Research internship in sustainable finance

ValueCo is a mission-driven company that aims to integrate human, social and natural capital into market performances and valuations through greater transparency and commitment between investors and companies.

We are developing the first ESG benchmark tool based on the collective intelligence of the responsible finance and sustainable development communities, useful to the entire ecosystem:

• Professional investors take better account of the extra-financial capital of companies in their investment decisions,
• Companies improve their CSR strategy and have access to collective and structured feedback from the rest of the ecosystem,
• Research organizations are developing new models that make it possible to explicitly integrate ESG criteria and transition factors into the valuation of companies.
  

ValueCo solves the problems associated with the diversity of investor views on ESG by providing a vision of the ESG market, similar to an ESG “bid-offer” system for financial markets.

The plus of ValueCo?

We are a passionate team in contact with numerous actors working to achieve a transition towards more sustainable and ambitious finance, in France and internationally. This internship is a great opportunity to deepen your knowledge of this ecosystem by putting your skills into practice.

In addition, the small size of our team will allow you to quickly take responsibility in your area of expertise to propel ValueCo to the forefront!

ValueCo values the diversity of the people it employs and serves as part of its corporate commitments with a mission. We promote a work environment where individual differences are recognized, respected and valued in order to develop their full potential and to make the most of each person's talents.

As a Sustainable Finance Research Intern M/F, your role will be to help us develop new methodologies and algorithms to explicitly integrate sustainability criteria into investment decisions. We explore the influence of ESG factors on risk, short- or long-term returns, but also the reputation and impact on stakeholders of the companies evaluated.

We work on these topics internally, but also with external partners such as MIT, HEC Montréal, Grenoble Ecole de Management or ABN AMRO. Depending on the subject you choose to address, you will be able to work and interact with researchers from these institutions.

We do not expect you to already have all the skills of an expert in sustainable finance, but you must be ready to learn in order to progress if necessary! Your tasks may include:

• Documentary monitoring on the state of the art in your field of research,
• Proposal of hypotheses and methodologies to address the problems that we will have defined together,
• Development and code of algorithms in Python to be implemented on our database,
• Synthesis of results and writing of reports and white papers,
• If your results allow it, writing or co-writing a scientific article, internally or with one of our partners.
• Participation in events, congresses, conferences with the founding team to meet the sustainable finance ecosystem.

This list is likely to evolve according to your desires and the needs of the moment!

We are already working on some research topics, if you are interested we can share with you our progress to date so that you get a better idea of the issues addressed.

Here are some examples of questions you could work on:

• How to detect and correct valuation biases in extra-financial ratings?
• How to simultaneously optimize a portfolio based on risk, return, ESG performance and market consensus strength?
• Are responsible investors successful in limiting their negative externalities? To generate a positive impact?
• How to detect greenwashing based on a market view of ESG ratings?
• What is the impact of ESG performance on a company's financial trajectory?
• Do good ESG practices make businesses more resilient?
• How do professional investors appropriate and transform ratings agency scores to adapt them to their investment thesis?
  

If you think of another topic that you would like to discuss and for which our databases can be useful, do not hesitate to suggest it for us to discuss.

• You are looking for a 6-month internship starting in March 2024,
• You are a student in data science, finance, statistics, econometrics...
• You already have an interest in sustainable development and you think that the world of finance has a role to play in the transition,
• You have code skills, especially Python (mastery of data science libraries such as Pandas, Scikit-Learn and Dash is a plus),
• You like quantitative analysis, open and transdisciplinary problems,
• You are adaptable, dynamic and motivated,
• You have a real desire to discover more about sustainable finance and to make it the new normal!

• Continuing education according to your needs,
• Free telework,
• Transport and participation in fairs and conferences,
• Restaurant vouchers,
• Public transport subscriptions (Navigo and Vélib' if you are in Paris)

After submitting your application by attaching an up-to-date resume or LinkedIn profile and a GitHub account if you have one, we will contact you for a series of three interviews:

1. A 30-minute telephone interview to tell you a bit more about ValueCo and answer your first questions,
2. A one-hour interview, in person if possible, to talk about your projects and your skills,
3. A final 30-minute interview about our corporate culture and to answer your last questions.
   

Then we will make you an offer!