Founder's Associate

Job title: Founder's Associate

Location: London (3 Days)

Contract Type: Permanent, Full-Time

Salary Grade: £35,000 - £45,000

About us

We are a climate analytics nonprofit established in 2021. We provide system modelling data, software and analysis to support energy transition planning and decision-making. We are funded by the Quadrature Climate Foundation, Google.org, Sequoia Climate Foundation, Bloomberg Philanthropies, and European Climate Foundation, among others. Our data, software and analysis is used by developers, financiers, planners and think tanks internationally.

At TransitionZero, we understand that diversity is an essential component of a successful team, whether that be diverse ways of thinking, personal or professional backgrounds and skills. We aim to be the most talented nonprofit in our vertical, spearheading innovative data solutions through our culture of inclusivity and adaptability. Now we are looking for a founder’s associate to join our team, reporting to our CEO.

Our people are our greatest asset, and the diverse experience, skills and perspectives individuals bring to our organisation are the driving force of our success. We will therefore consider all qualified applicants in the recruitment process as we welcome all the unique qualities and experiences that make you, you.

About the role

This is a unique opportunity to work directly with our CEO as a trusted right hand and as a member of our central operations team. You will act as an embedded partner in the day-to-day running of the organisation, helping to keep things moving and bringing clarity to fast-evolving priorities. You will be someone the CEO can delegate to with confidence, whether that is drafting funder responses, managing inbound queries, or preparing for critical meetings.

This role would suit a recent business graduate who is eager to get stuck in and support the C-suite with business operations, with a passion for climate tech and a view to progressing into a more senior operations or development role, subject to performance and budget. It is a highly dynamic, fast-paced position, ideal for someone ready to take on a variety of challenges and learn directly from the founder within a growing, tech-focused nonprofit.

Responsibilities

CEO Enablement & Strategic Support (60-70%)

• Project ownership: Take the lead on special projects, from funding initiatives to cross-team pilots — keeping deliverables aligned and timelines clear.
• Meeting support: Prepare briefing documents, presentations, and notes for meetings with funders, partners, and board members.
• Communication: Draft internal and external communications for the CEO, and ensure clear follow-through on key decisions.
• Information management: Help synthesise insights from across the company (research, modelling, people, and partners) to help the CEO stay focused on what matters most.

Operational Support (30-40%)

• People and talent: support the Head of People with wider people initiatives including onboarding/offboarding and engagement. Provide holiday coverage for essential hiring and talent acquisition tasks when the Senior Talent Acquisition Manager is on leave, including managing interview schedules and coordinating candidates.
• Finance coordination: support our Financial Controller with management of regular payments and maintain our vendor database.
• General operations: provide flexible support across the operations team to help keep day to day activities running smoothly, particularly during times of high demand or team absence.
• Office and events management: support day-to-day office coordination including supplies, workspace logistics and supporting hybrid team routines. Assist with logistics for company events, offsites and board meetings.

About you

You are a highly capable and trusted generalist who is passionate about climate tech, an agile problem solver with a sharp eye for detail and a bias toward action. Whether drafting a strategy memo, coordinating a funder meeting, or unblocking a workflow, you approach every task with ownership and curiosity. You are energised by the opportunity to work closely with a founder, thrive on variety, and bring structure to ambiguity. As a culture carrier and core team member, you lead with humility, discretion, and a strong sense of responsibility. You are deeply aligned with our mission to accelerate the clean energy transition and guided by our core values: ownership and diligence, collaboration and communication, resilience and adaptability, intelligence and humility, and ethics and loyalty. You see this role not just as a job, but as a front row seat to scaling impact — and you're ready to dive in.

Skills and experience

Essential

• Highly organised with excellent written communication and time management skills
• Familiarity with GSuite, Slack, Notion, and basic project management tools
• Comfortable managing up and working closely with leadership
• Calm under pressure and resourceful when navigating ambiguity
• Passionate about climate, data, and nonprofit impact
• Trusted to handle sensitive information with discretion
• A team player with a low ego and a strong sense of accountability

Beneficial

• Experience in a startup, nonprofit, think tank, or founder’s office
• Exposure to People Ops or Executive Support responsibilities
• A generalist background: you’ve worn many hats and liked it.

Salary and benefits

• Competitive salary based on experience
• Enhanced competitive pension scheme
• 25 days annual leave (excluding UK public holidays) and an additional day off on your birthday
• 20 days annual allowance to work from anywhere in the world
• Hybrid working and core working hours model
• Allowance to set up your home office
• Annual budget and dedicated leave time for relevant training courses
• Enhanced gender-neutral parental leave (4 months full paid)
• Private healthcare following successful completion of the probation period
• Yearly offsites

Studies have shown that some people from marginalised or underrepresented groups are less likely to apply to a role unless they meet all of the hiring guidelines or qualifications. Whoever you are, even if you don't meet all of the criteria, if you can demonstrate a variety of skills and experience relevant to this role, we encourage you to apply as you might just be the candidate we hire! At TransitionZero, we're looking for people who are genuinely passionate about what they do, and we welcome all people, regardless of their background.

If you would like to discuss any reasonable adjustments to the application or hiring process that may better facilitate your participation, please contact our People Team (hiring@transitionzero.org) for an informal chat. We will make every effort to respond to your request for assistance as soon as possible.

As an equal opportunity employer, we do not discriminate based on any protected attribute. Our commitment is to provide equal opportunities, an inclusive work environment, and fairness to everyone.