Associate Director, GRA Climate Risk Modelling and Model Governance

RBC • Toronto, ON

7d • Onsite

About The Position

Global Risk Analytics (GRA) is the center of expertise for models used in risk management, covering market risk, counterparty credit risk, and emerging risk. The GRA Climate Risk Modelling and Model Governance team is responsible for the conceptualization, design, implementation, and maintenance of both physical and transition climate risk modeling frameworks. These models serve as fundamental tools for quantifying and assessing climate related risks across the enterprise. The team's scope includes alignment with evolving regulatory expectations, compliance requirements, and adherence to established industry best practices and methodological standards. The team also provides governance of departmental activities and support GRA senior management in developing strategic plans, tracking progress, and compiling reports on model enhancement and development projects.
GRA is seeking an individual who is an expert in climate physical and/or transition risk analysis and is passionate about applying innovative data analytics and strong programming skills to enhance our climate risk analytics capabilities.
Your responsibilities will cover both Climate Risk Modelling and GRA Model Governance activities.

Requirements

• 3+ years of experience in Financial Risk, Climate Science or Environmental Consulting
• Advanced degree (Master’s/PhD) in a quantitative, technical, or interdisciplinary discipline (e.g., Statistics, Financial Engineering, Applied Mathematics, Climate Science, Spatial Analysis, Computer Science);
• Experience with data science, probabilistic modelling, and ability to manipulate large amounts of data;
• Experience independently building quantitative models including climate hazard models;
• Research oriented mindset;
• Familiarity with Spatial Data Analysis and experience with Geographic information system (GIS) software;
• Proficiency in Python/R;
• Solid statistical and mathematical knowledge with attention to details;
• Strong communication skills and ability to communicate with variety of stakeholders.

Nice To Haves

• Familiarity with climate related financial regulations;
• Hands-on experience with RCP (Representative Concentration Pathways), SSP (Shared Socioeconomic Pathways) scenarios, and CMIP5/6 datasets;
• Experience working with geographical data structures like NetCDF, Raster, Shape files;
• Familiarity with geographic data processing packages including Fiona, GeoPandas, Shapely, Rasterio, Xarray, and GDAL;
• To be a team player ready to collaborate and innovate;
• Understanding of the overall risk management function within a bank;
• Knowledge of financial products in banking and trading book.

Responsibilities

• Develop quantitative models and perform scenario analysis to estimate transition and physical risk of climate change (with focus on earthquake, wildfire, storm, etc.) on Bank’s corporate and retail lending portfolios.
• Perform data processing, statistical analysis, modeling and visualisation using Geographic information system (GIS) software.
• Collaborate with internal stakeholders to determine business needs, source data, integrate models into Bank’s processes, and supporting stress testing functions.
• Collaborate with vendors including external data providers to integrate and validate their outputs, while conducting comprehensive benchmarks using open-source hazard datasets.
• Build, enhance, and automate processes to facilitate ongoing monitoring and maintenance of models. Execute quarterly/monthly processes and be accountable for the timely analysis of results. Handle ad hoc request as required.
• Document all models and processes developed and work with the model validation team to ensure timely and successful validation.
• Support Model Governance and Integration processes within Global Risk Analytics to ensure it operates with high efficiency and meets requirements of Second and Third lines of defence.
• Support GRA senior management in developing strategic plans, tracking progress, and compiling reports on model enhancement and development projects.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Senior