Sustainability Lead

Sainsbury's Limited; Coventry; On-site; GBP 60,000 - 90,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

10% colleague discount on shopping

Pensions and life cover

Bonus up to 10% of salary

Annual holiday allowance + extra week

Cycle to work / health plans / salary-

Employee assistance programme

Maternity/Adoption leave up to 26 wks

Paternity leave up to 4 wks

Job summary

Argos is seeking a Sustainability Lead to drive our carbon reduction programme across Scope 1-3 emissions. You will translate commitments into actionable plans, coordinate data across operations, suppliers and products, and monitor progress toward net zero.

The role requires strong collaboration with cross-functional teams and external partners. You will shape carbon policies, manage governance, and communicate complex data to stakeholders, ensuring practical decarbonisation outcomes while

Qualifications

• A professional qualification or equivalent experience in Sustainability, Environmental Management, Geography, Environmental Science, Carbon Management or a related discipline.
• Experience delivering carbon reduction, carbon accounting or decarbonisation programmes within a complex organisation, supply chain or product-led business.
• Strong knowledge of carbon accounting principles, including Scope 1, 2 and 3 emissions, climate disclosure requirements, science-based targets and supplier emissions data.
• Strong project and programme management skills, with experience coordinating multiple priorities, workstreams and stakeholders.
• The ability to analyse, interpret and communicate carbon and emissions data, including operational, product and supplier data, to identify emissions hotspots, risks, reduction opportunities and track performance.
• Experience developing or supporting carbon or climate-related policies, standards, guidance or business processes.
• Strong communication and stakeholder management skills, with the ability to build relationships and influence teams, suppliers and external partners.
• Experience identifying and managing carbon, climate or decarbonisation risks and opportunities using sound judgement and established governance processes.

Responsibilities

• Lead our carbon reduction programme across Scope 1, 2 and 3 emissions, translating our commitments into clear plans, targets and practical actions.
• Bring together carbon, operational, supplier and product data to understand emissions profile, identify biggest opportunities and focus areas.
• Monitor and drive progress towards net zero ambitions, supporting carbon reporting and wider sustainability disclosures.
• Collaborate with teams and suppliers to embed decarbonisation into ways of working and decision-making.
• Shape policies, standards and guidance underpinning the approach to carbon, keeping an eye on climate requirements.
• Make carbon clear and actionable by turning insights into practical steps and governance.

Skills

Carbon accounting

Project management

Stakeholder management

Data analysis

Policy development

Communication

Risk management

Education

Sustainability qualification

Environmental Management/Geography/Environmental Science/Carbon Management degree

Job description

At Argos, we're a digital-led UK retailer that keeps pushing boundaries to meet every generation with what they want, how and when they want it. As a market leader in general merchandise, serving millions of customers through our website, app, same-day delivery and Click & Collect services, we offer real opportunities to learn, grow and shape your career. With roles spanning Commercial, Buying, Merchandising, Design and Supply Chain, through to Digital, Operations, Customer Experience, Marketing, and People and Transformation, you will work with brilliant colleagues and directly shape how we serve our customers every day. From enabling inspiring choice across our owned brands, including Habitat, Chad Valley and Bush, alongside the world’s biggest brands like Apple, Lego, Xbox and Samsung, to making shopping effortlessly convenient, championing trusted value and accelerating our strategy - Argos is an exciting place to build your future.

Why join us

Sustainability is a big part of how we're shaping the future of Argos, and this is an opportunity to be right at the heart of it.

As our Sustainability Lead, you'll be our carbon specialist, leading our carbon programme and helping turn our environmental ambitions into meaningful action. From understanding our carbon footprint and shaping our route to net zero, to working with teams and suppliers to identify and deliver emissions reductions, you'll help drive decarbonisation across our operations and wider value chain.

It's a varied role with plenty of scope to make an impact. You'll work across Commercial, Technical, Sourcing, Property, Logistics, Finance and Sustainability, bringing people together around a shared goal and using carbon data and insight to help us make better, lower-carbon decisions.

