Manager, Project on Impact Investing

Overview

Harvard University invites qualified candidates to join a vibrant community advancing Harvard's world-changing mission, fostering innovation, collaboration, and skill development in a diverse and welcoming environment.

Harvard Business School seeks a Manager, Project on Impact Investing to work closely with Professors Shawn Cole and Josh Lerner in advancing the HBS Project on Impact Investing. The Project combines rigorous academic research with engagement of investors, policymakers, and practitioners to deepen understanding of sustainable and impact investing and inform practice in the field.

Reporting to the faculty supervisors and administratively to the Research Staff Services (RSS) office, the Manager will play an integral role across all aspects of the Project's work: from designing and executing research, to building novel datasets, to supporting practitioner engagement and research dissemination.

This position suits candidates with experience in consulting, finance, economic research, or mission-driven financial services who want to deepen research skills while contributing to high-impact academic work. Past incumbents have advanced to leading PhD programs in economics and finance, and to careers in impact investing, financial services, and social enterprise. It offers exposure to cutting‑edge research and leading practitioners in sustainable and impact investing.

Research and Analysis

• Conduct quantitative and qualitative research in support of faculty research projects on sustainable and impact investing.
• Use AI-enabled research tools, large language models (LLMs), machine learning techniques, and traditional research methods to collect, organize, analyze, and interpret complex datasets.
• Develop and maintain novel datasets that support ongoing academic research.
• Perform data analysis, literature reviews, and other analytical work supporting research published in leading academic journals and practitioner outlets.
• Conduct interviews and code qualitative research data.
• Draft research memoranda, presentations, reports, and other written materials that synthesize findings for academic and practitioner audiences.
• Produce case studies, teaching notes, course materials, and other educational content for Harvard Business School courses.
• Identify opportunities to strengthen research methodologies, improve data collection processes, and apply emerging analytical tools.

Project Management

• Coordinate multiple concurrent research projects, ensuring milestones, deliverables, and timelines are met.
• Manage relationships with external collaborators, research partners, and practitioners, serving as a representative of the faculty and the Project on Impact Investing.
• Support the collection of research documentation and data through outreach to participating organizations and stakeholders.
• Coordinate research operations, including project budgets, research agreements (e.g., NDAs and DUAs), meetings, and project logistics.
• Plan and support conferences, research convenings, webinars, and other events that advance the Project's research and practitioner engagement.

Research Dissemination and External Engagement

• Support dissemination of research findings through presentations, publications, digital platforms, and practitioner outreach.
• Maintain Project websites and digital resources in collaboration with HBS Marketing & Communications.
• Collaborate with colleagues across Harvard Business School to support research-related programming and communications.
• Represent the Project professionally in interactions with investors, company executives, policymakers, researchers, alumni, and other external stakeholders.

Other Responsibilities

• Build trust and collaboration by being present on-site and engaging directly with colleagues and constituents.
• Responsible for other duties as assigned.

Scope of the Role

Working closely with faculty, the Manager will have significant responsibility for advancing multiple research initiatives simultaneously. The role requires intellectual curiosity, strong analytical judgment, and the ability to independently translate complex research questions into actionable work plans.

The…