Black Sun Plc

We are hiring!

Senior Sustainability Consultant

London: full time

Overview

We are looking for an ambitious senior sustainability professional who can leverage their expertise to develop our sustainability solutions business and grow new revenues and deliver outstanding work in this area from blue-chip clients.

This is a rare opportunity to play a leading part in extending our stakeholder communications proposition and helping fulfil our purpose: ensuring companies are more trusted and valued in the eyes of their stakeholders.

Reporting to our Sustainability Director, the role will entail you collaborating closely with the Sustainability Communications Director, Investor & ESG Communications Director and ESG Director as well as the rest of the Insight and Knowledge Team to enhance our reputation for sustainability thought leadership within the industry and beyond. By joining us you will be working on a hybrid model and have a wonderful opportunity to explore our picturesque offices in Bishops park, Putney bridge.

Why this job?

• You will be working in a team that wants to seek out new knowledge and deliver great work – which we do! Insight and knowledge is a huge foundation to what we do as a team, and we all have a role to play in creating and sharing that knowledge
• As an agency that works with some of the biggest names in the corporate world, we now have a huge opportunity to cultivate those relationships to tease out the sustainability communications, campaigns and strategy projects – this role will ride the wave of opportunity that is coming!
• There’s lots of headroom for growth and opportunity, overseen by some experienced, senior colleagues who are supportive, collaborative and a great group of individuals passionate about what they do

The role will require you to have an excellent understanding of the latest sustainability and ESG focus areas and good practice of corporations today and to be forward-looking. You will also possess a strong level of knowledge around the main disclosure frameworks, indices and reporting tools for sustainability performance such as SASB, TCFD, the UN SDGs and GRI, among others.

You will have experience in leading the development of large sustainability consultancy and reporting projects for blue-chip organisations, including materiality assessments, reporting gap analyses, content reviews and advice, stakeholder engagement with clients’ senior leadership team and key external stakeholders.

Our clients and our colleagues will see you as a subject-matter expert on all things sustainability, so you will need to be a confident communicator and competent presenter, facilitator and your written work will be exemplary.

The measures of success will include the successful delivery of projects to both existing and prospective clients, the enhancement of our reputation as leaders in the field and new revenue growth from sustainability consultancy.

The role is well suited to a passionate, motivated and experienced senior sustainability professional with a strong intellectual aptitude and strategic capabilities. An excellent level of writing is required with a strong vocabulary and impeccable grammar.

You will have excellent interpersonal and presentational skills, be able to inspire people to deliver great work and have a collaborative approach to working with both clients and internal teams. High-quality standards of work and a strong commercial acumen is a must, as well as the desire to want to make a material contribution to successfully growing our business.

 

 

Come join Black Sun!

Across the globe, there is a powerful movement demanding that business focus on purpose, sustainability, and wider value creation. It has never been more important for business to build and maintain trust with their key audiences.

And that’s where we come in! We are a new company for this new world – a partner to some of the biggest brands and businesses worldwide – helping them to engage with these audiences, build enduring relationships and spark positive change through inspiring communications.

As our world rapidly changes, our focus remains constant. At heart we are storytellers, we define articulate and shape the value creation story, bringing it to life across different channels and communications formats. Our team is made up of over 130 talented specialists working across the UK, Europe, and Asia – analytical thinkers, renaissance creatives, digital mavericks and inspiring change makers!

We win many awards and recognition for our work – but great work doesn’t happen by magic – join Black Sun and you will become part of an amazing, diverse, and inclusive community – a team of passionate and skilful people who will expand your horizon, energise your talents and ignite that spark of magic within you.

Beyond what you would expect; a competitive salary, great benefits and hybrid working – we will support you in developing the skills and expertise to fast track your career. You will have the opportunity to make a difference every day, shaping the future of communications and creating positive change – and most importantly, to have fun along the way.

Some of the key responsibilities in this great role include:

• Delivering high-quality sustainability consultancy solutions for clients by working with colleagues in the Insight and Knowledge Team as well as via internal teams;
• Leveraging your knowledge and expertise to provide strategic advice to clients about how to solve their sustainability challenges – whether reporting, communications or pure play sustainability and ESG issue-focused solutions;
• Sharing best-practice knowledge with colleagues and clients;
• Providing thought leadership pieces on a regular basis to support business development and marketing activities;
• Speaking at Black Sun events, and engaging in new business conversations and pitches; and
• Facilitating workshops, whether in-person or on-line to engage clients on sustainability challenges and opportunities

 

Qualifications, experience and skills:

• You are an entrepreneurial senior sustainability professional with demonstrable experience in corporate sustainability issues – your excellent credentials and experience could have been gained from client-side or agency-side experience
• You have worked with blue-chip clients across multiple sectors and geographies, at various stages of their sustainability journey and have built a reputation with reputable contacts and connections
• You will bring a perfect blend of experience with stakeholder engagement, technical expertise and communications flair, allowing you to understand and translate complex information and data into compelling sustainability storytelling and solutions
• You understand the relevant sustainability and reporting standards and frameworks, including TCFD, the UN SDGs, CDP, UN Global Compact and you’re also familiar with broader initiatives, including the emerging landscape regarding climate reduction and net zero strategies
• An expert facilitator, you are comfortable running workshops, interviews and brainstorms with senior clients as well as with internal teams
• You have experienced in assessing, analysing sustainability strategies and communications to provide insight as well as materiality assessments and the identification of key issues.
• Commercially astute, you are adept at identifying and implementing commercial actions that aid the maintenance and growth of Black Sun. You remain on top of project budgets, and you are easily able to identify and implement what’s required to meet deadlines and milestones
• An aspiring leader and effortless team player, you motivate colleagues and foster an engaged culture.

Your personal qualities:

• Strong interpersonal and communications skills are necessary to build trust and respect both externally and internally;
• High-quality service ethic and commitment to customer service excellence;
• Ambition to self-improve;
• Ability to manage many urgent and often conflicting priorities;
• Strong ‘can do’ attitude with an innate ability to take initiative and work by yourself as well as in a team;
• Flexibility and team-focused, non-hierarchical approach with a ‘roll up your sleeves’ attitude to getting the job done; and
• A great sense of humour and fun!

 

Reporting Relationships

Reporting to: Sustainability Director

Work closely with: The client delivery teams, client relationship management teams and the wider business including back-office functions and directors.

 

Interview process

Phone chat with talent acquisition manager
1st Interview with hiring manager
2nd interview with hiring director and senior manager within the Insight Team

 

Benefits
In addition to a competitive salary based on skills and experience, as an employee at Black Sun, you will have access to a range of great benefits and perks, including:

25 days holiday per year with ‘bonus’ days for long service
Bonus scheme
Personal development opportunities
Group life assurance
Group personal pension plan
Employee assistance programme
Hybrid working:

Over the last 18 months, the way in which we work has changed. We surveyed and engaged with our staff to learn about what Black Sun’s future of work looks like, and thanks to everyone’s positive engagement and feedback, we developed a hybrid way of working, governed by three fundamental principles: Colleague, Client, and Culture. This means that however you decide to deliver work, you should protect all these 3 C’s. After a period of onboarding, employees can work from home, office and, where applicable, on-site with clients. The number of days is dependent on teams, role, time of year and deliverables.

Here at Black Sun, we pride ourselves on being committed to offering equal opportunities to all potential employees and have zero tolerance for discrimination. We foster a business culture where ideas and decisions from all people help us grow, innovate, create the best work and be relevant in a rapidly changing world