Associate | Research & Strategy

Associate / Senior Associate | Research & Strategy

Location: San Francisco, CA (preferred) or remote (within U.S.)

Job Description: We are expanding our Research & Strategy team to scale our market research, LP engagement, and portfolio company services.

In addition to producing research reports, this individual will organize events and offer strategic consulting to our LP network, which includes 32 of the world's largest energy (AEP, Duke Energy & Vistra), mobility (Audi, Alaska Airlines & Geotab), industrial (ABB, Hitachi Energy & Trane), and insurance companies (State Farm). One of the core differentiators of our fund is how closely we work with our LPs - often at the c-suite level - by identifying and teeing up partnerships with the top startups able to advance their innovation and sustainability goals.

The successful candidate will be a smart, creative, and detail-oriented self-starter with a passion for research/innovation. They should have broad sector knowledge in our core focus areas plus meaningful experience preparing and presenting thoughtful, data-driven market insights to diverse, senior audiences.

This individual will report to our VP of Research & Strategy, work closely with our Director of Investor Relations on fundraising initiatives, and occasionally support our investment team.

Responsibilities:

• LP Engagement & Strategic Consulting: Support the strategic innovation/sustainability priorities of our LPs, preparing monthly meeting materials. Use your network to find the best technologies/teams to solve their pain points and grow their businesses.
• Portfolio Services: Help connect portfolio companies with our LPs. Systematically identify business development, commercial, and other partnership opportunities for our portfolio. Track and measure the value we provide our portfolio companies and LPs.
• Sector Deep Dives: Prepare and maintain detailed market research reports on emerging areas of interest to our investment team and LPs, including market sizings, market maps, tech/policy assessments, startup profiles, and more. Know how to identify inflection points.
• LP Events: Support planning of our flagship in-person events and organize/moderate virtual working groups to facilitate information sharing among our LPs.

Qualifications:

• Bachelors Degree from a top-tier institution and/or with excellent academic performance; Masters Degree a plus
• Minimum of 2-4 years of prior work experience in relevant sectors like consulting, corporate strategy, or market research
• Demonstrated knowledge of and a clear passion for the energy, climate, transport, built environment, and industrial/logistics sectors, with deep expertise in at least one sub-sector and a keen interest in developing expertise in new sectors quickly; knowledge of energy utilities a plus
• Excellent quantitative/qualitative analytical skills, with the capacity to deliver unique insights
• Excellent written/verbal communication skills, with substantial experience engaging on complex/technical topics with senior executives
• Excellent PowerPoint skills
• Interest in establishing yourself and The Westly Group as an industry thought leader
• Interest in co-organizing internal/external events and supporting ad-hoc administrative matters
• Key Attributes: Detail/process-oriented, intellectually curious, organized, funny, humble, creative, kind, and collaborative

Growth Potential: Multi-year role with the possibility of promotion based on performance and future fund plans. Please note this is not an investment track role.

Compensation: Competitive salary with an annual bonus based on performance.

Target Start Date: Immediate (target start date of January/February 2025). PLEASE DO NOT APPLY IF YOU ARE UNABLE TO START IN Q1 2025.

To Apply: Please submit your application here. A short writing sample (in blog/article or deck format) or public speaking sample is encouraged. Please note we will not be holding networking conversations to ensure fairness. For specific logistical questions, please email hiring@westlygroup.com with "Research Role" as the subject.

About The Westly Group:

The Westly Group is a venture capital firm founded in 2007 with $825M+ AUM across five funds. We partner with technology founders solving the biggest problems in energy, climate, transport, the built environment, logistics, and other real-world markets that Silicon Valley isn't paying enough attention to.

The firm has had nine portfolio company IPOs including Tesla, Sentinel One, and Luminar, and is backed by a strategic LP base composed of 32 of the world's leading companies including ABB, Audi, Alaska Airlines, Bridgestone, Duke Energy, Oshkosh, Hitachi Energy, Vistra, State Farm Insurance, and others.

The Westly Group is an equal-opportunity employer.