Investment Director, Climate Tech

The core mission is to originate and execute climate-tech investments that deliver both financial returns and measurable environmental impact. Day to day, this means building a pipeline by talking to accelerators, incubators, founders and co-investors, running initial screens, and then leading full due diligence covering commercial, operational, financial and impact analysis. The director also prepares investment materials and defends recommendations in front of the investment committee. Beyond closing deals, the role carries a heavy portfolio management load. That means working directly with founders and leadership teams on business strategy, operations, capital raises and impact measurement, and connecting them to partners in talent, finance, governance or sales when gaps appear. Monitoring financial and impact performance across the portfolio and feeding that into internal and external reporting is part of the rhythm. A third strand is ecosystem presence: market research to inform sourcing, thought leadership on energy and climate themes, and representing Sagana at sector convenings and networking events. Because the team is lean, these strands tend to overlap rather than run in sequence. Origination, diligence and post-investment support sit with the same person.

The learning curve here is steep on both the technical and the transactional side. Evaluating energy storage, clean hydrogen, carbon capture or sustainable materials deals forces deep exposure to how these technologies actually work, what their unit economics looklike, and where the competitive moats sit. That knowledge compounds quickly because the director sees many companies against each other. On the investing side, the role offers end-to-end exposure: sourcing, screening, structuring with equity and flexible capital instruments, investment committee presentation and closing. Few seats give a single person that full arc, especially across Seed to Growth stages and across two geographies, India and Europe. Working with founders after the cheque is written also builds operating judgement that pure deal roles rarely produce. There is likely mentorship from the Associate Partner and the Capital Business Unit Lead, plus visibility into how an impact investing advisory firm runs its fund relationships and reporting. Exposure to global, multi-time-zone collaboration and to a values-driven investment culture rounds out the development.

The stated target is 10 to 15 years of relevant experience in venture capital, private equity or impact investing, ideally with early or growth stage exposure. But Sagana explicitly opens the door to candidates from the renewable energy or circular economy sectors who bring strategic thinking and analytical rigour without a pure investing background. Either path works if the person can demonstrate a genuine track record in climate or energy, whether through deals sourced or through operating roles. Deep technical and commercial understanding of energy and climate tech across the value chain is close to non-negotiable, because diligence here means judging complex technologies and competitive positioning, then explaining them simply to a wider audience. A strong network of founders, co-investors and ecosystem players, globally or regionally, is treated as a real asset rather than a nice-to-have. The soft profile matters as much as the CV. Sagana wants a proactive, resourceful, critical thinker who is comfortable in a lean, fast-moving team, can build trust across cultures, and communicates clearly in English. Personal alignment with the purpose-driven approach is stated plainly, so a candidate who treats impact as decoration rather than a live constraint is unlikely to fit.

Lead with deals, not with responsibilities. The posting asks for evidence of having sourced and evaluated commercially attractive and impactful opportunities, so the strongest application names specific companies, the stage, the role played, and the outcome, including how impact was measured. If the route in is industry rather than investing, frame operating achievements in the same concrete terms: what was built, what it cost, what it saved or abated. Show the technical fluency honestly. Sagana wants someone who can explain a complex technology in plain language, so a cover letter that takes one climate-tech theme, say industrial decarbonisation or clean hydrogen, and argues its investment case in a few tight paragraphs demonstrates more than a list of sector keywords. Naming a view on where the market is mispriced signals the critical thinking they ask for. Because the role is remote in India with global collaboration, address how you work across time zones and cultures, ideally with an example. Connect explicitly to the five values, courage, authenticity, respect, responsibility and excellence, using one short story rather than a recital. Applications go through the link, with queries and CVs to the talent team, so keep the written materials clean and specific; there is no benefit to volume.

