRB
Expected start date and timeframe: January 2027. The successful candidate will be contracted for the full project period (through 30 November 2028), with a one-month notice period.
Location: Home-based and open to candidates globally. Candidates must already have the legal right to work in their country of residence, provide their own laptop, and have reliable internet connectivity. The role requires willingness to travel internationally to support pilot partnerships, financial engagement and the project’s convenings.
Hours: IHRB is open to full-time or part-time arrangements for this role, because we want to find the best possible candidate for it. Some of the people best suited to this work won’t be available full-time. Equally, we want to offer full-time hours to those looking for them. You can apply for three, four or five days per week. Please tell us your preferred pattern in your application. We’ll agree the exact working arrangement with the successful candidate.
Compensation: The fee for this consultancy is £70,000 per year for five days per week, inclusive of VAT, and pro rata for part-time arrangements (for example, £42,000 per year at 3 days per week). Project travel and convening costs are covered separately.
Contracting: The successful candidate will be engaged through a consultancy agreement subject to UK law. They will need to be registered as self-employed and will be responsible for managing their own taxes, insurance, and any other legal or financial obligations. This consultancy is open to individuals and organisations. A consultancy offer will be subject to receipt of two satisfactory references.
APPLICATION PROCESS
Click on the "Apply Now" button to answer some specific application questions.
Deadline for applications: Sunday 29 November 2026 (11pm UK time)
Interviews: Shortlisted applicants will be invited to an initial 45 minute video interview via TeamTailor. First-round interviews will take place in the first weeks of December 2026. Second interviews will take place the following week and will be scheduled closer to the time.
Applications from unsuccessful applicants will be held on file for 6 months after the end of the recruitment process.