Sustainability Policy Officer (Synergy Programme)

Government Recruitment Service; Lancashire; On-site; GBP 35,000 - 45,000; Full time

Job summary

A public sector organization is seeking a Sustainability Specialist for the Synergy Programme to promote sustainability across four government departments. The role involves developing sustainability strategies, engaging stakeholders, and embedding sustainability in various services. Ideal candidates will have experience in sustainability initiatives, strong analytical skills, and a passion for public service transformation. This is a unique opportunity to influence significant changes in shared services impacting civil servants.

Qualifications

• Experience in driving sustainability initiatives across organizations.
• Ability to work with diverse stakeholders and manage communications.
• Strong analytical skills to track sustainability metrics.

Responsibilities

• Develop the sustainability approach for the Synergy Programme.
• Collaborate with stakeholders for effective policy implementation.
• Embed sustainability into ERP and Business Process Services.

Skills

Sustainability expertise

Stakeholder engagement

Policy development

Data analysis

Education

Relevant degree or certification

Job description

An exciting new role is available in the Synergy Programme, a cross-departmental group formed in response to Government Business Service’s request for individual departments to group together in ‘clusters’ to drive efficiencies, increase buying power and improve the quality of shared service to our end users – our people.

The Synergy Programme is the largest of five departmental clusters, comprising the Ministry of Justice, Department for Work and Pensions, Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs and the Home Office. The Department for Work and Pensions hosts the Synergy Programme. Your work will impact Shared Services arrangements and support almost a quarter of a million officials and public servants across the four departments and arm’s length bodies who deliver some of the most vital public services in our country.

The success of the programme is crucial, as Civil Servants rely on shared services to provide business critical tools in human resources, finance, payroll and procurement. It affects everything we do, from joining a department as a new starter, the way we claim for expenses, how we buy goods and services such as our laptops and canteen provisions, to the way we receive our pensions when we retire.

Alongside the impact on business‑critical services, the Synergy scope offers the opportunity to drive and embed sustainable change across HR, finance, and procurement shared services. The UK government has pledged to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions to net zero by 2050. This has been underpinned by statutory change and Government sustainability commitments in public services, as set out in the Greening Government Commitments and Greening government: ICT and digital services strategy.

As such, sustainability is one of six objectives for Synergy, to “embed sustainability throughout the programme”. The programme is striving to adopt an ambitious approach for sustainability, from how we select the partners we choose to work with, to the technology and business design principles it adopts. We are working with and seeking suppliers who share our sustainability ambition, to deliver sustainable services that enhances sustainability functionality in the platform and reduces the environmental footprint of the product.

If you’re someone who can use your experience to drive Synergy’s sustainability ambition, we want to hear from you. But most importantly, we’re looking for applications from people who can also demonstrate a passion for our core ambition – delivering a once in a generation, transformed service that Civil Servants will use as a result of the Synergy Programme.

Drawing upon your knowledge and experience, you will have a key role in supporting the Design Sustainability Lead to work with cluster Department Sustainability Specialists and within the Synergy Programme to promote sustainability, influence and embed environment and social improvements into the design, testing and deployment of the Synergy new Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system, Business Process Service (BPS) and The Synergy Shared Services Hub (SSSH).

Duties and Responsibilities

The role holder will play a key role in the development of Synergy Programme’s approach to sustainability. They will work closely with team members and other key stakeholders across the government community to:

• Leverage work already done;
• Ensure effective policy and data collection and sharing;
• Work to understand, benchmark and track sustainability benefit opportunities; and
• Create roadmaps and partnerships to enable the change required.

Key Responsibilities

• Understand the sustainability ambitions and policies of the four (Synergy) Government Departments, identifying and helping to resolve any potential issues.
• Collation and presentation of sustainability information to embed it into policy and process, programme governance, working groups and to teams within the four “cluster” Departments.
• In conjunction with key stakeholders and sustainability colleagues, translate Synergy Sustainability blueprints into definitions and interventions and enable the embedding of sustainability in the ERP, Business Process Services (BPS) and Future Shared Service Organisation (FSSO).
• Work closely with key stakeholders across government to support the definition and implementation of key performance indicators, based on a scientifically robust evidence base of data.
• Implementation of appropriate monitoring of the environmental performance of our shared services supplier base.
• Support the development of the Synergy business cases process by co‑ordinating the information on sustainability impacts and benefit opportunities. Work with analysts to benchmark, track (quantitative or qualitative) and realise benefits.
• The development of relevant sustainability documentation e.g. tender documents, specifications.
• Support the co‑creation of a Sustainability Knowledge Hub; enabling capture and continuous improvement of Synergy sustainability opportunities.
• Play an active role in the cross‑government community to further the sustainability agenda.