ESG Senior Associate Level I

Grant Thornton is seeking an ESG & Sustainability Assurance Senior Associate to join our team. 

The ESG & Sustainability practice at Grant Thornton serves clients with reporting and compliance services, primarily assurance and pre-assurance services. With the increase in reporting and assurance requirements globally our practice is a fast-paced environment where prior financial audit or CPA-level attestation experience is required.  Additional advisory service opportunities include readiness and gap assessments, and climate or sustainability reporting implementation work. The ESG & Sustainability team is comprised of innovative, curious professionals who bring assurance experience, technical depth, and industry insights to our clients. As progressive thinkers, each team member creates and transforms value to support our clients as they respond to an increasingly complex regulatory environment. Working with our team provides a unique and exciting opportunity to contribute to the growth of Grant Thornton’s ESG & Sustainability practice. ESG assurance professionals will have many opportunities for cross-border collaboration with colleagues at Grant Thornton International member firms.

ESG & Sustainability assurance senior associates will lead projects for clients at all levels of ESG maturity. Senior associates will apply their experience in delivering professional services solutions across a variety of industries, organizations, and functional areas while working closely with other team members, including associates, managers, directors, and partners. Senior associates are responsible for engagement-level leadership in critical areas such as supervision of junior team members, managing projects to budget, and engagement design and delivery. Senior associates can expect to support business development activities by supporting prospect presentations, contributing to the client experience, conducting ESG and company research, assisting with ESG deliverables, and helping to strategically identify subjects for thought leadership. Senior associates will have exposure to cross-border engagements, teaming with Grant Thornton member firms in international jurisdictions to serve complex, global clients. 

ESSENTIAL DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES  

• Review, analyze, and interpret sustainability-related data and disclosures. Perform independent research to develop a deep understanding of application of ESG and sustainability reporting requirements to client-specific situations. Communicate directly with the engagement team and clients regarding technical guidance and related interpretations.
• Design, execute and supervise sustainability attestation procedures including leading client data requests through to workpaper completion and reviews. 
• Lead engagements at all phases, which includes planning engagements according to budget, timely completion of work, coordinating with and managing teams located remotely and in-person, and providing clients with updates of the process throughout the engagement.
• Supervise junior team members and participate in Grant Thornton’s performance management processes. Support on the job coaching/training of junior team members.
• Team with others on proposals and business development activities.
• Support internal initiatives to develop tools and templates for the performance of high-quality ESG assurance engagements to drive efficiency and effectiveness of engagement teams and ESG practice.
• Maintain ongoing understanding of relevant and emerging ESG issues, including the national and international regulatory environment and relevant reporting frameworks.
• Adhere to the highest degree of professional standards, manage firm risk on engagements, and maintain strict client confidentiality.
• Other duties as assigned.

QUALIFICATIONS 

• A minimum two years' full-time work experience providing financial statement audit or sustainability attestation services at a professional accounting firm.
• Intermediate understanding of ESG reporting standards and frameworks such as GHG Protocol, CSRD/ESRS, SASB, TCFD, GRI, including certification in any of the aforementioned.
• Technical writing and research.
• Project management or process improvement fundamentals.
• Client or customer-facing roles.
• Virtual communication and project performance tools such as Zoom, Teams, Smartsheet.
• Data aggregation, data analytics, visualization tools (e.g., Excel, PowerBI, CoPilot, Tableau, SQL).
• Ability to work independently.
• Strong attention to detail.
• High professional standards and acumen.
• Comfortable with managing multiple deadlines across projects at varying stages in the project life cycle. 
• Ability to travel on short notice and work additional hours as necessary. Travel requirements flexible but possibly up to 25%. Working location is hybrid with in-office and remote attendance as needed for each project.

Bachelor, or Master’s degree in relevant field is required. Relevant field includes Accounting or Audit. 
Relevant professional certifications such as CPA, SASB FSA, or completion of technical training such as GHG Protocol are preferred. Certification completion required prior to promotion to manager.

The salary range for this position is between $105,800 to $134,895. Placement within the pay range is at Grant Thornton’s discretion, and it is based on multiple factors, including but not limited to, job -related knowledge/skills, experience, business needs, progression within the role, geographic location, and internal equity. At Grant Thornton, compensation decisions are dependent upon the facts and circumstances of each position and candidate. Grant Thornton is accepting applications on an ongoing basis.

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