Research Associate San Francisco, CA

Research Associate – San Francisco, CA Description About the Organization

CEA Consulting is an environmental consultancy based in San Francisco, CA. For over four decades, CEA Consulting has partnered with a wide range of philanthropies, nonprofits, businesses, and government agencies in effectively tackling urgent environmental challenges—from climate change to ocean conservation to sustainable food systems. By combining rigorous analysis with deep sector expertise, we help our clients develop focused strategies, build and execute effective programs, and assess and amplify their impact.

With approximately 30 employees across the firm, CEA strives to create a collaborative and inclusive work environment where all consultants are supported in doing the work they are most passionate about, developing their skills, and bringing their whole selves to work. We believe that a wide array of perspectives, backgrounds, and experiences promote innovation and make our team more creative, flexible, and productive.

CEA supports environmental foundations, nonprofits, private‑sector businesses, government agencies, trade associations, and impact investors. Our work encompasses a broad range of environmental topics ranging from conservation to climate solutions on land and in the water, with many of our projects having an international scope. The majority of our work serves the philanthropic and non‑profit sectors and relates to marine conservation and/or climate change.

We also work regularly on climate resilience and adaptation, climate‑smart agriculture, land use and conservation, freshwater management, equity and justice in climate and conservation, transportation, wildlife protection, pollution, and urban sustainability. We often work at the intersection of these issues.

• Strategy
  , including grant‑making strategies, organizational‑ or initiative‑level program strategies, field‑or sector‑level landscaping and analysis, and opportunity assessment.
• Facilitation
  , including meeting and workshop design, insight generation, and synthesis; funder collaborative and NGO group facilitation.
• Operational Support
  , including initiative incubation, grant sourcing and diligence, designing and launching funder collaboratives, and board development and management.
• Analysis and Thought‑Leadership
  , including sector‑level climate mitigation analysis, roadmaps or frameworks for collective action, grant database creation and analysis, and field‑level state‑of‑play assessments.
• Monitoring, Evaluation, and Learning
  , including design and implementation of multi‑year MEL programs, logic models and theory of change development, learning session facilitation, research to support learning agendas, third‑party evaluations.
• Recruiting and Organizational Design
  , including executive search and transition planning, staff recruitment and hiring support, strategic talent acquisition partnership, board member recruitment, and executive compensation analysis.

CEA is looking for a Research Associate
, an entry‑level consulting role. The successful applicant will support the day‑to‑day management of complex consulting engagements for clients, including large environment‑focused foundations, family foundations, NGOs, impact investors, and bilateral multilateral agencies.

Our work environment is collaborative, creative, and intensive. It requires intellectual rigor, excellent interpersonal and communication skills, independence, attention to detail, and a passion for environmental issues. This exciting role will provide opportunities to support teams engaged in high‑impact projects across the environmental philanthropic space and for interaction with leaders and subject matter experts across a wide range of critical…