Sustainability Research Manager

Sustainability Research Manager, Dublin

Apply now »

Date: 2 Dec 2025

Location: Dublin, IE, IE

Company: Allied Irish Bank

Location/Office Policy: 10 Molesworth Street, Dublin 2 with Hybrid Working

3 days per week in the office - Monday, Tuesday & Wednesday

• Do you have a background in economics, finance, or sustainability, with experience in financial services, public policy, industry, or academia—and can you demonstrate a track record of producing high-quality research or technical outputs suitable for publication?
• Are you able to identify and analyse high-priority sustainability issues, keep pace with evolving frameworks, and apply rigorous, creative problem-solving—even when working with imperfect or fragmented data?
• Can you collaborate effectively across diverse teams and stakeholder groups, communicate complex findings clearly to senior audiences, and thrive in ambiguous, rapidly changing environments?

What is the Role:

The Sustainability Research team sitting within Group Strategy & Sustainability are recruiting for three exciting new roles.

This team is the bank’s centre of expertise for sustainability research / thought leadership, portfolio-level climate and nature materiality assessment, sustainability strategy development, and decarbonisation models and analytics. We are recruiting for three specialist roles to strengthen our analytical and research capability across three areas:

The roles are within Group Strategy & Sustainability ELT area, a dynamic environment where analytical rigour, responsiveness, and cross-functional collaboration are essential. You will work alongside specialists in strategy, risk, data, sustainability, and change, contributing to work that directly supports executive decision-making and regulatory expectations.

Key accountabilities;

Candidates may be aligned to one or more streams based on experience and skillset.

1. Decarbonisation Methodologies & Analytics

• Develop, refine, and maintain the Group’s decarbonisation and transition-pathway models.
• Apply leading methodologies (e.g., NZBA, SBTi, PCAF, IEA scenarios) to ensure modelling remains accurate, credible, and up-to-date.
• Generate insights from modelling outputs that inform strategic planning, target setting, and portfolio steering.
• Collaborate with risk, data, and business teams to integrate modelling insights into decision-making.
• Track global developments in climate metrics, modelling techniques, and regulatory expectations.

2. Sustainability Materiality Assessment

• Conduct portfolio-level climate and nature materiality assessments using a suite of quantitative and qualitative tools (including horizon scanning exercises and heatmaps).
• Apply frameworks such as TNFD, ISSB, NGFS, and domestic guidance to assess impacts, dependencies, risks, and opportunities.
• Deliver clear insights and recommendations to inform the Group’s strategy, risk management, and disclosures.
• Collaborate with risk and business stakeholders to embed materiality insights across the Group.

3. Sustainability Model & Insights

• Produce high-quality research and analysis on emerging sustainability topics relevant to the Group.
• Apply strong data interrogation skills and econometric techniques where appropriate to support robust insights.
• Produce research outputs, briefings, and thought leadership pieces for senior executives and external audiences.
• Monitor policy, technology, market, and environmental trends and assess implications for the Group.
• Engage with internal and external experts to strengthen analytical rigour and expand research capability.
• Develop excellent relations with stakeholders across the organisation to support the production and delivery of research outputs and reports.

What you Will Bring;

• Economics, Finance or Sustainability-focussed background with 5+ years experience in financial services, public policy, industry or academia. A PhD would be an advantage.
• Experience in producing high-quality research or technical outputs suitable for external publication.
• Ability to identify high-priority sustainability issues for research / analysis and apply the appropriate rigour, while producing output that is well written and easily digestible to a range of stakeholders.
• Can keep pace with evolving sustainability frameworks and ensuring the Group’s sustainability research, modelling, and assessments remain credible and up to date. Managing ambiguity in an emerging field – operating in domains where methodologies, definitions, metrics and expectations are still maturing, requiring comfort with uncertainty and a willingness to iterate.
• Enjoy working with imperfect data – climate and nature-related datasets can be fragmented, emerging and non-standardised, requiring sound judgement, creative problem-solving and transparent assumptions.
• Can collaborate across diverse business areas and stakeholder groups.
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills and well-developed interpersonal skills, with the ability to communicate and present to senior stakeholders.

Why Work for AIB:

We are committed to offering our colleagues choice and flexibility in how we work and live and our hybrid working model enables our people to balance their time between working from home and their designated office, subject to their role, the needs of our customers and business requirements.

Some of our benefits include;

• Market leading Pension Scheme
• Healthcare Scheme
• Variable Pay
• Employee Assistance Programme
• Family leave options
• Two volunteer days per year

Please click here for further information about AIB’s PACT – Our Commitment to You.

Key Capabilities:

Behavioural 

• Ensures Accountability - holding self and others accountable to meet commitments.
• Drives organisation cohesion – operates collaberatively, even when things are not certain or the way forward is not clear.
• Collaborates - Building partnerships and working collaboratively with others to meet shared objectives.

Technical

• Strategy Development - seeing ahead to future possibilities and translating them into breakthrough strategies.
• Communication– developing and delivering multi-mode communications that convey a clear understanding of the unique needs of different audiences. Communicates with clarity and conviction.
• Sustainability Research and Strategy - Delivers subject matter expertise to internal and external stakeholders on environment, social and governance factors. Considers interconnected nature of global challenges across various time horizons and scenarios and uses to inform key insights. Develops thought leadership on key topics.

If you are not sure about your suitability based on any aspects of the role advertised, we encourage you to please contact the Recruiter for this role, Noelle Ryan, at careers@aib.ie for a conversation.

Application deadline : Tuesday 6th January 2026 (just before midnight)

Job Segment: Public Policy, Risk Management, Strategic Planning, Law, Banking, Legal, Finance, Strategy

Apply now »