Position summary

UNDP’s Planet Hub (Bureau for Policy and Programme Support) is seeking a Technical Analyst to work within the Biodiversity Credit Alliance (BCA) Secretariat. The BCA is a multi-stakeholder initiative providing clarity and guidance on the development of a credible, scalable biodiversity credit market. The Technical Analyst will advance technical discussions, facilitate working groups, and ensure high-quality outputs that contribute to the integrity and credibility of the emerging biodiversity credit market.

Why this role matters

Biodiversity credits are emerging as a quantifiable, science-based way to incentivise nature conservation and restoration while benefiting Indigenous Peoples and local communities. This role helps build the standards, frameworks, and demand-side integrity that determine whether that market becomes credible and nature-positive, supporting UNDP’s work to redirect global finance from nature-negative to nature-positive.

Key responsibilities

• Conduct market and technical analysis by maintaining a strong understanding of biodiversity credit markets and synthesizing developments in biodiversity finance, carbon markets, and related standards, including demand, supply, pricing, and trends.
• Support market integrity and demand by screening biodiversity credit schemes against BCA’s High-Level Principles using the Assessment Framework, refining those principles, and developing technical guidance and tools (a digital demand-integrity tool, a buyer claims catalogue and code of practice).
• Establish and coordinate working groups by defining scopes and deliverables with co-leads, engaging experts, managing workplans, facilitating consultative meetings, building consensus, and producing issue papers and technical reports.
• Support country work by providing technical inputs to readiness assessments, feasibility studies, and pilot design, and delivering training and knowledge exchange.
• Support the Nature Market Accelerator by applying integrity assessment tools, providing independent integrity oversight, and flagging risks across safeguards, governance, benefit sharing, and MRV.
• Build partnerships and outreach by supporting technical collaboration with partner institutions and promoting adoption of high-integrity biodiversity credits across public and private sectors.

Team and stakeholders

The role sits in the BCA Secretariat under the overall guidance of the Senior Nature Economist (Lead of the Nature Investments Team), reporting to the BCA Global Coordinator, and engages stakeholders across BCA governance structures including Indigenous Peoples and local communities and external partners.

Key details

This is a home-based role (New York), a one-year International Personnel Service Agreement at grade IPSA-8. The incumbent provides their own workstation and must be flexible across time zones for global consultations.

Requirements

Essential

• An advanced university degree (master’s) in Environmental Science/Management or a related field; or a bachelor’s degree in the above with an additional two years of qualifying experience.
• Applicants with a relevant master’s are not required to have professional work experience; applicants with a bachelor’s require a minimum of 2 years working with biodiversity credits, nature financing, policy development, and research.
• Fluency in English.

Preferred

• Experience of UN and/or UNDP rules, policies, and procedures.
• Experience facilitating public and bilateral consultations on topics such as carbon and/or biodiversity credits.
• Experience providing technical guidance or capacity building to governments, Indigenous Peoples and local communities, or UN Country Offices on biodiversity credits.
• Experience presenting at high-level international events or delivering workshops on nature finance topics.
• Experience reviewing or applying policy guidance such as the “High Level Principles to Guide the Biodiversity Credit Market.”
• Working knowledge of another UN language.