Socioeconomic Consultant

ERM is the world’s largest specialist sustainability consultancy, with over 50 years of experience helping organizations navigate complex environmental, social, and governance challenges. We bring together a global community of experts to deliver meaningful impact for our clients and the planet.

Our Consulting Delivery Hub (CDH) in India is a critical part of ERM’s global consulting model enabling scalable, high-quality delivery across regions and service lines. CDH teams work in close partnership with regional consultants to support global client projects, providing specialist expertise, driving consistency, and enhancing delivery efficiency across our most important programmes.

As part of the Consulting Delivery Hub, you will collaborate with colleagues worldwide, contribute to complex sustainability projects, and play a key role in shaping the future of global consulting delivery.

Why this role matters?

As a Socioeconomic Consultant, you will support ERM’s global Impact Assessment teams by contributing social and human rights expertise to environmental and social assessments across a range of sectors and geographies. Working within the Capital Project Delivery Impact Assessment capability, you will help project teams identify social risks and impacts, apply international standards, and develop robust, practical recommendations for clients. This role is critical to ensuring the quality, consistency, and efficiency of social and human rights inputs across ERM’s global project portfolio.

What your impact is?

• Support the preparation of social and human rights inputs for environmental and social impact assessments, human rights assessments, due diligence reviews, and management plans.
• Contribute to the review and analysis of project documentation against international standards, including IFC Performance Standards, EBRD Performance Requirements, Equator Principles, and other relevant good international industry practice.
• Assist project teams in identifying social risks, human rights considerations, stakeholder engagement needs, and mitigation measures across different sectors and geographies.
• Help prepare clear, well-structured deliverables, including baseline summaries, impact assessment sections, stakeholder engagement materials, and action plans.
• Support consistent and efficient delivery across regions by working closely with senior consultants and technical specialists.
• Contribute to high-quality client outputs by applying strong research, analytical, writing, and organizational skills.

What will you bring?

• Academic background in social sciences, human rights, international development, sustainability, environmental/social management, law, political science, anthropology, sociology, or a related field.
• Initial experience or strong interest in social performance, human rights, impact assessment, stakeholder engagement, or responsible business practices.
• Understanding of international standards and frameworks relevant to social and human rights matters, such as IFC Performance Standards, EBRD Performance Requirements, Equator Principles, UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights, and/or OECD guidance.
• Strong research, analytical, and written communication skills, with the ability to summarize complex information clearly and accurately.
• Ability to support multiple workstreams, manage priorities, and deliver quality outputs within agreed deadlines.
• Strong attention to detail and willingness to learn from senior technical specialists.
• Ability to work effectively with international and cross-functional teams.
• Ability to travel to project sites in remote locations.
• Fluency in English, plus French, Italian, or Spanish. Priority will be given to candidates with French and/or Italian language skills.

Preferred skills & competencies

• Exposure to international development finance institutions, lender requirements, or sustainability advisory work.
• Familiarity with labour and working conditions, community health and safety, land acquisition, indigenous peoples, cultural heritage.
• Experience working in consulting, international organizations, or development agencies.
• Ability to work in additional languages relevant to ERM’s international project portfolio.

Key responsibilities

• Support senior consultants in preparing social and human rights deliverables for international client projects.
• Conduct desk-based research, document reviews, and gap analyses against applicable international standards and client requirements.
• Assist in drafting sections of social and human rights assessments, stakeholder engagement plans, management plans, corrective action plans, and related technical outputs.
• Contribute to the identification of social risks, human rights impacts, affected stakeholders, vulnerable groups, and appropriate mitigation or management measures.
• Support the preparation of project materials, including interview guides, stakeholder mapping tools, meeting notes, data summaries, and presentation materials.
• Help maintain consistency, quality, and traceability across project documentation and deliverables.
• Collaborate with regional consultants, technical specialists, and CDH colleagues to support timely and efficient project delivery.
• Participate in internal learning, knowledge sharing, and continuous improvement activities related to social performance and human rights consulting.