Engagement Specialist

Robeco is recruiting for a full-time Engagement Specialist with a focus on business process optimization within their Active Ownership Department at Robeco’s headquarters in Rotterdam. Robeco is an active manager and a committed signatory to the United Nations Principles for Responsible Investment since 2006. Robeco has a long-standing history in sustainable investing and is committed to drive positive change through being at the forefront in stewardship and its focus on ESG integration.

The Active Ownership team is responsible for voting at annual meetings and actively engages in dialogues about environmental, social and corporate governance topics with listed companies with the ambition to achieve positive change and real-world impact. The Active Ownership team fulfils an important role in Robeco’s sustainability proposition and has a strong connection with the investment teams. The team is also involved in Robeco’s exclusion process. The Active Ownership team consists of 17 professionals across multiple Robeco offices and is part of the SI Center of Expertise. The SI Center is part of the investments domain and consists of a large number of professionals based in Rotterdam, Zurich, London, Hong Kong and Singapore.

Position & Requirements

Function

The Engagement Specialist will focus on two types of activities

• Optimizing several business processes related to active ownership and exclusions
• Carrying out part of Robeco’s engagement program.

Optimization of business processes

The scope of Robeco’s active ownership activities is growing quickly due to growing demand for integration of active ownership in sustainable investment solutions among our clients and increasing regulations in terms of stewardship requirements. Therefor the team is actively working to increase voting and engagement coverage while maintaining our focus on high quality engagement results. The application of data driven processes and the use of smart solutions such as AI are increasingly used in research, analysis and reporting. The specialist will have a leading role in the coordination of several of these efforts. The specialist will also have an active role in optimizing and maintaining Robeco’s exclusion policy and process, which require strong process management skills and operational diligence. Additionally, the specialist will be involved in integrating stewardship information and data into processes of other Robeco teams.

Engagement program

The Engagement Specialist will conduct part of the engagement program via active dialogue with international companies. Robeco carries out active dialogues with international companies focusing on financially material topics in collaboration with portfolio managers. The aim of these dialogues is to improve the long-term risk return profile and corporate conduct of these companies, in which Robeco’s clients hold investments. The team engages companies across the spectrum of ESG, including climate change related risk, human capital management, corporate governance and adherence to minimum norms like the UN Global Compact.

Requirements

The candidate has experience with business process optimization. The candidate combines strong analytical skills and operational precision and stakeholder management is required across various components of the role. The candidate is self-motivated, diligent, and results driven. Accuracy and organizing, also under pressure, are necessary skills.

The candidate has a master degree (or equivalent) and must be fluent in English. Writing skills and communication skills are well developed. Affinity, knowledge of or experience with sustainability and stewardship will be tested in the application process.

All applications will be treated with the utmost confidentiality. An assessment and integrity test may be used in the selection procedure.

About Us

As a Dutch asset manager operating globally, Robeco has always combined the best of both worlds. We have global reach and ambitions, while retaining our head office in our hometown of Rotterdam. Employees at Robeco share that combination: we hire and nurture people who can think internationally and put the client first, while keeping their feet firmly on the ground. We have strong links with academia, which underpin the research in our robust quantitative and sustainability investing strategies. Our people have backgrounds in finance but also in economics and geography. Likewise, as pioneers in emerging markets investing, our diverse backgrounds also add local knowledge. We offer an informal and flexible office atmosphere that gives people the room to be themselves, to grow and to perform to the best of their ability.