Policy & Research Stewardship Specialist

The Role

We're looking for a sharp, curious, and impact-driven professional to join our Investment Stewardship team as a Policy & Research Specialist, with a dedicated focus on EMEA-related corporate governance and proxy voting issues.

In this role, you'll lead research and policy development for the region, ensuring our voting guidelines remain rigorous, data-driven, and aligned with fast-evolving governance standards across Europe, the Middle East, and Africa.

If you enjoy deep analysis, strategic thinking, and playing a key role in shaping stewardship policy, this is an opportunity to influence outcomes at scale.

In this role you will

Lead regional governance research & policy development

• Serve as the subject matter expert on EMEA governance and stewardship frameworks, leading analysis on market-specific trends, regulatory developments, and proxy voting issues
• Drive quantitative and qualitative research projects to evaluate existing policies and develop forward-looking recommendations tailored to EMEA markets
• Build robust data-collection approaches to support high-quality, region-specific insights

• Produce high-quality written materials, presentations, and statistical analyses that inform leadership on emerging governance topics across EMEA
• Interpret research, corporate disclosures, regulatory changes, and internal insights to assess complex voting decisions or engagement outcomes
• Identify regional trends and opportunities and provide concise, evidence-based recommendations to senior management

• Lead policy analysis and audits with a particular emphasis on EMEA-related voting guidelines
• Recommend enhancements to ensure alignment with regional governance norms and evolving best practices

• Collaborate closely with business partners, global colleagues, and external research providers, especially on EMEA-focused initiatives
• Provide insights that support global communications and ensure regional feedback loops are strong and effective
• Lead cross-functional projects that advance the impact of our stewardship work across EMEA

• Mentor colleagues on EMEA governance considerations, voting guidelines, and engagement preparation
• Support internal training on new or updated stewardship policies, ensuring clarity and consistency
• Contribute to special projects that strengthen our regional and global stewardship approach

• Deep knowledge of EMEA corporate governance principles, regulatory environments, and market-specific stewardship expectations
• Strong quantitative and qualitative analytical skills, with the ability to interpret complex datasets and develop clear, actionable insights
• Proven experience in policy evaluation or development, especially in a governance or stewardship context
• Ability to synthesise diverse information sources (e.g., proxy research, regulatory developments, company disclosures)
• Stakeholder management - comfortable influencing across teams and presenting to senior leaders as well as being able to produce crisp research papers, persuasive recommendations, and engaging presentations
• Project leadership - experienced in guiding cross-functional or organisation-wide initiatives
• A proactive, curious mindset - someone who continually seeks to understand new governance trends and their implications

• Vanguard is not offering visa sponsorship for this position
• This is a hybrid position and would require you to work in the office 3 days per week (Tuesday, Wednesday & Thursday)