Are you passionate about the role of the private sector in achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and for helping to ensure they are held to account for their actions and commitments? Are you a strategic thinker with excellent influencing and advocacy skills? Do you have significant experience working on human rights related issues, either with companies, civil society or financial institutions? The World Benchmarking Alliance (WBA) is now recruiting a Corporate Human Rights Benchmark (CHRB) Spotlight Research Lead within its Social Transformation.

Corporate Human Rights Benchmark (CHRB) Spotlight Research Lead, Social Transformation

Lead the research for the Corporate Human Rights Benchmark

WBA is a global non-profit on a mission to measure business impact on people and planet in order to collaboratively strengthen corporate accountability for sustainable development. We assess and engage with 2,000 of the world’s most influential companies across our seven systems of transformations and publish free to access benchmark and insights on a wide range of business and sustainable development issues. We also work closely with multi-stakeholders and our over 400+ Allies to use our findings and insights to facilitate action.

The role of this Spotlight Research Lead is to lead the research for WBA’s CHRB, including apply its methodology across more than 100 companies by Q1 2026 and develop key findings from the benchmark’s results throughout 2026. The goal of the CHRB is to shine a light on the policies, processes and practices that some of the most influential companies in high-risk sectors have in place to systematise their human rights approach and how they respond to serious allegations. In this role, you will work within the Social Transformation team, which covers multiple topics from human rights, decent work and ethical action across 2,000 companies, as well as provide guidance and support to research analysts. You should thrive in a fast-paced and purpose-driven work environment that provides high levels of autonomy.

What you will do:

Oversee the Corporate Human Rights Benchmark Methodology, ensuring its indicators and scoring guidelines are applied as accurately as possible, and that the methodology remains relevant for key stakeholders.
Oversee, coordinate, evolve and execute the research on WBA’s Corporate Human Rights Benchmark.
Ensure benchmarks and research products are published timely and transparently with accurate data and insightful assessments of company performance with respect to the areas measured by the benchmark. 
Work closely with the Social Transformation team, collaborate with other Research Leads and support relevant research initiatives within WBA.
Work to increase engagement among benchmarked companies.
Ensure that WBA methodologies and research outputs incorporate and demonstrate developing country perspectives and impact.
Ensure that our spotlight research is designed to inspire multi-stakeholder collective action and public policies to improve company behaviour.
Enhance the organization’s external influence and prestige by demonstrating research excellence and subject matter expertise in writing and/or speaking for external audiences.
Mentor and coach research analysts to build deep and strong internal research capabilities on corporate accountability for sustainable development.
Collaborate with research colleagues to enhance the quality and efficiency of WBA’s research, by supporting for example, the process of harmonisation, standardisation, digitisation and workflow automation.
Ensure that we recruit research talent from all regions and that our function reflects the geographic distribution of the companies we assess.
Partner with Engagement, Communications and Research colleagues in creating positive and systemic impact through our research.
Actively participate in our efforts to obtain and maintain research-focused funding. This could be for example by contributing sections to draft proposals and donor reports.
Provide expert guidance internally on questions of research and methodology.
Represent WBA externally on specific areas of research expertise as needed, such as with our Allies, users of the data, companies benchmarked, the Social Expert Review Committee, etc.
Provide training and coaching to colleagues on using the CHRB Methodology to build our research capacity, not just on ‘what’ we measure but ‘how’ to work impactfully.

What we are looking for:

10+ years of experience contributing and leading on research & analysis regarding business and human rights topics grounded in the UN Guiding Principles and OECD Guidelines. Experience with embedding human rights in companies’ culture and management systems as well as knowledge of specific human rights across high-risk sectors would also be advantageous.
Experience managing a team of researchers – adept at building relationships, leading cross-functional conversations, and working across various virtual teams. Facilitation skills and convening technical dialogues to reach consensus are important skills needed in this role.
Proven record in drafting research reports and research papers. Evidence of relevant peer-reviewed publications is a plus.
Experience as a primary investigator on relevant, multi-year research projects or experience in a senior research role at a development organization or research institution is a plus.
Strong academic qualifications and research skills, or equivalent hands-on experience, able to lead on the interpretation and analyses of corporate disclosures and data.
Strong verbal and written English communication skills, able to write clearly and concisely on human rights related issues for professional audiences.
Passion for making a difference with a ‘can do’, hands-on and professional attitude. In our teal culture based on self-managed teams, you must be proactive and inclusive to thrive.
Comfortable in a globally inclusive, agile, and virtual/hybrid environment that promotes flexibility while being able to meet deadlines.

Our offer:

A challenging job with considerable responsibilities and maximum autonomy to lead a driven team focused on impact. We stimulate personal growth and believe in flexible working arrangements, and you will receive market-based employment benefits (the equivalent of the all-in annual compensation range of €73k – 78k gross). We have a physical presence in Amsterdam and London, alongside many employees who work across the world. You can be based anywhere for this role as inclusivity is one of our values. We particularly welcome applicants from the Global South.

Interested?

Send us your resume by clicking the 'apply for this job' button addressed to Melinda George, including a brief cover letter explaining why you’d like to join WBA and how you match the role description. Ideally, you should also be able to provide a link to your writing sample in your resume. We are happy for you to apply as soon as possible but at the latest by 20 January 2025. The first virtual interviews will be held from 21 January 2025. For more information about WBA and our benchmarks please see our website or follow @SDGBenchmarks on Twitter.

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Corporate Human Rights Benchmark (CHRB) Spotlight Research Lead, Social Transformation