Carbon Forestry Analyst

Why Imperative

Imperative is building one of the world’s most ambitious and scientifically rigorous portfolios of nature-based carbon removal projects. Operating across Latin America, Africa, and Asia, we develop large-scale reforestation, mangrove restoration and other ecosystem-restoration project assets under a build–own–operate model, ensuring scientific integrity, operational excellence, and long-term accountability.

We aim to set the global benchmark for quality, transparency, and durability in the markets for nature-based removal credits. Our projects integrate sound forestry and applied field ecology, supported by major-projects execution capabilities, advanced remote sensing, and state-of-the-art carbon measurement and modelling to deliver true, infrastructure-grade removal outcomes.

As our portfolio scales across multiple geographies and project types, we are growing the Carbon & Impact team to match. This role will sit at the core of project delivery, translating science, data, and standards into credible, investment-grade carbon assets.

Our Values

• Integrity: We act honourably and are guided by a strong moral compass. If things go wrong, we put our hand up, admit it, and adapt.
• Momentum: Speed matters. We have a bias to action. We think quickly, plan tirelessly, mitigate risks, and above all, take action.
• Purpose: We are driven by our desire to make the world better with every interaction, process, and project.
• Accountability: We do what we say and deliver. We seek to be the best at what we do.
• Collaboration: We celebrate diversity of thought, values, and backgrounds, harnessing the strength of our people and partners to achieve more together through teamwork and creativity.
• Tenacity: We are highly ambitious, driven, and hardworking. We persist until we deliver impact.

Position Purpose

Imperative is seeking a Carbon Forestry Analyst to join the NBS Technical Carbon & Impacts team, reporting to the Head of NBS, Technical Carbon & Impacts

We are looking for someone who understands tropical forest ecosystems, has hands-on experience in field forest inventory, applied forest ecology, is comfortable reading and synthesising scientific literature and datasets, experience in research and who can translate that practical understanding into well-designed projects and credible carbon outcomes. You will contribute directly to the technical design, development, and monitoring of nature-based carbon removal projects across multiple geographies and biomes. Your work will span forest inventory and ecological monitoring, field protocol and guideline development for local teams, literature reviews to inform design and PDDs, drafting of PDD sections and technical memos, GIS analysis, MRV coordination, standards compliance, and stakeholder engagement, ensuring that Imperative’s projects exceed the requirements of Standards and emerging compliance-grade frameworks.

Imperative operates a hub-and-spoke model. The NBS Technical Carbon & Impacts HeadCo team, where this role sits, is responsible for ecological and silvicultural project design, inventory & MRV protocols, methodology selection, carbon model development, protocol creation, and quality assurance. Local project teams, with their own dedicated carbon and impact personnel, implement those protocols and guidelines in the field and are responsible for operations, field execution, data collection, day to day monitoring, and community engagement. In this role, you will design the frameworks and tools that local teams implement, provide technical oversight and quality control over their outputs, and ensure cross-portfolio consistency.

This is a hands-on delivery role. You will work across the full project lifecycle, from feasibility and baseline analysis through to verification, collaborating closely with ecologists, modellers, remote-sensing specialists, field teams, and external partners. You will be expected to develop deep technical knowledge of assigned projects while contributing to cross-portfolio quality and consistency.

Key Responsibilities

1. Forestry & Ecological Project Design

• Contribute to the Basis of Design (BoD) for assigned projects — the structuring technical document locking ecological, silvicultural, and restoration choices, and a gating prerequisite under Imperative’s Pre-FID Process.
• Conduct structured literature reviews and benchmark analyses to inform forest design choices and Contribute to the development of Imperative’s project restoration strategies adapted to site conditions — assisted natural regeneration, active planting, silvicultural interventions — and contribute to Forest Landscape Restoration (FLR) assessments.
• Bring forestry judgement into project feasibility and technical due diligence: assess site suitability, identify ecological risks (fire, pests, drought, encroachment), and inform design choices through desk research and literature review that improve both ecological integrity and carbon outcomes.
• Develop and maintain technical guidance, design templates, and decision frameworks (Plantation Protocols, Farm Management Plans, SOPs) for local project teams to implement, working closely with field ecologists, remote-sensing specialists, and local technical leads to ensure HeadCo design reflects on-the-ground reality.

2. Carbon Modelling & Quantification Support

• Support the development and calibration of project-level carbon models, including growth curves, allometric equations, and biomass accumulation estimates under the direction of the Head of Carbon Modelling.
• Compile, organise and interpret field inventory data, destructive sampling results, soil carbon datasets, and remote-sensing-derived metrics.
• Structure and contribute to the improvement of biomass and carbon inventory technical guidance on different carbon pools and adapted to specific biomes and methodologies.
• Assist with uncertainty analyses and sensitivity testing.
• Maintain clear documentation of data sources, model versions, assumptions, and limitations.

3. PDD Development & Standards Compliance

• Lead or contribute to PDD drafting at HeadCo level; review and quality-assure PDD sections and monitoring reports prepared by local project carbon & impact staff.
• Develop and maintain standardised templates, guidance notes, and worked examples for PDD sections, monitoring reports, and verification documentation to be used by local project teams.
• Track methodology updates and evolving standards requirements; flag implications for active and pipeline projects.
• Prepare responses to due diligence information requests, working with the team to ensure technical accuracy and consistency.
• Support baseline studies, additionality analyses, leakage and risk assessments.

