Senior Sustainability Manager (Brighton, UK)

Talent Focus Executive Search and Consulting; Brighton; Hybrid; GBP 70,000 - 110,000; Full time

Job summary

Talent Focus Executive Search and Consulting seeks a Senior Sustainability Manager to own the group’s sustainability strategy and decarbonisation roadmap. You will drive governance, reporting, and cross-functional integration of sustainability into core decisions.

Reporting to the CFO, you will manage data, engage with external partners, and translate insights into business value while leading a high-impact team across functions.

Qualifications

• Proven experience developing and delivering corporate sustainability strategies.
• Strong understanding of carbon accounting, emissions reduction and GHG reporting.
• Experience measuring and reporting environmental and sustainability performance.
• Knowledge of sustainability standards, frameworks, legislation and compliance.
• Experience with sustainability measurement platforms - TRACE by Isla or similar.
• Strong analytical and Excel skills.
• Experience translating sustainability data into actionable business recommendations.
• Confidence influencing senior stakeholders and leading cross-functional initiatives.
• Experience building sustainability capability and engagement across an organisation.

Responsibilities

• Own and evolve the organisation's sustainability strategy, targets and decarbonisation pathway.
• Lead strategic priorities including carbon reduction, circularity and sustainability leadership.
• Measure, analyse and report environmental impact and sustainability performance.
• Lead annual Group sustainability reporting and event-specific sustainability reporting.
• Maintain robust carbon accounting and GHG reporting.
• Ensure compliance with relevant sustainability legislation, frameworks and best practice.
• Manage sustainability consultants, suppliers and external partners.
• Translate complex sustainability data into clear recommendations for senior leadership.
• Coach and influence sustainability goal owners across the organisation.
• Embed sustainability into commercial and operational decision-making.
• Develop partnerships across areas such as travel, accommodation and logistics.
• Identify opportunities where sustainability can contribute to revenue, efficiency and commercial performance.
• Represent the organisation externally through industry groups, boards and strategic partnerships.
• Work closely with Finance, Marketing & Communications, L&D and operational teams.

Skills

Sustainability strategy development

Carbon accounting

GHG reporting

Stakeholder engagement

Data analysis

Excel

Influencing senior stakeholders

Cross-functional leadership

Sustainability measurement

Education

Sustainability/ESG qualification

Tools

TRACE by Isla

Job description

Brighton & Hove | Hybrid - minimum 3 days in the office

Are you an experienced sustainability professional looking for the opportunity to own and shape sustainability strategy at organisational level?

We're looking for a Senior Sustainability Manager to take end-to-end ownership of sustainability strategy for our dynamic, international client.

Reporting directly to the CFO, this is a highly visible role combining strategy, carbon and sustainability reporting, commercial thinking, stakeholder influence and external industry engagement.

The Opportunity

You'll be the organisation's sustainability subject matter expert, responsible for evolving the sustainability strategy, targets and decarbonisation pathway and ensuring they translate into measurable business outcomes.

This isn't simply a reporting or compliance position. You'll work across the organisation to embed sustainability into commercial decision-making, governance and long-term strategy, while influencing and empowering colleagues to take ownership of sustainability goals.

What You'll Do

• Own and evolve the organisation's sustainability strategy, targets and decarbonisation pathway.
• Lead strategic priorities including carbon reduction, circularity and sustainability leadership.
• Measure, analyse and report environmental impact and sustainability performance.
• Lead annual Group sustainability reporting and event-specific sustainability reporting.
• Maintain robust carbon accounting and GHG reporting.
• Ensure compliance with relevant sustainability legislation, frameworks and best practice.
• Manage sustainability consultants, suppliers and external partners.
• Translate complex sustainability data into clear recommendations for senior leadership.
• Coach and influence sustainability goal owners across the organisation.
• Embed sustainability into commercial and operational decision-making.
• Develop partnerships across areas such as travel, accommodation and logistics.
• Identify opportunities where sustainability can contribute to revenue, efficiency and commercial performance.
• Represent the organisation externally through industry groups, boards and strategic partnerships.
• Work closely with Finance, Marketing & Communications, L&D and operational teams.

A particularly important aspect of the role is connecting sustainability with commercial performance, including budget ownership and identifying opportunities for sustainability initiatives to generate business value.

What We're Looking For

You'll bring strong practical experience of developing and implementing sustainability strategies, together with the ability to operate comfortably with both detailed environmental data and senior business stakeholders.

Ideally, you'll have:

• Proven experience developing and delivering corporate sustainability strategies.
• Strong understanding of carbon accounting, emissions reduction and GHG reporting.
• Experience measuring and reporting environmental and sustainability performance.
• Knowledge of sustainability standards, frameworks, legislation and compliance.
• Experience with sustainability measurement platforms - ideally TRACE by Isla or similar.
• Strong analytical and Excel skills.
• Experience translating sustainability data into actionable business recommendations.
• Confidence influencing senior stakeholders and leading cross-functional initiatives.
• Experience building sustainability capability and engagement across an organisation.
• Strong supplier, consultant and partnership management experience.

A sustainability, environmental management or ESG qualification would be advantageous.

Why Join?

This is an opportunity to move beyond simply supporting sustainability initiatives and take genuine ownership of the agenda.

You'll report directly to the CFO, have significant visibility across the organisation and play a central role in determining how sustainability supports both environmental impact and long-term commercial success.