Senior Environmental Sustainability Manager

Balfour Beatty plc; Aberdeen City; Hybrid; GBP 50,000 - 70,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading infrastructure company in Aberdeen is seeking a Senior Environmental Sustainability Manager. The role involves implementing sustainability strategies, overseeing project compliance, and managing team performance. Ideal candidates should have strong knowledge of environmental management, excellent leadership skills, and the ability to work collaboratively. This position offers a blend of on-site management and remote working options.

Benefits

Flexible working hours

25 days paid annual leave

Family friendly policies

Pension and share incentive plan

Qualifications

• Full driving license with flexibility to travel.
• Strong knowledge of environmental management in a construction environment.
• Practical experience with environmental statutory requirements.

Responsibilities

• Lead implementation of environmental sustainability strategy.
• Provide strategic input on sustainability approaches.
• Oversee environmental performance and compliance across projects.

Skills

Leadership

Environmental management

Communication

Interpersonal skills

Data management

Education

Registered Environmental Professional qualification

Tools

MS Office (Word, Excel, Outlook)

Job description

About The Role

Amazing infrastructure isn’t the only thing that gets built here. Incredible careers do too. Join our Power T&D team as a Senior Environmental Sustainability Manager on the East Coast Upgrade in Aberdeen and you can build something to be proud of.

Reporting to the Regional Head of Environmental Sustainability and working closely with Project Directors, this role provides both strategic input at the project level and operational leadership to ensure the successful delivery of environmental objectives. The role combines technical expertise with team leadership, overseeing ES Managers and driving performance, compliance, and innovation across their projects.

The Senior Environmental Sustainability Manager plays a key role in shaping project-specific sustainability strategies, advising senior project stakeholders, and mitigating environmental risks. They are responsible for building a high-performing team and fostering a culture of environmental leadership and continuous improvement within their portfolio.

What you'll be doing

• Lead the implementation of the environmental sustainability strategy across a defined portfolio of projects, ensuring alignment with the regional ES agenda and business priorities.
• Provide strategic input at the project level, shaping sustainability approaches that support long-term outcomes and mitigate environmental risk.
• Oversee the delivery of environmental performance, compliance, and innovation across multiple complex or high-value projects.
• Line manage and develop ES Managers and Advisors, ensuring capability, performance, and succession planning within the team.
• Act as a key advisor to Project Directors and senior stakeholders, influencing decision-making and promoting a culture of environmental leadership.
• Ensure environmental compliance across the portfolio, including regular site inspections, audits, and engagement with clients and regulators.
• Support the development and review of environmental documentation, including project-specific plans, permits, and risk assessments.
• Contribute to the development of regional ES strategy and documentation, providing feedback from project-level delivery.
• Represent the ES function in project-level work winning activities, including planning and permitting requirements.
• Drive the identification and sharing of best practice, lessons learned, and innovative solutions across the portfolio.
• Deliver and support environmental and sustainability training and awareness activities within the project teams.
• Ensure timely and accurate reporting of environmental performance, incidents, and KPIs, both internally and to clients.
• Support the Head of ES in regional initiatives, governance activities, and continuous improvement of systems and processes.
• Demonstrate visible sustainability leadership through regular engagement with project teams, promoting accountability and collaboration.

Who we're looking for

• Full driving license and flexibility to travel.
• Registered Environmental Professional.
• Strong knowledge of environment management with the relevant experience working in a construction environment.
• Practical experience and sound knowledge of environmental statutory requirements, including environmental legislation, ecology mitigation, environmental licencing and consent applications and regulation.
• Achieves results through managing others. Builds and manages and inclusive, high-performing team, valuing the development and success of the team. Empowers or enables others to achieve their potential. Values the gathering of a variety of complex information and seeing situations from multiple perspectives. Balances short-term functional objectives with longer- term strategic goals.
• Understanding of the benefits of working collaboratively to obtain the best outcome.
• Good interpersonal, communication and influencing skills.
• Determination to see tasks through to completion, with excellent planning and organisation skills.
• Interpreting and managing data via databases, consistent record keeping and writing detailed reports.
• Be required to visit worksites and offices across Scotland and attend occasional ES meetings across the UK.
• Literate in MS Office - Word, Excel, Outlook.

Why work for us

Day in, day out, our teams deliver some of the UK’s most ambitious, exciting and meaningful projects; developing, building and maintaining the vital infrastructure that supports national economies and strengthens communities.

Benefits

• Smart working, giving you more flexibility such as staggered start and finish times, with up to 40% remote working, where roles allow.
• 25 days paid annual leave (pro rata).
• Family friendly policies which include 28 weeks full pay for maternity/adoption leave and four weeks full pay for paternity/partners leave.
• Pension, share incentive plan, volunteering leave, recognition schemes and much more.

About Us

Balfour Beatty’s Power Transmission & Distribution teams work with regional, national and international electricity network owners and operators to provide technical engineering solutions across the full spectrum of the electricity grid, including overhead lines, cabling, substations and distribution networks.

From scoping and feasibility, to design, construction and on-going maintenance, our in-house experts, flexible resources and industry-leading innovations support customers in the development of some of the UK’s most ambitious power transmission and distribution projects.

Diversity and inclusion

At Balfour Beatty we believe that diversity and inclusion are essential components of any successful, happy workplace. Through our Value Everyone Diversity and Inclusion Strategy and Action Plan, we are growing our diverse workforce and developing our inclusive culture where everyone is able to thrive and reach their full potential, regardless of their identity or background.

Balfour Beatty is an equal opportunities employer and welcomes applications from all suitably qualified candidates. We are committed to providing a working environment that is free from discrimination, harassment, and victimisation, where everyone is treated with respect and dignity. As a Disability Confident Employer, we are committed to working with people who have disabilities and long-term health conditions to remove barriers for them in obtaining employment.