4. Data Management & Quality Assurance

• Design data collection protocols, standard operating procedures, and QA/QC frameworks for use by local project teams across field measurements, nursery records, survival surveys, planting records, and monitoring outputs.
• Review and validate project-level datasets submitted by local teams; identify data quality issues and work with local carbon & impact staff to resolve them.
• Contribute to the design and optimisation of sampling strategies and monitoring frameworks in collaboration with the Head of Carbon Modelling, field ecology, and remote-sensing teams.
• Maintain HeadCo-level analytical repositories with clear traceability and reproducibility standards.

5. Impact Assessment & Stakeholder Engagement

• Develop standardised frameworks and templates for socio-economic baseline surveys, SDG monitoring, stakeholder engagement plans, and FPIC documentation for local teams to implement.
• Contribute to socio-economic and biodiversity impact assessments, including community benefit-sharing documentation, SDG reporting, and stakeholder engagement plans.
• Review and quality-assure impact deliverables prepared by local project teams.
• Support FPIC processes, grievance mechanisms, and gender-responsive monitoring where required.
• Prepare funder-facing reports, technical briefings, and due-diligence response materials.
• Engage constructively with local project teams, and external technical partners.

6. Cross-Portfolio Contribution

• Provide technical onboarding support and ongoing capacity building to local project carbon & impact staff on protocols, tools, and standards.
• Contribute to internal knowledge management: technical memos, lessons-learned documentation, and process improvement.
• Support rating agency engagement (e.g., BeZero, Sylvera, Calyx Global) by preparing data packs and technical narratives.
• Participate in internal peer-review processes for PDDs, model outputs, and monitoring reports.

Essential Skills & Attributes

• Direct operational experience in tropical or subtropical forestry, plantation, agroforestry, or ecosystem restoration (including wetlands).
• Field experience in Africa, Latin America or South/South East Asia with exposure to at least one of the biomes we operate in (Mangrove, Tropical Forest, Miombo forest)
• Experience managing or coordinating international projects in developing or emerging-market contexts — working remotely with local teams, navigating cross-cultural dynamics, and delivering against milestones across time zones.
• Solid grounding in tropical forestry, forest inventory, carbon accounting, or ecological monitoring within an NBS/AFOLU context.
• Working knowledge of Verra, Equitable Earth or Isometric, particularly on ARR or mangrove/blue carbon methods.
• Ability to draft clear, technically rigorous documents: PDDs, technical memos, and funder-facing materials.
• Ability to translate complex technical requirements into clear, implementable protocols and standard operating procedures (SOPs) for use by teams with varying levels of technical expertise.
• Strong attention to detail, especially around data integrity, version control, and internal consistency.
• Pragmatic and self-directed, able to manage competing deadlines across multiple projects without constant supervision.
• Effective communicator across technical and non-technical audiences, including field teams, auditors, investors, and community stakeholders. High-quality English oral and written communication is essential — PDDs, technical memos, BoDs and funder-facing documents are all written in English. Fluency in at least one additional international language (Spanish, Portuguese, French, Bahasa Indonesia, Hindi, or similar) is required.

Desirable Skills

• Direct Experience contributing to a PDD or verification cycle under a recognised carbon standard.
• Familiarity with more than one carbon standard or methodology framework (Verra, Isometric, Equitable Earth, Gold Standard), enabling faster cross-portfolio contribution.
• Experience designing or implementing SOPs, field protocols, or data collection systems for use by third-party or distributed teams.
• Exposure to socio-economic impact assessment, FPIC, or community engagement in a development or conservation context.
• Strong GIS skillsets (QGIS, ArcGIS, or equivalent) applied to forest design, stratification and inventory planning;
• Familiarity with R, Python, or equivalent tools is a plus but not required — the role does not centre on heavy data crunching
• Working knowledge of ARR or blue carbon project types.
• Experience with mobile data management platforms or tools used in MRV workflows (e.g., KoboToolbox, ODK, Survey123, or similar mobile data collection systems).
• Spanish or Portuguese proficiency.

Qualifications & Experience

• MSc in Tropical Forestry, Forest Science, Agroforestry, Forest Ecology, Environmental Science or a closely related discipline, from a recognised forestry school or tropical/applied forestry programme.
• 3–5 years of professional experience in tropical forestry, forest inventory, carbon project development, ecological monitoring, environmental consultancy, or a closely related field, ideally including exposure to the development world (multilateral, NGO, or donor-funded forestry/landscape programmes) and/or carbon projects.
• Demonstrated experience contributing to at least one full PDD or verification cycle under a recognised carbon standard.
• Experience working with field-collected ecological or environmental datasets.

Location

Global. Latin-America (early calls to be expected), Europe / Africa, or South/South-East Asia (late calls to be expected) project geographies. Willingness to travel to project sites in remote areas (20% of time) required.

What We Offer

• Competitive compensation package, benchmarked locally to market and experience, with performance-linked components.
• High-impact work: Your work will directly underpin the carbon assets and restoration outcomes of some of the most ambitious NBS projects in the world.
• Technical depth: Exposure to multiple biomes, methodologies, and project types.
• Growth trajectory: A clear path to develop toward Technical Manager level within a fast-growing, scientifically serious organisation.
• Outstanding colleagues: Work with a highly motivated, mission-driven, global team combining ecology, data science, engineering, finance, and field operations.
• Flexibility: Remote-first work, with field visits encouraged where operationally relevant.
• Mission & purpose: The chance to apply rigorous science to real climate and biodiversity outcomes.