Head of Sustainability (Maternity Cover)

Job Details

Head of Sustainability (Maternity Cover)

Location: London / North Norfolk / Hybrid

Reporting To: Chief Product Officer

Where we need your help

The Head of Sustainability (Maternity Cover), reporting into the Chief Product Officer, and managing the Sustainability Manager, will work across the business to lead the overall sustainability strategy, working to deliver our ambitious roadmap. You will lead the Sustainability Team to oversee our policies and practices to ensure that the sustainability perspective is embedded in all that we do. You will step into a fast paced, energetic business to manage the overall critical path of delivery, manage external relationships, follow changing legislation and will work against clearly defined KPIs and targets. This will be done with pace and with excellence.

This is a role based between London Head Office (3 days per week) and remote working, with regular travel to our Holkham Head Office.

What you'll do

The Head of Sustainability will work with colleagues, customers, and our leadership team to deliver the organisation's sustainability roadmap. This is a strategic role that also requires a highly operational, hands on approach.

• Strategy Oversight & Leadership
  • Lead the overall ESG strategy in collaboration with the Chief Product Officer, managing associated resources to deliver on our ambitions.
  • Drive and oversee the delivery of our sustainability critical path, B Corp roadmap, taking accountability for internal and external reporting against key annual and long term targets (e.g. ELT/Board, investor reporting, voluntary standards).
  • Propose and implement updated approaches to environmental and social impact areas where necessary to continue to maintain our ambition to inspire our industry.
  • Coordinate complex cross functional projects, such as gathering stakeholder input to ensure our strategy remains robust and industry leading.
  • Build cross functional relationships to ensure that all teams take responsibility to drive sustainability improvements within their day to day roles.
• Research
  • Conduct research to identify environmental, social and sustainability concerns, interests, and issues, and work internally to propose and manage these topical projects.
  • Research best practice, keeps abreast of sustainability leading brands & initiatives
  • Participate within forums which are designed to instigate collective learning & change
• Governance, Legislation & Standards
  • Maintain a current working knowledge of, and ensure compliance with, all current and upcoming applicable environmental & social laws and regulations.
  • Manage a critical path of audits & associated continuous improvement against voluntary standards
  • Manages relationships with external parties to ensure clear, defined and transparent ways of working
• Supply Chain & Sourcing
  • Work closely with the supply chain team to drive ambitious sustainability standards along our supply chain, based on a strong transparency and traceability agenda.
  • Develop and implement approaches that move our supply chain 'beyond compliance'
  • Define and rollout ESG requirements and due diligence processes for responsibly sourcing specific materials
• Diversity, Equity & Inclusion (DE&I)
  • Partner closely with the People & Culture team to propose, champion, and embed our DE&I strategy and social topics across the organisation.
• Communications
  • Collaborate closely with the Brand Marketing team and external partners to guide and substantiate our sustainability communications, ensuring transparent sharing of information and validated data.
  • Ensure all messaging is accurate, compliant with green claims regulations, and authentically reflects our brand values.
  • Drive clear internal sustainability communications planning and reporting, ensuring robust training programmes are in place, and that the business is kept up to date with evolving updates.
• Budget & Philanthropy
  • Take full ownership of the sustainability department's budget maintaining appropriate financial documentation and ensuring spend is kept within annual budget allowance.
  • Manage our charity partnerships and oversee philanthropic donations to maximise positive social impact.
• As a People Manager
  • Coach and develop your direct reports to deliver their role to the best of their ability
  • Maintain a foundational understanding of company policies that affect your team, including any team members in other territories or business divisions, and ensure those policies are applied fairly and consistently
  • Recognise and celebrate successes
  • Manage your team's performance, attendance and any incidents that arise
  • Support your team in prioritising their wellbeing, providing guidance on workflow management and prioritisation to enable work/life balance
  • Lead by example, showcasing the MV behaviours, competencies and values
  • Empower your team to make decisions, providing guidance and support and identifying the learning opportunity from our 'test and learn' behaviour
  • Collaborate with the People & Culture team for advice on complex or sensitive matters

What you'll bring

• Communicates Effectively: you translate and communicate complex sustainability priorities, risks and opportunities in a clear, structured and engaging way, tailoring your message for different audiences including senior leaders, cross functional stakeholders, external partners and the Board.
• Collaborates Proactively: you build trusted cross functional partnerships and create shared ownership across teams, particularly across Product, Supply, Brand Marketing, People & Culture and leadership, to embed sustainability into decision making and delivery.
• Coaches & Develops Others: you lead and develop others effectively, building capability within your team and supporting stakeholders across the business to strengthen understanding, ownership and delivery of sustainability goals.
• Dives Deep: you use evidence, data and questioning to identify root causes, assess risk, validate claims and make sound decisions, particularly across ESG reporting, audits, due diligence, traceability and regulatory compliance.
• Delivers Results: You set ambitious but realistic goals, translate strategy into measurable roadmaps and KPIs, and drive delivery with pace, ownership and high standards across multiple workstreams and stakeholders.
• Embraces Change: You are comfortable leading in ambiguity, simplifying complexity and adapting plans as priorities, legislation, stakeholder needs or external conditions evolve.
• Functional/Technical Expertise: You bring strong sustainability expertise (ideally within a corporate sustainability function) including ESG strategy, environmental and social impact, responsible sourcing, supply chain transparency, human rights, audits, reporting and regulatory obligations. Knowledge of Positive Luxury Butterfly Mark, Responsible Jewellery Council, Watch & Jewellery Initiative 2030, B Corp Impact Assessment or similar standards is a plus.
• Stays Current: You actively keep up to date with emerging sustainability trends, legislation, frameworks, best practice and industry developments.

Additional Requirements

Ability to document your authorisation to work in the United Kingdom.

Travel Requirements: Travel between London and Holkham office will be required. Ad hoc overseas travel. Full UK driving licence required.

To be successful at [Employer hidden — sign up to reveal], it helps if you are hands on, solutions focused, entrepreneurial, collaborate openly with humility, honesty and humour, embrace learning, teaching and personal growth, stay resilient and self motivated, and speak up when you don’t know.