Regional Sustainability Lead

APL group; Malaysia; On-site; MYR 180,000 - 300,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Inclusive environment

Diversity & inclusion

Growth opportunities

Total Rewards program

Job summary

Zuellig Pharma in Malaysia is seeking a Regional Sustainability Lead to advance the company’s decarbonization and environmental agenda across markets. The role focuses on governance, roadmaps, and building capabilities within operations teams.

You will partner with regional heads, develop CFR portfolio, drive ISO 14001 alignment, and embed sustainability across the organization, delivering commercially viable environmental initiatives and strong governance through 2026 and beyond.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in a relevant field; certifications such as ISO 14001 or GHG Protocol are advantages.
• Proven decarbonization delivery experience across large operations.
• Strong financial acumen and ability to defend business cases.
• Experience working across multiple markets.
• Proficient with sustainability data platforms and reporting tools.

Responsibilities

• Partner with regional operations leadership to co-develop business cases and align on direction.
• Own the decarbonization pipeline and CFR portfolio, prioritizing opportunities.
• Build regional roadmaps showing joint value of decarbonization and cost efficiency.
• Drive governance across markets using ISO 14001 framework and KPIs.
• Establish market-level assurance models and escalation mechanisms.
• Collaborate with external partners to align vendor operations with Scope 3 targets.
• Engage leadership to secure commitment to sustainability objectives.
• Develop resilience frameworks and upskill teams across the organization.

Skills

Decarbonization delivery

ISO 14001 / GHG knowledge

Financial & commercial acumen

Multi-market experience

Data analytics

Education

Bachelor's degree in engineering, supply chain, environmental management, or similar

Tools

GHG accounting software

Carbon data platforms

Job description

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Join our dynamic team where innovation and care converge in a culture that values continuous learning, diversity and transformative career development. Underpinned by THRIVE with Zuellig Pharma, our commitment to transforming the way we grow, care and succeed together as one organization, we are dedicated to helping our people make a meaningful impact in healthcare.

Regional Sustainability Lead

Location: Malaysia

Zuellig Pharma is a leading healthcare solutions company in Asia, and our purpose is to make healthcare more accessible to the communities we serve. We provide world-class distribution, digital, and commercial services to support the growing healthcare needs in this region.

The company was started a hundred years ago and has grown to become a multibillion-dollar business covering 17 markets with over 12,000 employees. Our people serve more than 200,000 medical facilities and work with over 450 clients, including the top 20 pharmaceutical companies in the world.

Purpose of the Role:

The Regional Sustainability Lead, Environmental Performance, is responsible for advancing the organization’s decarbonization & environmental agenda across Zuellig Pharma markets, not by executing projects directly, but by building the governance, frameworks, pipeline, business cases, upskilling and culture that enable Zuellig Pharma teams to decarbonize at scale.

Through a governance model where we choose to embed sustainability across the organization rather than have dedicated in-market sustainability teams, our sustainability delivery capacity resides in our operations function: transportation, warehouse management, and facilities. The regional lead works through and with these teams, translating decarbonization ambition into operationally credible, financially sound, data-backed and manageable initiatives that operations leaders can own and cascade to their own teams.

What You’ll Do:

