Portfolio Associate

Job Requisition ID #

Autodesk Foundation Team @ Autodesk 
The Autodesk Foundation, Autodesk, Inc.’s philanthropic arm, supports the design and creation of innovative solutions to the world’s most pressing challenges. We provide risk-tolerant funding, technology, and talent to nonprofits and social enterprises to help them maximize and scale impact.  From electric aviation to affordable greenhouses for small shareholder farmers, we invest in solutions that champion solutions in three impact opportunity areas: Energy & Materials, Health & Resilience, and Work & Prosperity.

Since 2014, we have facilitated more than $50 million in grants, impact investments, and donations, over $160 million in Autodesk-donated software solutions, and over 170,000 Autodesk employee volunteer hours. In FY23, our portfolio collectively achieved significant impact targets, like mitigating 2.4 million metric tons of Co2e, reaching 87 million individuals with resilient solutions in housing and infrastructure, energy access, agricultural productivity, and workforce development, and supporting over 27,000 people to attain new or improved jobs. 

Position Overview 

Reporting to Autodesk Foundation’s Investment Lead for Climate Adaptation & Resilience, the Portfolio Associate will primarily focus on our Health & Resilience (H&R) Impact Opportunity Area (IOA) to source and evaluate potential grant and impact investment opportunities, build relationships with co-investors and peer foundations, and support the Foundation’s portfolio organizations to realize their impact and business goals. The Portfolio Associate will gain experience working across the investment process and work collaboratively with the entire Autodesk Foundation team to:  

Responsibilities

Pipeline Development:

• Evaluate inbound funding requests based on investment priorities and criteria  

• Conduct research and proactive outreach to identify leading social entrepreneurs working on climate adaptation & resilience solutions

• Help build our H&R investment infrastructure through establishing pipeline partner and co-investor networks of like-minded funds, accelerators, and corporates 

• Support our efforts to track and analyze the strength and diversity of our deal pipeline and the efficiency of our process 

• Apply learnings and cultivate relationships from the Foundation’s Inclusive Climate Innovation Initiative to inform Autodesk Foundation’s Access & Inclusion Strategy

Due Diligence:

• Support the Investment Lead to perform detailed due diligence of potential H&R grants and impact investments by: 1) Evaluating impact through research, impact forecasting and assessing alignment with the Foundation’s theory of change, 2) Analyzing indicators of business viability such as market size, product, management team, and financial performance, 3) Determining the relevance of the Foundation’s in-kind programs to the organization’s technical and growth goals  

• Contribute to Investment Committee materials, such as drafting sections of investment memos and renewal assessments 

• Conduct sector and industry analyses to help sharpen our investment focus 

Administration & Operations:

• Assist with Investment Committee meeting facilitation 

• Support the team's Impact Manager with impact reporting for the H&R portfolio  

• Support team data requests and provide analysis on the Foundation’s portfolio related to performance, sector exposure, and impact 

Minimum Qualifications

• A passion for addressing climate change and inequality, and an interest in building a career in impact investing & venture philanthropy 

• Deep analytical and problem-solving skills. Familiarity with market, financial and business model analysis

• Strong communications skills, both written and verbal

• Experience living in Asia and/or Africa 

• 2-3 years of work experience that translates into understanding technology innovation and/or impact investing. Ideally this is in a related field (VC/PE, startup, product management, investment banking, strategy consulting, etc.)

• Demonstrated interest in several of the sectors in which we invest: climate tech, resilient housing and infrastructure, agriculture, water & sanitation, energy access  

• Excitement to learn the inner workings of a corporate foundation and have a hand in shaping the future of the Autodesk Foundation

• Undergraduate studies in engineering, sustainability, finance or business preferred