India Partnerships & Operations Consultant (Part-Time)
About this role
About Cascade
Join Cascade Climate, a philanthropy-backed nonprofit helping overlooked climate solutions with outsized potential move from early promise to durable scale. Cutting emissions remains essential, but it is no longer enough on its own. We diagnose what promising climate solutions need to take hold, then lead ambitious initiatives across science, data, markets, finance, industry, and policy. Our flagship focus is Enhanced Rock Weathering (ERW), a carbon removal approach that accelerates natural weathering processes to durably remove CO₂ while benefiting agricultural productivity.
Since launching in 2023, Cascade has earned the support of leading philanthropic organizations including the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, Grantham Foundation, Quadrature Climate Foundation, and others. We are a distributed team of accomplished scientists, entrepreneurs, policy strategists, community builders, artists, and operators who lead with humility and intellectual curiosity. We have an unusually high tolerance for sitting with complex, unresolved questions in climate, and little tolerance for leaving them that way.
About the Role
Cascade is seeking a part-time consultant to lead partnerships and operations for a coordinated research network (CRN) on Enhanced Rock Weathering (ERW) in India. The role is responsible for ensuring that ERW field trials are well executed, produce high-quality evidence, and are relevant to agricultural policy and practice in India. The network will connect to Cascade's global research on ERW's carbon removal and agronomic impacts.
The consultant will coordinate field trials with host research institutions, their Principal Investigators and research team, Indian national and local government agencies, and ERW industry partners, as well as working with Cascade's global team. This includes managing the operational requirements of field research, such as importation, transport of lab equipment and materials, and institutional approvals. The consultant will also represent Cascade with research, policy, and industry stakeholders across India.
About You
The ideal candidate is excited to zoom out and see the big picture, but is eager to dive into the operational details. That might look like presenting at stakeholder events and meetings one day, then working through permits, shipments, and approvals the next. They have experience building partnerships and effective systems that move work forward. They bring working knowledge of Indian agriculture, research institutions, and government agencies, and a practical, resourceful approach to operating within them.
A demonstrated record of delivering results on the ground is valued above years of experience. Relevant backgrounds may include policy or agricultural support organizations such as NITI Aayog or PxD, research roles at Indian agricultural universities or agri-startups, coordination of cross-institutional research projects, or research partnership management at an agribusiness.
Major Roles and Responsibilities
Build India's ERW research network: Support the establishment of ERW field trial sites with leading government and academic research institutions, in partnership with Cascade's operations and science teams based in the United States. Prioritize soils and cropping systems where trials can most expand knowledge of ERW efficacy and complement state and national agriculture and climate goals. Support site identification, diligence, and operational planning.
Keep field trials on track: Monitor and support the launch and execution of field research. Identify challenges and risks to project quality or timeliness, then recommend and carry out solutions with partners in India and Cascade's global team.
Make the logistics work: Navigate agricultural input selection, scientific testing, domestic transport, and international importation of equipment and materials, so that the work between the field and scientific laboratories is done according to rules and regulations, and in a timely and cost-effective manner.
Build and sustain partnerships: Develop relationships with the Indian Council of Agricultural Research, Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare, national and state research and policy stakeholders, agricultural universities, ERW project developers, and industry partners to draw on their varied expertise and facilitate data and insight sharing.
Desired Skills and Experiences
Experience: 5+ years of experience in the agriculture, agricultural research and/or climate research space in India.
Preferred: experience coordinating multi-institutional research projects or partnerships; working with agricultural field research stations, soil science or agricultural research laboratories in India; understanding of Indian agricultural research systems, funding mechanisms, and institutional structures. Particularly valued are agriculture research and/or agricultural policy experience and connections in Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Odisha, and/or West Bengal.
Languages: English and Hindi fluency required; Bengali fluency preferred.
Partnership building: Demonstrated ability to build trust-based relationships and steward joint initiatives with national and state government agencies, policy stakeholders, NGOs, and/or leadership and researchers at scientific institutions. The ability and excitement to build new relationships is essential, and an existing network in Indian agriculture is preferred.
Operational follow-through: Experienced project manager who can oversee partners' work planning and logistics, including domestic and international transport and importation. Strong attention to detail to enable coordinating multi-site field trials is essential.
Communication and public speaking: Experience presenting program objectives or scientific findings to senior stakeholders, and demonstrated comfort and respect working with people from farmers, field managers, and laboratory technicians to university and government leadership.
Interest in the evidence: Understanding of and interest in the evidence for agriculture and/or carbon removal is highly valued. Familiarity with India's agriculture policy landscape, carbon markets, or financing schemes that support farmer adoption of inputs is preferred.
Preferred background: A background in soil science, agronomy, climate-smart agriculture, or geochemistry and familiarity with carbon removal, ERW, or soil amendment research is valued but not required.
More broadly, we’re looking for someone who embodies the curiosities and mindsets at the heart of Cascade’s culture:
Empathy, humility, and contagious curiosity: evident in how you approach your work and relationships
Comfort with complexity: you can embrace tension and hold space for multiple perspectives simultaneously
Uncommonly strong self-driven learning habits: evidenced from your past education, work experience, hobbies, and interests
Ease with ambiguity: you’re comfortable navigating uncertainty and can chart a path forward without any definite answer
High standards with pragmatism: you have naturally high expectations of yourself, and you avoid letting “perfect get in the way of really good” so you can deliver strong work quickly
Climate solutions enthusiasm: you're energized to explore diverse approaches to the climate crisis
Location: Cascade is headquartered in the United States. This role will be remote with a preferred location of New Delhi or Kolkata. Frequent travel is expected within India to partner research centers, policy stakeholders, and agricultural field sites with some frequency. Ability and willingness to work across time zones with Cascade employees in the US is required.
Candidates must be legally authorized to work in India at the time of application.
Originally posted on Himalayas