• Partner with operations leadership. Build and maintain strong working partnerships with regional heads of distribution, transportation, warehouse management, and facilities, co-develop business cases and align on direction so that operations leaders can cascade initiatives to their market teams.
• Own the decarbonization pipeline & CFR portfolio. Develop and continuously refine the forward pipeline and Carbon Footprint Reduction (CFR) portfolio, staying a step ahead of current activity to identify, scope, and prioritize new opportunities, with particular focus on hard-to-abate areas including sustainable and reduced packaging, fleet electrification, refrigerant phase-outs and energy efficiency.
• Build business cases and roadmaps. Tighten business cases and construct regional/market-level roadmaps that demonstrate the joint value of decarbonization and cost efficiency, ensuring initiatives are commercially compelling as well as environmentally sound.
• Drive environmental governance across markets. Leverage the existing ISO 14001 framework and trained employee base to co-establish with teams in charge of other ISO certifications market-level management reviews, KPIs, and governance mechanisms in line with the ISO 14001 standards and the direction of its 2026 revision, making environmental performance a company-wide, leadership-owned effort.
• Run the market-level environmental assurance model. Establish and orchestrate the two-sided market network of operations delivery contacts and ISO 14001 assurance contacts, including the management review cadence, corrective action, and escalation mechanisms that hold markets to management requirements, in alignment with, and cascaded through, the QA & safety functions which lead those teams.
• Co-Partner on external value chain & 3PL decarbonization. Collaborate with Operations & Procurement and external partners to align vendor operations with Zuellig Pharma’s Scope 3 decarbonization targets, integrating environmental metrics and carbon reporting into RFPs and ongoing vendor governance.
• Engage and influence leadership. Secure commitment to sustainability and decarbonization objectives from regional and market leadership, building alignment across a diverse and operationally complex footprint.
• Drive climate resilience & adaptation frameworks. Support physical climate risk and vulnerability assessments across key assets and infrastructure together with relevant functions. Aligned with Governance model, design, test and oversee pilot resilience measures, establishing a phased framework that expands in scope and capital allocation over a 10–15-year horizon based on tests, models and operational feasibility.
• Upskill the organization. Train operations teams and market stakeholders, embedding decarbonization capability, carbon consciousness, and operational ownership across the organization.
• Monitor and drive performance. Align with stakeholders on desired outputs and metrics of success, work towards setting up clear targets by market and function, ensure the organization has clear and agreed upon goals to work towards.
• Coordinate with reporting & data platforms. Work closely with the team’s GHG assessment and IFRS / sustainability reporting functions so that performance measurement informs, and is informed by, decarbonization delivery. Utilize relevant data platforms, carbon accounting tools and methodologies to support maintaining audit-ready data and ownabatement modeling built on top of the GHG inventory without duplicating carbon accounting.

What will make you successful:

Must-Have:

• Education & Certifications. Bachelor's degree in a relevant field (engineering, supply chain, environmental management, or similar); relevant professional certifications (e.g. Certified Energy Manager, ISO 14064/GHG Protocol certification) an advantage.
• Meaningful decarbonization delivery experience. A demonstrable track record across fleet electrification, energy efficiency, carbon footprint reduction projects and sustainable operational practices - sufficient depth to act as a thought leader without needing to out-expert technical specialists in facilities, electrification, and warehouse management.
• Environmental management systems & carbon accounting knowledge. Working command of ISO 14001 and GHG Protocol, including the design and operation of management reviews, KPIs, and governance structures. Familiarity with ISO 14064 and emerging Asian ESG regulations and climate disclosure frameworks (e.g. ISSB/IFRS) is preferred.
• Financial and commercial acumen. A proven ability to build and defend business cases that link sustainability outcomes to cost efficiency and financial return.

Advantage to Have:

• Hands-on operational experience - essential. Substantial on-the-ground experience in warehousing, logistics, transportation, or facilities management. The successful candidate will have genuine operational grounding, not a solely desk-based or advisory background.
• Data & digital proficiency. Experience utilizing sustainability data platforms, carbon accounting software, or analytics tools to track, analyze, and forecast operational emissions.
• Multi-market experience. A track record of operating across multiple markets or geographies, ideally within a large, complex, and diverse operational footprint.

What we offer:

• We are committed to fostering an inclusive environment where our employees can learn, grow, and achieve shared success.
• We champion diversity, equity, and inclusion, ensuring every individual feels valued, respected, and treated fairly.
• As a leading multi-market healthcare solutions provider, we empower our employees to gain comprehensive knowledge and expertise in the dynamic healthcare industry across the region.
• Enjoy the flexibility to effectively balance your work and personal life while taking charge of your career journey through our empowering growth opportunities.
• Our Total Rewards program is designed to support your overall well-being in every aspect.

Zuellig Pharma promotes an inclusive, fair workplace by ensuring equitable employment and compensation based on merit, regardless of background.