What You'll Do

You'll lead our carbon reduction programme across Scope 1, 2 and 3 emissions, translating our commitments into clear plans, targets and practical actions that can make a real difference.

A big part of your role will be bringing together carbon, operational, supplier and product data to understand our emissions profile, where our biggest opportunities are and where we need to focus next. You'll monitor and drive progress towards our net zero ambitions, supporting carbon reporting, climate disclosures and wider sustainability requirements.

Collaboration will be key. You'll partner with teams across Argos to identify and deliver opportunities to reduce emissions and embed decarbonisation into the way we work and make decisions. You'll also work with suppliers and external partners to help address emissions across our wider value chain, particularly Scope 3.

You'll help shape the policies, standards and guidance that underpin our approach to carbon, keeping an eye on emerging climate and carbon requirements and making sure risks and opportunities are understood and acted on.

Most importantly, you'll make carbon clear and actionable. Whether you're sharing insights with stakeholders, supporting governance and decision-making or coordinating decarbonisation initiatives, you'll help turn complex carbon challenges into practical steps forward.

What We're Looking For

We're looking for someone who combines strong carbon expertise with the confidence to bring people with them. You'll be comfortable working with emissions data and technical detail, but equally able to step back, tell the story behind the numbers and influence stakeholders across a complex organisation.

Essential criteria

• A professional qualification or equivalent experience in Sustainability, Environmental Management, Geography, Environmental Science, Carbon Management or a related discipline.
• Experience delivering carbon reduction, carbon accounting or decarbonisation programmes within a complex organisation, supply chain or product-led business.
• Strong knowledge of carbon accounting principles, including Scope 1, 2 and 3 emissions, climate disclosure requirements, science-based targets and supplier emissions data.
• Strong project and programme management skills, with experience coordinating multiple priorities, workstreams and stakeholders.
• The ability to analyse, interpret and communicate carbon and emissions data, including operational, product and supplier data, to identify emissions hotspots, risks, reduction opportunities and track performance.
• Experience developing or supporting carbon or climate-related policies, standards, guidance or business processes.
• Strong communication and stakeholder management skills, with the ability to build relationships and influence teams, suppliers and external partners.
• Experience identifying and managing carbon, climate or decarbonisation risks and opportunities using sound judgement and established governance processes.

Experience working with suppliers, industry groups or external organisations on Scope 3 emissions, supplier decarbonisation or product carbon would be a real advantage. Exposure to carbon or sustainability training and engagement, budget management or business case development would also be useful, as would membership of, or an interest in, a relevant professional body such as ISEP.

We are committed to being a truly inclusive retailer so you'll be welcomed whoever you are and wherever you work. Around here, there’s always the chance to try something new — whether that’s as part of an evolving team or somewhere else across the business - and we take development seriously and promise to support you. We also recognise and celebrate colleagues when they go the extra mile and, where possible, offer flexible working.

When you join our team, we'll also offer you an amazing range of benefits. Here are some of them:

• Starting off with colleague discount, you'll be able to save 10% on your shopping online and instore at Sainsbury's, Argos, TU and Habitat, and we regularly increase the discount to 15% at points during the year.
• We've also got you covered for your future with our pensions scheme and life cover.
• You'll also be able to share in our success as you may be eligible for a performance-related bonus of up to 10% of salary, depending on how we perform.
• Your wellbeing is important to us too. You'll receive an annual holiday allowance and you can buy up to an additional week's holiday.
• We also offer other benefits that will help your money go further such as season ticket loans, cycle to work scheme, health cash plans, salary advance (where you can access some of your pay before pay day) as well access to a great range of discounts from hundreds of other retailers.
• And if you ever need it there is also an employee assistance programme.
• Moments that matter are as important to us as they are to you which is why we give up to 26 weeks' pay for maternity or adoption leave and up to 4 weeks' pay for paternity leave.

Please see www.sainsburys.jobs for a range of our benefits (note, length of service and eligibility criteria may apply).