Senior Environmental & Climate Economist
Join Resilens as Environmental & Climate Economist: design transparent CBA models for climate adaptation, monetize risk, and empower cities with defendable, fundable actions.
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Who We Are
Resilens is dedicated to solving one of the urgent challenges of our time: enabling communities and cities to adapt to a changing climate. Not everything can be prevented - but effective adaptation reduces losses and protects people where it matters most.
Our clients are cities and companies who will use our climate adaptation platform to move from uncertainty to evidence-based action. We’re a data-first company combining domain expertise with modern technology. We turn climate risk into ranked measures and fundable priorities - with clear numbers on risk, cost, and expected impact. We’re looking for hands-on builders who want to join us in making adaptation happen.
How we work: We believe regular in-person collaboration matters in an early-stage specialist team. We work in a hybrid setup with regular in-person collaboration. We typically expect 50%+ in-office presence in Potsdam or Zürich, including 1–2 fixed team days per week. English is our working language. German is a plus.
What you’ll do
Design, build, and continuously improve economic models behind our climate adaptation measure applications
Develop cost-benefit analysis (CBA), cost-effectiveness, and multi-criteria assessment frameworks
Translate climate risk, hazard, exposure, and vulnerability data into monetized impact estimates
Build valuation methodologies (e.g., avoided damages, co-benefits, social value, ecosystem services)
Define assumptions, discounting approaches, and scenario logic in a transparent and defensible way
Collaborate closely with product and engineering teams to operationalize models inside the platform
Document methodologies to ensure credibility with municipalities, funders, and auditors
Engage directly with our customers to validate the practical utility and defensibility of our economic frameworks
Contribute to thought leadership on climate adaptation economics and financing
Within 12 months, you will have:
Designed and implemented a modular CBA framework embedded in the product
Established standardized valuation methodologies for key adaptation measures
Built scenario logic (ex-ante vs ex-post comparisons) aligned with ISO-aligned planning processes
Developed a transparent override structure for economic assumptions
Produced at least 3 defensible economic case studies usable in sales and funding applications
Created internal documentation and model governance standards
Positioned the company as a credible voice in climate adaptation economics
What we’re looking for
You have the right to work in the EU.
Advanced degree in Environmental Economics, Climate Economics, Public Economics, or related field
You enjoy collaborating with the firm's Product, Commercial, and Technology leadership.
Strong experience in building financial models, best if in the area of cost-benefit or impact assessment models
Experience monetizing climate risks, environmental impacts, or infrastructure investments
Deep understanding of geospatial data, climate risk modeling inputs, discounting, uncertainty treatment, and scenario modeling
Ability to translate complex economic logic into product-ready systems
Comfort working in a startup-like, iterative environment
Strong overall communication skills for complex methodologies
Experience with climate adaptation a big plus
Experience implementing models in Python
Why we do this work
Climate adaptation decisions are often constrained not by technical feasibility, but by economic justification. Municipalities and funders must prioritize limited budgets under uncertainty.
This role exists to ensure that our platform provides robust, transparent, and defensible economic reasoning behind every measure recommendation — transforming climate risk data into actionable financial logic.
You will build the quantitative backbone that enables adaptation managers to justify investments, compare scenarios, and unlock financing.
Our Values
We care about climate adaptation and tangible, on-the-ground impact.
We don’t wait for perfect plans: We define outcomes and flag risks early.
We learn fast and turn that learning into real outputs.
We separate our ego from our ideas and update our beliefs when presented with better evidence.
What We Offer You
We offer the chance to build a category-defining product alongside experienced people who have pioneered this field before.
Direct Impact: Work on the core of a product that changes how cities and operators will handle the climate crisis.
Experienced team: We are led by a founding team with 20+ years of experience each across climate analytics, scalable software, and building companies.
No drama, no egos. We value evidence over impressions and respect over hierarchy.
Room for Growth: We are a small team building an impactful product. This offers you a unique environment to master how complex climate risks are translated into real-world investable action.
Aligned Autonomy: We agree on the "Why" and the outcomes, then you own the "How."
Strong runway: We are financed for the next 3 years.
Competitive compensation and possibly equity package.
Inclusive by Design: We believe diverse backgrounds and perspectives strengthen judgment and product quality. We evaluate candidates against consistent outcomes and competencies, and we encourage applications from all genders, backgrounds, and experiences. We look for genuinely kind collaborators who make our team better through empathy, candid feedback, and a shared commitment to excellence.
- Department
- Product and Research
- Locations
- Office Potsdam
- Remote status
- Hybrid