HVACR Industry Research Lead

About Cascade

Join Cascade Climate, a global nonprofit propelling high-potential climate solutions from the margins to the mainstream. 

The climate crisis has outpaced our response. In addition to cutting carbon emissions, we need dramatically expanded efforts on mitigating super pollutant emissions (including methane and refrigerants) to cool the planet in the near term, and scaling up carbon removal technologies to restore atmospheric balance for the long haul. Many promising solutions remain sidelined not because they lack potential, but because they haven't gotten the push needed to overcome adoption bottlenecks.

We founded Cascade to provide that push. Our team is currently focused on building the world’s capacity for durable carbon removal through enhanced rock weathering (ERW) and mitigating near-term warming through lifecycle refrigerant management and transitioning to lower Global Warming Potential (GWP) chemicals. We do this by leading ambitious initiatives spanning markets, policy and science to overcome the biggest barriers to progress. 

Cascade is philanthropically backed and since our launch in 2023 has earned the trust and support of leading philanthropic organizations, including Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, Grantham Foundation, Quadrature Climate Foundation, and more. We are a distributed team of remarkably accomplished and insistently humble people — artists, community builders, entrepreneurs, scientists, and policy strategists — working to address one of the most pressing challenges of our time. 

About the Role 

This year, Cascade is launching our work on refrigerant management and transition in Southeast Asia, our first major program in the region. We are seeking a Singapore-based, full-time team member for a one-year fixed-term role, with the potential for extension.

This role will lead the initial market analysis to assess and document the state of next-generation cooling equipment and lifecycle refrigerant management across Southeast Asia, helping lay the foundation for future regional engagement and program development. You will focus on translating on-the-ground heating, ventilation, air conditioning, and refrigeration (HVACR) industry realities - including supply chains, equipment servicing practices, policy implementation, and behavioral norms - into insights that directly inform Cascade’s program design. You will collaborate closely with Cascade’s U.S. team while building relationships with regional stakeholders across refrigerant and HVACR industry, policy, and service technicians. As a result, there will be periodic travel within East and Southeast Asia based on project needs and regular collaboration with U.S.-based team members, which may require participation in meetings outside of local standard business hours.

You might be someone with hands-on familiarity with HVACR markets or chemical refrigerant supply chains across East or Southeast Asia who enjoys building deep relationships with stakeholders. You may have experience conducting market or industry research related to HVACR equipment, refrigerant manufacturing, industrial supply chain logistics, or equipment servicing and maintenance ecosystems. Furthermore, you are curious about how these sectors evolve in response to policy, regulation, and business norms. You understand how industries function within diverse regulatory frameworks. As a result, you bring insight into how policy environments, commercial incentives, and informal practices intersect to shape business decision-making. 

• Deliver a clear, industry-informed assessment of the current state of lifecycle refrigerant management and the low-GWP refrigerant transition across Southeast Asia, including supply chain availability, pricing, and adoption dynamics/challenges for natural refrigerants, HFCs, HFOs, etc.
• Assess lifecycle refrigerant management practices across markets, including recovery, recycling, reclamation, destruction, and disposal pathways. Document how refrigerants are handled during equipment servicing and at equipment end-of-life, and identify key points where leakage, losses, or venting occur
• Identify and clearly articulate the most significant technical, financial, regulatory, and behavioral barriers impacting refrigerant transition and lifecycle management across target markets
• Conduct field research through regional site visits to refrigerant reclamation and destruction facilities, HVACR equipment manufacturing plants, HVACR equipment servicing sites, and HVACR waste management sites
• Represent Cascade at regional conferences, technical convenings, and industry forums to gather insights, strengthen partnerships, and monitor emerging trends in the HVACR sector
• Build and maintain a durable network of relationships across the cooling and refrigerant value chain, including manufacturers, distributors, service technicians, recyclers, policymakers, industry associations, and other key stakeholders across APAC markets

• Hands-on familiarity with HVACR markets and/or chemical refrigerant supply chains, ideally in East and Southeast Asia
• Demonstrated ability to build trust and operate effectively within relationship-driven systems
• Experience conducting market research related to HVACR and/or chemical refrigerant manufacturing, including supply chain logistics and equipment servicing ecosystems (e.g., technicians, distributors)
• Strong understanding of how policy, regulation, and informal practices interact in business contexts across East or Southeast Asian markets
• Willingness and openness to being coached, with the ability to incorporate feedback and grow in the role
• Strong written and verbal communication skills with a diverse range of stakeholders across various countries and languages  
• Fluent in English plus regional language skills, particularly conversational proficiency in Mandarin Chinese, Vietnamese, or Thai
• Ability and willingness to work across time zones with stakeholders in APAC and Cascade employees in the US 

• Empathy, humility, and contagious curiosity – evident in how you approach your work and relationships 
• Comfort with complexity – you can embrace tension and hold space for multiple perspectives simultaneously 
• Uncommonly strong self-driven learning habits – evidenced from your past education, work experience, hobbies, and interests 
• Ease with ambiguity – you’re comfortable navigating uncertainty and can chart a path forward without any definite answer
• High standards with pragmatism – you have naturally high expectations of yourself, and you avoid letting “perfect get in the way of really good” so you can deliver strong work quickly
• Climate solutions enthusiasm – you're energized to explore diverse approaches to the climate crisis. You are excited to dig deep into a range of solutions to the climate crisis. This may include research on climate-relevant financing, policy, and market mechanisms or parsing through scientific research.

Compensation + Benefits    

Cascade offers a competitive salary and benefits package through our Employer of Record, JustWorks.

Location   

Cascade operates as a hybrid workplace with 4 offices in the United States: Boston (our headquarters), Washington D.C., New York City, or the Bay Area. This role will be our first international hire, and we have a strong preference for someone based in Singapore. 

Be ready to travel at least once per month — and occasionally a bit more as needed — for conferences, team gatherings, and partner meetings both regionally in Southeast Asia and to the United States. 

Diversity      

At Cascade, we're on a mission to dramatically accelerate progress across high-potential climate solutions — ensuring a healthy, livable Earth for all humanity. Central to our success is building a diverse workforce that reflects the communities we serve, through thoughtful recruiting, hiring, mentoring, and retention.We welcome all qualified applicants and provide equal employment opportunity regardless of race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability, or protected veteran status.