Research Associate

CEA Consulting

Research Associate

San Francisco, CA

Full Time

About the Organization

CEA Consulting is an environmental consultancy based in San Francisco, CA. For over four decades, CEA Consulting has partnered with a wide range of philanthropies, nonprofits, businesses, and government agencies in effectively tackling urgent environmental challenges—from climate change to ocean conservation to sustainable food systems. By combining rigorous analysis with deep sector expertise, we help our clients develop focused strategies, build and execute effective programs, and assess and amplify their impact.

With approximately 30 employees across the firm, CEA strives to create a collaborative and inclusive work environment where all consultants are supported in doing the work they are most passionate about, developing their skills, and bringing their whole selves to work. We believe that a wide array of perspectives, backgrounds, and experiences promote innovation and make our team more creative, flexible, and productive. For a more in-depth description of our approach to work, please see our Vision, Mission, and Guiding Principles. For a more in-depth description of our services and examples of past work, please see our website.

CEA’s Work

CEA supports environmental foundations, nonprofits, private-sector businesses, government agencies, trade associations, and impact investors. We pride ourselves on being client-oriented, insightful, and responsive. Our work encompasses a broad range of environmental topics ranging from conservation to climate solutions on land and in the water, with many of our projects having an international scope. The majority of our work serves the philanthropic and non-profit sectors and relates to marine conservation and/or climate change. We also work regularly on climate resilience and adaptation, climate-smart agriculture, land use and conservation, freshwater management, equity and justice in climate and conservation, transportation, wildlife protection, pollution, and urban sustainability. We often work at the intersection of these issues. Our primary offerings include:

• Strategy, including grant-making strategies, organizational- or initiative-level program strategies, field- or sector-level landscaping and analysis, and opportunity assessment.
• Facilitation, including meeting and workshop design, insight generation, and synthesis; funder collaborative and NGO group facilitation.
• Operational Support, including initiative incubation, grant sourcing and diligence, designing and launching funder collaboratives, and board development and management.
• Analysis and Thought-Leadership, including sector-level climate mitigation analysis, roadmaps or frameworks for collective action, grant database creation and analysis, and field-level state-of-play assessments.
• Monitoring, Evaluation, and Learning, including design and implementation of multi-year MEL programs, logic models and theory of change development, learning session facilitation, research to support learning agendas, third-party evaluations.
• Recruiting and Organizational Design, including executive search and transition planning, staff recruitment and hiring support, strategic talent acquisition partnership, board member recruitment, and executive compensation analysis.

About the Role

CEA is looking for a Research Associate, our entry-level consulting role. The successful applicant will support the day-to-day management of complex consulting engagements for clients, including large environment-focused foundations, family foundations, NGOs, impact investors, and bilateral multilateral agencies.

Our work environment is collaborative, creative, and intensive. It requires intellectual rigor, excellent interpersonal and communication skills, independence, attention to detail, and a passion for environmental issues. This exciting role will provide opportunities to support teams engaged in high-impact projects across the environmental philanthropic space and for interaction with leaders and subject matter experts across a wide range of critical environmental issues.  

CEA is an environment where consultants can continue to grow and advance throughout their career. We do not have an “up or out” culture or review process. Research Associates can expect to be in their role for two to three years before a promotion.

About You

You are a self-starter and find joy and fulfillment from a job well done. You can deliver your work on time, support your teammates, and help to create a collegial, inclusive, and healthy work environment. You are intellectually curious and a committed colleague. You can work effectively both in teams and independently. You can balance multiple priorities to meet deadlines. You are coachable and are excited to continue to grow your knowledge base and skillset.

Primary Duties and Responsibilities

• Support the execution of projects in collaboration with team members.
• Conduct research and analysis independently, including having the ability to critically evaluate sources, document research processes, and ensure accuracy of findings.
• Support recruiting team with search activities, including research, client related material development, client and candidate communication support, and application review.
• Participate in group problem solving, brainstorming and distillation of research and analysis into action-relevant insights for clients.
• Formulate and test hypotheses via research, modeling, expert interviews, and data analyses.
• Liaise and communicate professionally and reliably with clients.
• Develop and communicate recommendations via clear and compelling deliverables and visuals (e.g., reports, presentations, briefs, charts).
• Ensure quality control of outgoing work products and correspondence.
• Work effectively and efficiently with minimal supervision and proactively engage with project managers.
• Participate in CEA’s continued work to become a more diverse, inclusive, and equitable organization.

