Research Assistant Sustainable Dev Finance II

• Job title: Research Assistant – Sustainable Development Finance
• Location:London, UK
• Salary: £32,550 per annum
• Posting date: 26 August 2026
• Closing date: 9 September 2026 at 5:00 PM BST

The Center for Global Development (CGD) is an independent, non-partisan, non-profit policy research organisation in Washington, DC and London, UK (CGD Europe) that focuses on the issues and institutions that are critical to inclusive sustainable development. Since its creation in 2001, CGD has earned a global reputation as a highly effective “think-and-do tank.” Through rigorous empirical research and active engagement with the global policy community, we focus on the policy intersections of low- and middle-income countries and the governments, institutions, and corporations that can be partners in delivering greater progress.

CGD Europe seeks a full-time Research Assistant to join its Sustainable Development Finance (SDF) programme, with a focus on Multilateral Development Banks (MDBs), Development Finance Institutions (DFIs) and private capital mobilisation. Recent areas of research have included: development of a new tax incentive scheme for investing in development, DFI business models, analysis of private investment trends and of GEMs MDB investment data, tracking the MDB reform agenda and analysis of the World Bank Group IDA Private Sector Window,

Job Purpose:

CGD Europe is hiring a Research Assistant to provide qualitative and quantitative research support for its work on MDBs, DFIs and private capital mobilisation. Key areas of work envisaged in the next couple of years include local capital market development, mobilising local pools of capital, use of tax incentives to mobilise private capital, risk appetite and business models of MDBs and DFIs, impact management and measurement and effective use of blended concessional finance.

The Research Assistant will conduct quantitative and qualitative research, help draft working and policy papers, briefs and notes; produce data visualisations; assist in monitoring developments in the financing for development and the wider development policy environment; and provide administrative and programmatic support.

Based in London, the postholder will work under the supervision of Senior Fellow, Samantha Attridge, dedicating around 75% of their time to supporting her work and 25% to remotely supporting Nancy Lee, SDF Programme Director and Senior Fellow and other SDF experts, who are based in Washington DC.

Research Assistants are typically recent undergraduates with an interest in gaining research, policy, programmatic operations, and project management experience before going to post-graduate studies. Candidates with master's degrees may apply with the understanding they will accept an entry-level role that includes administrative responsibilities. CGD provides Research Assistants with an opportunity to a promotion to associate after two years in the role.

The successful candidate will have strong analytical and writing skills and will be able to undertake quantitative analysis quickly and accurately; and use data visualisation tools to present it. They will also require some knowledge of sustainable development finance, preferably with some familiarity with issues relating to private investment, private capital mobilisation or MDBs and DFIs. They will also need to be a team player and be willing to take on administrative and organisational tasks.

This challenging position is a chance to study and influence sustainable development finance policy by working alongside leading researchers and policy professionals in a non-hierarchical atmosphere that requires you to take initiative and tackle tough, unstructured problems.

• Conducting desk-based primary research under the guidance of the Senior Fellow
• Reviewing and synthesizing policy and academic literature
• Drafting blogs, presentations, policy briefs and research papers
• Drafting summaries/notes of interviews, meetings and conferences
• Reviewing literature and fact checking

• Finding, cleaning, merging, and analysing complex datasets (in Excel and R, Stata or Python)
• Exploring,…