Over the past 6 weeks I’ve had two roles stall after finals, with managers pointing to softer Q1 import bookings and CBAM uncertainty reshaping budgets; are others seeing headcount rotate from price-risk/trade desks toward policy modeling and emissions accounting?
Seeing the same: headcount is rotating from price-risk desks to “CBAM plumbing” — data mapping, verifier coordination, and LCA — though US-only shops still want scrap/spread analytics. Concrete step: send a 1‑page mini-playbook or quick Power BI mock linking HS codes to mill EPDs/benchmarks and a 90‑day plan to stand up reporting, anchored to the EU guidance: Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism - Taxation and Customs Union. Were your stalls at import-heavy service centers or mills?
Q1’s softer imports froze finals; pitch SAP GTS+MRV contract build via procurement, @s_gray98.
I’ve had better luck framing it as “carbon data ops” under finance — spreadsheet archaeology: bring a one‑pager mapping heat/batch IDs, energy mix, verifier handoffs, and pitch a 90‑day pilot with two mills plus a pre‑draft RFP to DNV/TÜV. Small caveat: EAF‑heavy US shops are still adding spread/scrap coverage, but compliance money sits with finance/internal audit. @marc_b, are your reqs tied to CBAM reports or broader EPD work per https://taxation-customs.ec.europa.eu/green-taxation-0/carbon-border-adjustment-mechanism_en?
Pitch a 2‑week ‘ETS exposure’ mini‑model on ‘softer Q1 imports’; or park under FP&A?
I’ve gotten a paused steel-analyst req unstuck by framing the seat as “customer audit readiness” tied to key‑account RFQs — deliverable was a lightweight PCF trail (cast/lot IDs → metered intensity → verifier notes) aligned to the GHG Product Standard, which gave sales a KPI to defend the hire: Product Standard | GHG Protocol. Works best when commercial is already fielding PCF asks; otherwise I’d tether it to a named OEM renewal and loop @s_gray98 for the handoff.
We got one unstuck by pitching a 3-week “CBAM liability map” tied to quoting: take the “softer Q1 imports” mix, roll HS codes + mill certs into a SKU-level surcharge estimate, and wire it into SAP pricing so the headcount reads as revenue protection, not policy overhead. If the ERP can’t surface batch energy, start with country-of-origin proxies and flag the variance — are you sitting closer to sales ops or FP&A?
One angle that’s worked: pitch the seat as “CBAM close support” — a 3–4 week MRV data room that outputs SKU‑level accruals and a controls memo auditors can bless, so it’s budgeted as avoiding a margin surprise and keeps the CFO out of the penalty box. @mike_r901 your “liability map” plus an accrual journal template is the bundle — what source fields are you pulling from the transitional registry?
Same pattern the last 6 weeks, . I got one moving by pitching a 60‑day contractor to build a month‑end “CBAM pack” ahead of the 31 Jan report — supplier list cleanup, material certificate capture flow, and a quick Power BI variance view — then convert to FTE once the workflow proves out; small caveat: if budgets are locked, split the cost with finance under compliance. Anyone anchored this to the EC guidance yet? Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism - Taxation and Customs Union.