Desired Qualifications

We are open to candidates with a range of past professional experiences, including entry-level applicants (i.e., coming out of undergraduate institutions in 2025 or 2026). We will consider hiring two candidates for this position with a priority on the first hire starting in the early Fall of 2025. The second position can include applicants who will be available in the Spring of 2026, post-graduation.

Many of our current consultants have experience in environmental nonprofits, academia, finance/impact investing, engineering, government agencies, foundations, and think tanks.

While each consultant at CEA brings different skills and experiences to their work, desired skills and experiences include the following.

• A Bachelor’s degree and relevant work experience that includes full and part-time employment, contracted work, academic area of focus, internships, volunteer experience, fellowships, etc.
• Degrees or work experiences that include training in research methods (quantitative and/or qualitative) and/or focus on environmental science and policy and/or natural sciences.
• Content knowledge and professional interest in climate change science and policy, energy policy, ocean science and conservation, ocean-climate issues, marine fisheries, coastal communities and livelihoods and/or climate justice, and climate resilience.
• Ability to present information in an insightful and structured manner, both written and oral.
• Excellent interpersonal skills, including the ability to effectively communicate across internal teams and with external stakeholders.
• Ability to prioritize meeting deadlines and respond and adapt to changing client needs.
• Ability to handle sensitive matters with discretion and interact with a wide range of stakeholders (e.g., scientists, policymakers, advocates, grassroots organizers, and industry representatives) with diplomacy, respect, and curiosity.
• A curious, pragmatic, and strategic mind.
• Ability and desire to problem solve both independently and collaboratively, and to contribute your insight to team projects.

Preferred Experience

• Proficiency in qualitative research methods (e.g., interviews, expert consultation, case studies).
• Proficiency in Excel and/or other analytical software (e.g., R, GIS, Tableau).
• Other content knowledge that will support CEA’s work includes land preservation, climate smart agriculture, freshwater management, forestry, environmental justice, and/or air quality.
• Training in and/or professional interest in the practice of monitoring, evaluation, and learning.
• Professional proficiency in foreign languages relevant for our work and demonstrated cultural competency (e.g., Spanish, Mandarin, Japanese)
• A passion for promoting diversity, equity, and inclusion in the workplace
• Strong writing and analysis skills, including ability to prepare high quality reports, slide decks, briefs and meeting notes/summaries.

Work Location

CEA’s office is located in San Francisco, and roughly half of the team lives in the Bay Area, while others work remotely on a permanent basis. Those working from our San Francisco office come in at least twice a week. CEA Research Associates are asked to work in our San Francisco office for at least three years. This position will likely require some travel, one or two trips per year, largely domestic.

Compensation and Benefits

We offer competitive salaries, excellent benefits, and a supportive working environment. Salary will be commensurate with skills and experience. The salary range for this position is $67,000 - $80,000.

Hiring and Interview Process Details

CEA is committed to a transparent and equitable hiring process, including providing details into what our overall interview process will be. We do our best to review your application materials as quickly as possible and to provide updates throughout our application process. Should you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to reach out directly to our lead search manager, Micah Day – Micah@ceaconsulting.com.

As a part of our effort to provide a transparent and equitable hiring process, we will be conducting a live Q&A session for all applicants and potential candidates. This will be an opportunity for candidates to learn more about our organization’s culture, mission and values, our work, and the roles and responsibilities of a Research Associate at our firm. The session will be attended by a variety of staff members from CEA.

Whether you have applied or would just like to learn more, you are welcome to join us for this session. We will be holding this on Thursday, August 21st 2025, at 10:00 AM PST/1:00 PM EST. If you are interested in attending, please sign up in advance through the registration link below:

https://zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_mmq9K4QcQ-WRzCttGp0sUg#/registration

Feel free to submit questions for the webinar ahead of time using the link below:

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSeqkJTFTa65doynyHWu02UnL7n5Elh2zFC_E3LHNyCA7FeHUQ/viewform

To Apply

Please follow the link below in order to submit a thoughtful cover letter, resume, and salary expectations. https://job.ceaconsulting.com/jobs/research-associate-488?keywords=&location=