Research Analyst, Electric School Bus Initiative

Job Summary

Reporting to the Senior Manager, Fleet Electrification & Charging, you will support stakeholder outreach, industry engagement, school bus incentive tracking, research analysis, and coordination with other teams including policy, school districts, and environmental justice groups. Your work involves supporting the overall program objective of cross-sector efforts to electrify school buses. WRI’s Electric School Bus team resides within the WRI Ross Center for Sustainable Cities. Additionally, you will assist the team in designing work products and deliverables (such as presentation decks, tables, flowcharts, and other graphics), and you will serve as a team liaison, as appropriate, with WRI design and communications staff.

Less than 1% of the approximately 480,000 school buses in the United States are electrified. School bus electrification represents a unique opportunity to tackle climate change through decarbonization while bringing clean air benefits to children and communities. Through the U.S. Electric School Bus Initiative, funded by the Bezos Earth Fund, WRI’s aim is to create unstoppable momentum over the next five years on a path toward electrifying the entire fleet of U.S. school buses by 2030. WRI will achieve this by partnering with key stakeholders and project partners to work on five key pillars: 1) aggregate demand 2) scale manufacturing, 3) develop innovative financing models 4) influence federal and state policy and 5) galvanize communities and stakeholders for an equitable and comprehensive shift towards electric school buses. In this role, you will coordinate work with industry leaders to accelerate manufacturing and deployment of electric school buses within the Electric School Bus team of the WRI Ross Center for Sustainable Cities.

This position is remote due to Covid-19 and can remain remote once restrictions are lifted.

Job Responsibilities

Research & Knowledge

• Participating and/or coordinating research related to the development of electric school bus manufacturing practices, infrastructure readiness, and government policies that support deployment
• Participating and/or coordinating activities that facilitate information sharing between public and private sector
• Authoring written and graphic content for publications, reports, papers, and presentations
• Conducting transport, environmental, public health, and financial data collection, verification and visualization
• Conducting qualitative and/or quantitative analyses based on evidence

Programmatic

• Organizing and/or supporting internal and external meetings, workshops, conferences, and other dissemination activities
• Assisting in the creation of content for technical papers and concept notes, including deliverables, timelines, and budgets
• Attending various external functions and events, as relevant
• Developing, assisting, and liaising on design products, such as graphics, presentations, communications material, and publications

Managerial

• Assisting with the financial and programmatic management of projects
• Managing junior staff (in official and/or unofficial capacities, as appropriate)
• Liaising with funders, collaborators, and partners to ensure information sharing and project coordination

Job Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in supply chain, engineering, urban planning, or other relevant field
• Minimum 1 year of relevant, full-time work experience
• Passion for electric vehicles and children’s health issues
• Excellent research, editing, and oral communication skills
• Self-starter with ability to manage multiple projects with varying deadlines and competing demands
• Demonstrated ability to work well in multi-disciplinary and multi-cultural teams, manage multiple priorities, and work under tight deadlines
• Detail-oriented, organized, and independent thinker
• US work authorization required for this position

Desired Qualifications

• Master’s degree in relevant field
• Knowledge or experience related to supply chain, energy, climate change, education, automotive sector, healthcare, sustainable cities, or electric vehicles is preferred
• Prior experience developing research papers, working with private sector, or leading public meetings

Potential Salary

$46,000 – $60,000. Salary is commensurate with experience and other compensable factors.

How to Apply

Please submit a resume with cover letter. Applicants must apply through the WRI Careers portal to be considered. 

Program Overview

The goal of the Electric School Bus Initiative is to create unstoppable momentum over the next five years on a path towards electrifying the entire fleet of U.S. school buses by 2030. Overcoming the cost, infrastructure and policy barriers to mass adoption require a systemic approach that engages an entire ecosystem of actors and prioritizes inclusive planning with impacted communities. The initiative will achieve this by partnering with key stakeholders to simultaneously aggregate demand, scale manufacturing, change policy incentives, develop new financing models and forge equitable pathways for electrification that can be replicated across the country. To achieve its ambitious objectives, the Electric School Bus (ESBs).

Initiative is divided into five workstreams, which we refer to as Pillars: Pillar 1. Focuses on creating a demand for ESBs from the bottom-up in such a way that this demand fulfills the needs of school districts and ensures a just transition for those workers currently employed in school bus operations. Pillar 2. Supports the electric school bus manufacturing industry to scale capacity and meet growing demand at a competitive price. Pillar 3. Identifies new financing approaches that can be utilized by school districts to overcome upfront cost barriers to electric school bus adoption, as well as solutions to barriers to EV charging infrastructure deployment and rates (demand charge issues). The pillar also leverages ESBs to support the development of renewable energy and community resilience. Pillar 4. Works towards federal and state policies to provide funding, financing, and supportive policies designed to ensure that the US school bus fleet transitions to electric vehicles without increasing pupil transportation costs incurred by school districts.  Pillar 5. Works with each pillar to create long-term commitment among partners from all sectors and ensure the ecosystem will move forward without the initiative through 2030. Pillar 5 seeks to generate lasting stakeholder and community engagement. The Electric School Bus Initiative is jointly managed by WRI United States and WRI Ross Center for Sustainable Cities.

WRI Overview

World Resources Institute (WRI) is an independent, nonprofit global research organization that turns big ideas into action at the nexus of environment, economic opportunity and human well-being. We are working to address seven critical challenges that the world must overcome this decade in order to secure a sustainable future for people and the planet: climate change, energy, food, forests, water, sustainable cities, and the ocean.

We are passionate. We value our diversity of interests, skills and backgrounds. We have a flexible work environment. And we share a common goal to catalyze change that will improve the lives of people. Our shared ideals are at the core of our approach. They include: integrity, innovation, urgency, independence and respect.

The foundation of our work is delivering high-quality research, data, maps and analysis to solve the world’s greatest environment and international development challenges, and improve people’s lives. We work with leaders in government, business and civil society to drive ambitious action and create change on the ground. Equally important, we bring together partners to develop breakthrough ideas and scale-up solutions for far-reaching, enduring impact.
 
We have been growing rapidly: our staff has doubled in size over the past 5 years and our operating budget is now $150 million. Founded in 1982, WRI has a global staff of 1,000+ people with work spanning 60 countries. We have offices in Africa,  Brazil , China,  Europe,  India, Indonesia,  Mexico and the United States  as well as a growing presence in other countries and regions.  

WRI is committed to advancing gender and social equity for human well-being in our mission and applies this principle to our organizational and programmatic practices.