Address Hours:
Full time Permanent role 35 hours per week - 9am-5pm Monday to Friday
Closing Date:
Sun, 17 Mar 2024 An exciting opportunity has arisen for an experienced sustainability senior leader to lead our new Group Sustainability team from a central oversight position as we expand to encompass the wider Skipton Group to deliver on our sustainability ambitions.
Reporting to the Group Secretary and General Counsel who has executive leadership of the combined Legal, Secretariat and Sustainability Function, you’ll lead, empower and support the Group Sustainability Team to deliver on the Skipton Group’s sustainability ambitions, from net zero to operational sustainability, corporate governance and our social impact.
Who Are We?
Not just another building society. Not just another job.
We're the fourth biggest building society in the UK and what makes us a bit different is that we're a mutual organisation. We don't have shareholders; we're owned by our members.
Our colleagues say Skipton's a great place to work, and you could be one of them, bringing with you new ideas on how we can keep customers at the heart of what we do.
Whatever your background, and whatever your goals, we'll help you take the next step towards a better future.
Headed by the UK’s 4th largest building society, the Skipton Group internationally employs over 18,000 colleagues, across over almost 1500 offices, from the UK, to the Channel Islands and Oceania. The Skipton Group comprises of our Home Financing and Money businesses through Skipton Building Society, mortgage lending and deposit taking by Skipton International and the buying and selling of homes through our Connells Group estate agency business. The Group also comprises of Skipton Business Finance (asset based lending) and Jade Software Corporation.
You’ll be leading the Group Sustainability Team, part of our 20-strong Legal, Secretariat and Sustainability function, working closely with stakeholders right across the Skipton Group to drive delivery of Sustainability workstreams. No two days are the same and you’ll be confident in managing competing priorities and raising the voice and profile of Sustainability matters across multiple businesses as a ‘big picture’ thinker.
What’s In It For You?
Skipton values work/life balance and we are proud to support hybrid and flexible working, where possible. We have a newly refurbished Head office which offers a vibrant and collaborative working space.
We have a range of other benefits available to you including;
- Annual discretionary bonus scheme
- 25 days standard annual leave + bank holidays + rising 1 day per year of service to a maximum of 30 days
- Holiday trading scheme allowing the ability to buy and sell additional annual leave days
- Matching employer pension contribution (up to 10% per annum)
- Colleague mortgage (conditions apply)
- Salary sacrifice scheme for hybrid & electric car
- A commitment to training and development
- Private medical insurance for all our colleagues
- 3 paid volunteering days per annum
- Diverse and inclusive colleague networks available for you to join including our Carers and Pride Alliance groups
- We care about your health and wellbeing – we provide a range of benefits that support this including cycle to work initiative and discounted gym membership
What Will You Be Doing?
This is a rare opportunity to take on a Group senior sustainability leadership role during a pivotal time of team expansion and evolution. You will:
- Oversee the creation of a Skipton Group Sustainability Roadmap using recent group materiality as a starting point to address the key priorities of the Group, influencing to gain buy-in and support from key Group stakeholders.
- Line manage the Skipton Group Sustainability Team, lead their professional development and progression, provide mentoring and act as a key intermediary between the team and the Group Secretary and General Counsel.
- Oversee development of an ESG data strategy, embedding the development of a Skipton Group ESG data dashboard and cascading material KPI updates to key Group stakeholders at all levels.
- Be a key liaison for Group ESG delivery and decision making, acting as a consultant to principal Skipton Group subsidiaries (i.e. Connells, Skipton Business Finance, Skipton International and Jade), building resource capacity where required, and driving tangible deliverables.
- Work with the Skipton Group Risk and Legal functions to highlight significant business changes relating to the sustainability landscape, including tools to manage these.
- Raising the profile of Sustainability within and beyond the Skipton Group, working closely with the Skipton Corporate Communications and the third-party PR agency and attending external events where the commitments and progress of the Group can be shared externally to stakeholders and peers.
What Do We Need From You?
- Proven leadership experience in a sustainability role;
- Skilled people leader who can support the team’s professional development, driving growth of the team’s subject matter expertise and providing coaching/guidance/decision making as required to progress the team’s agenda;
- Strong track record of stakeholder and relationship management, able to facilitate an inclusive and collaborative approach and able to engage others and gain agreement to achieve results;
- Excellent communication skills, including negotiating and influencing skills to gain buy-in and agreement on approaches to ESG topics and commitments across the Skipton Group;
- Strategic thinking, identifying, and developing commercial opportunities for innovation and change across the Skipton Group and embedding sustainability into the broader corporate strategy of the Society and wider Skipton Group; and
- You will demonstrate the values of the Society and its behaviours: Be Accountable, Be Curious, Be Collaborative, Be Brave.