The mandate is environmental first, with social impact running alongside. Investments concentrate on energy and climate tech: energy storage, energy efficiency, industrial decarbonisation, sustainable materials, clean mobility, clean hydrogen and energy, motors, and carbon capture and utilisation. The director's job is to judge which of these can scale commercially while producing genuine emissions reductions, and then to track whether that impact materialises after the investment. Governance enters through the portfolio work. Supporting companies on governance, capital raising and reporting structures is part of capacity building, and monitoring impact performance feeds Sagana's internal and external reporting to its fund investors and partners. That reporting channel means the impact data has to be defensible, not a marketing line. By backing purpose-driven companies in India and Europe, the role also touches the inclusive business angle: the posting frames the aim as shaping inclusive and sustainable business across those markets. So the sustainability focus is less about a corporate ESG programme and more about directing capital toward companies whose core business is emissions reduction or resource efficiency.

The hardest part is likely the double bottom line under real scrutiny. Every deal has to stand up commercially and on impact, and climate tech at Seed and Growth stage carries technology, policy and market risks that make both halves uncertain. Holding that tension in an investment committee, where the easy path is to lean on one side, is the central challenge. Working in a lean team across India and Europe adds operational strain. Time zones, remote collaboration and the breadth of the role, covering sourcing, diligence, structuring, portfolio support and ecosystem presence, mean prioritisation is constant. A director used to larger fund structures may find the absence of support layers demanding. There is also the portfolio management reality: founders need help with strategy, hiring, governance and follow-on fundraising, and the director is expected to provide it while still originating new deals. When a portfolio company stalls, the accountability is personal. Balancing hands-on support with the discipline to keep the pipeline moving is a persistent tension.

Mornings could start with pipeline review: screening new inbound opportunity decks, updating the CRM, and checking which founders from the ecosystem network need a follow-up. Calls with accelerators, incubators or co-investors often sit early to catch Europe, while India-based founder meetings cluster later. A diligence workstream, say a financial model or a market map for energy storage, would absorb a stretch of focused time. Midday often brings internal work: preparing or reviewing investment committee materials, polishing an impact analysis, or joining a team discussion on a live deal. Some days include a portfolio company session, working through a capital raise plan, a hiring question or an impact measurement framework with a founder. Documentation, term sheet comments and reporting updates fill the gaps. Later in the day, the pattern might shift to ecosystem events, sector webinars or networking calls, or to writing a market landscape memo that feeds sourcing. Because the team is small and global, the week varies a lot; one week could be diligence-heavy with a signing looming, the next dominated by portfolio firefighting or travel to meet founders. No two days look the same, and the schedule bends toward whatever deal or company is closest to a decision.

The most direct path is within Sagana's capital business unit: a director who builds a strong portfolio and demonstrates sound judgement could move toward Associate Partner or Business Unit Lead roles, since the reporting line and team structure are already visible in the posting. The title itself notes experience-dependence, which suggests the firm is willing to calibrate level to the person. Because the role spans sourcing, execution and portfolio management, it also opens lateral options. A director who thrives on the deal side could deepen into fund-level work or co-investment structuring, while one drawn to company building could take more operating involvement with portfolio businesses, potentially into board seats or founder-adjacent roles over time. Visibility is an asset here. Leading investment committee discussions, representing the firm at ecosystem events and contributing to thought leadership all put the person in front of founders, co-investors and the wider climate-tech network. In a 59-person firm, that exposure compounds quickly, and the track record built on individual deals travels well into larger funds or into launching something of one's own.

Internally, the closest relationships are with the Associate Partner and the Capital Business Unit Lead, who shape deal priorities and sign off on recommendations. The wider investment team, plus whoever handles reporting and fund relationships, will be regular contacts. Because Sagana combines impact investing advisory with fund management, there may also be colleagues focused on the firm's own clients and capital partners whose expectations feed into how reporting is done. Externally, founders and leadership teams of portfolio companies are the central relationships, with the director acting as a strategic sounding board as well as an investor. The ecosystem network matters just as much: accelerators, incubators, co-investors, specialist advisers and other funds who both source deals and share diligence. Partners brought in for talent, finance, governance or sales sit at the edge of the portfolio relationship. The interaction style varies by group. Founders need trust and candour, co-investors need clear-eyed analysis, and internal colleagues need recommendations that survive challenge in committee. Working across India and Europe means those conversations happen across cultures and time zones, so reading the room and adapting the format matter as much as the substance.