Sr Operations Specialist, Operations

About the Role:

Grade Level (for internal use):

09

The Team:

The ESG Data Owner role sits within the Data Enablement team at S&P Dow Jones Indices. The team supports the management, validation, and delivery of datasets used in the maintenance and rebalance of S&P Dow Jones indices across multiple asset classes. This role will focus on ESG data used in equity and fixed income indices, including datasets such as GHG emissions, physical risk, ESG scores, and related sustainability data. You will help ensure these datasets are accurate, well-documented, and ready for use by internal stakeholders. You will work closely with technical, operational, and index teams to support reliable data delivery, improve data quality checks, and maintain clear data governance practices, including documentation, lineage, controls, and issue resolution.

Responsibilities and Impact

As an ESG Data Owner, you will play a central role in the day-to-day management, quality, and governance of ESG data used across S&P Dow Jones equity and fixed income indices. You will help ensure ESG datasets are complete, accurate, timely, and fit for use in index operations and analytics. This role acts as a key point of coordination between data operations, technology, index management, analytics, and vendor teams. You will support the onboarding of new datasets, help define data requirements, monitor data quality, investigate issues, and contribute to improvements in ESG data processes and controls.

Key Responsibilities

• Manage ESG datasets across the data lifecycle, including ingestion, validation, quality review, documentation, and delivery for index use.
• Support the preparation and maintenance of ESG datasets such as GHG emissions, physical risk, ESG scores, and other sustainability-related data.
• Apply data standards, taxonomies, and governance controls to help maintain a consistent and trusted version of ESG data across index and analytics workflows.
• Design, run, and improve data quality checks to identify gaps, inconsistencies, outliers, and other data issues.
• Investigate and resolve data quality issues in collaboration with technology, operations, index management, and vendor teams.
• Help define data requirements for new or updated ESG data feeds, including field definitions, validation rules, lineage requirements, and operational handoff needs.
• Support the onboarding of new ESG datasets and help ensure they are integrated into existing systems and processes in a controlled and documented way.
• Maintain clear documentation of data sources, business rules, validation checks, known limitations, and data lineage.
• Act as a point of contact for internal ESG data questions, working with index managers and other teams to clarify data usage, resolve queries, and support methodology alignment.
• For complex data cases, prepare analysis and recommendations to support review by index managers, committees, or relevant internal stakeholders.
• Coordinate with ESG data vendors to clarify data definitions, delivery standards, issue resolution, and data changes.
• Stay informed on ESG market developments, data standards, and regulatory themes that may affect ESG data requirements.
• Prepare data analysis summaries, issue logs, and reporting materials to support internal reviews and stakeholder discussions.
• Support responses to client or stakeholder questions by providing accurate ESG data information through internal teams such as Client Services or Index Services.

What is in it for you?

• Opportunity to work in the financial data and index industry with a focus on ESG and sustainability data.
• Exposure to ESG datasets used across equity and fixed income indices.
• Opportunity to work with data management, index, analytics, sustainability, technology, and operations teams.
• Development of practical skills in data quality, data governance, validation, documentation, and pipeline support.
• Access to data management tools, analytical methods, and cross-asset index concepts.

What We’re Looking For:

Basic Required Qualifications:

• Bachelor's degree in Data Science, Finance, Economics, Mathematics, or a related field.
• 1–3 years of professional experience in data analysis, data management, ESG data, sustainability, indexing, or a similar financial or data-driven field.
• A foundational understanding of ESG frameworks, ratings methodologies, and sustainability data (e.g., GHG emissions, physical risk, ESG scores) and their application in financial indices.
• A foundational understanding of financial markets (equity & fixed income) and indexing concepts.
• Strong analytical and quantitative skills with the ability to work with large data sets.
• Proficiency in Python and SQL for data analysis, manipulation, and visualization with a willingness to further develop these skills in a financial data environment.
• Good written and verbal communication skills with the ability to explain complex topics clearly.
• Strong attention to detail and ability to manage multiple priorities and deadlines in a structured, process-driven environment.
• Ability to work collaboratively in a fast-paced, global environment.

Preferred Qualifications:

• Awareness of ESG-related regulatory frameworks (e.g., EU Taxonomy, SFDR, TCFD) and their implications for index construction and data requirements.
• Familiarity with ESG data providers (e.g., S&P Global Sustainable1, Sustainalytics, CDP, SBTi).
• Experience in project management and implementing process improvements.
• Exposure to data governance frameworks, data lineage concepts, or master data management practices.
• Experience with data visualization tools (e.g., Tableau, Power BI) or cloud-based data platforms (Databricks).

About S&P Global Dow Jones Indices

At S&P Dow Jones Indices, we provide iconic and innovative index solutions backed by unparalleled expertise across the asset-class spectrum. By bringing transparency to the global capital markets, we empower investors everywhere to make decisions with conviction. We’re the largest global resource for index-based concepts, data and research, and home to iconic financial market indicators, such as the S&P 500® and the Dow Jones Industrial Average®. More assets are invested in products based upon our indices than any other index provider in the world. With over USD 7.4 trillion in passively managed assets linked to our indices and over USD 11.3 trillion benchmarked to our indices, our solutions are widely considered indispensable in tracking market performance, evaluating portfolios and developing investment strategies. S&P Dow Jones Indices is a division of S&P Global (NYSE: SPGI). S&P Global is the world’s foremost provider of credit ratings, benchmarks, analytics and workflow solutions in the global capital, commodity and automotive markets. With every one of our offerings, we help many of the world’s leading organizations navigate the economic landscape so they can plan for tomorrow, today. For more information, visit www.spglobal.com/spdji.

What’s In It For You?

Our Mission:

Advancing Essential Intelligence.

Our People:

We're more than 35,000 strong worldwide—so we're able to understand nuances while having a broad perspective. Our team is driven by curiosity and a shared belief that Essential Intelligence can help build a more prosperous future for us all.From finding new ways to measure sustainability to analyzing energy transition across the supply chain to building workflow solutions that make it easy to tap into insight and apply it. We are changing the way people see things and empowering them to make an impact on the world we live in. We’re committed to a more equitable future and to helping our customers find new, sustainable ways of doing business. Join us and help create the critical insights that truly make a difference.

Our Values:

Integrity, Discovery, Partnership