Meet Emily Dobson

Tell us a bit about yourself and what you do at Quantis.

Emily Dobson:  I’m Franco-British and currently part of the French team. However, right now I’m in sunny Barcelona, making the most of the remote work option we have and discovering a new city for a couple of weeks. 

I come from a business background. I did a bachelor’s in International Business Administration in Rotterdam and then a master’s at HEC Paris. At Quantis, I’m a project manager on the Science and Innovation team, working more on the innovation side of things. We help consultants develop new, cutting-edge services that we want to offer our clients. We really want to create transformative services that push them to do as much as they can in their sustainability journey. 

The Science and Innovation team is at the intersection of all the teams at Quantis. We work across the organization with teams with different areas of focus and expertise to better understand the ambitions of our clients and the problems they’re facing. We keep an eye on the market and the conversations our clients are having with our consultants to identify developing needs and trends. Then we do a deep dive into those needs and challenges to hypothesize potential solutions. After piloting these solutions with clients, we hopefully have a new service that helps our clients move forward on their sustainability journey.

How has your role evolved since starting at Quantis?

ED:  I started out as an intern on the Science and Innovation team and have progressed through different roles to become a project manager. After my internship, I was an analyst. I was doing a lot of market research, creating content and digging deeper into the problems that we were trying to address. I also had the opportunity to work on client projects, which allowed me to understand client needs on a deeper level and try something different. I’m very thankful to Quantis for giving me the opportunity to advance my reflection on my career. Now as a project manager, I plan and coordinate projects from start to finish. I’ve had the pleasure to work with different internal experts in developing our offerings across many topics (such as biodiversity, water, suppliers and sourcing, ecodesign and organizational change). My favorite part has been learning about so many topics, which are all needed in the sustainability world, as well as how they can be brought together to help our clients on their transformation journey.

What’s your favorite memory from your time at Quantis?

ED: Honestly, there are so many. I would say the key thing about Quantis is the people. For me, the happiest memories are linked to different people that I’ve met, through the retreat, ski weekends, etc. Also, coming out of COVID, it was nice to finally see the colleagues from other offices that I’d been working with. That was a real highlight for me.
There are lots of opportunities to learn from co-workers, not just on the various expertise we have across Quantis, but also on a personal level. If someone has a special skill or hobby, they’re open to sharing it. For example, I know some people go running at lunchtime together, while others invite the office to join seminars they’re going to. There is a true sense of community.

How would you describe the Quantis Spirit?

ED: I would say there are three main things. The first one is very obvious as soon as you speak to one of us. We’re very, very passionate about what we do. We’re driven by the same goal, which is to try and help companies take steps to solve the environmental crisis that we’re in. Everybody at Quantis is super ambitious, but also realistic. We’re also very caring and always go above and beyond when speaking with clients or tackling an issue. I’d say that we’re very value-driven.

The second thing, which I think makes us unique, is we have deep expertise in a lot of different fields. We also know that we need to be creative in order to come up with new solutions. It’s really the marriage between those two, which I haven’t seen in other companies. I’ve seen either super creative or super specialized, but never a mix. Because of this combination, we can come up with new solutions.

The third thing that really characterizes the Quantis Spirit is that everybody is willing to help each other and collaborate. Whenever I have a question, I just ping someone and as soon as they have time, they message back and give the time that’s needed. We’re all trying to achieve something together. I think that defines Quantis.

What else are you passionate about?

ED: I love traveling, and I’m very happy that I can do that through Quantis. I’ve been able to visit all the EU branches by train. There’s also the retreats, where I’ve gotten to meet people from all the branches. Additionally, my team is very international. I work with people from Colombia, Costa Rica, Switzerland and the US, which allows me to discover the world as well, in a different (sustainable) way.

The other thing that I really enjoy is going out into nature, hiking and a bit of cycling here and there, which is also possible thanks to Quantis. We’re able to organize our time at work, so I’ve never had to miss out on any opportunities outside of work.

If you could share a piece of personal or career advice with your younger self, what would it be and why?

ED:  It would be to stay curious. I always thought you learned as much as you can during your education, but then once you start working, it’s time to apply that. I realized that you actually need to put yourself in a place where you can continuously learn and develop because your role is going to change so much over the course of your career, and so are the topics you’re tackling. You need to be as close as possible to the best experts so that you can learn and apply it. It also gives you the opportunity to learn about yourself and see what you like to do.

Another thing is to listen to the little voice inside of you that’s always questioning whether what you’re doing has an impact. I think a lot of us have it, and if you have the opportunity and privilege to be able to follow it, then go for it. It’s really rewarding to have a career that has an impact.