Head of ESG

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At Pennon Group, we're proud to be leading the way in the water industry. Alongside our subsidiaries - South West Water, Bournemouth Water and Pennon Water Services - we're committed to delivering a sustainable future of our region. Because we know that by continually driving up our standards today, we'll build a better tomorrow for our communities.

Are you looking for an opportunity where you can implement sustainable strategies, creating positive impact on our communities and the environment?

In this newly created senior leadership role, as Head of ESG, you will play a vital role in shaping our organisation's sustainability agenda, driving positive change and ensuring long-term value creation. This is a full-time, permanent opportunity, paying an annual salary up to £95,000 plus company car and excellent benefits.

About the role:

The role of the Head of Environment, Social & Governance (ESG) is to provide strategic leadership and drive the delivery of ESG Strategy, successfully managing complex dependencies, and feeding into other programmes and portfolios as appropriate.

As head of ESG, you will be accountable for creating and supporting an ESG culture across the Pennon Group, building knowledge and awareness, and executing ESG programmes, managing varying levels of risk and of reputational and stakeholder importance. They will be the accessible locus for all co-ordination across ESG .

Leading with passion, creativity, and critical thinking for all ESG topics you will drive continual performance improvement and be proactive in understanding current and future challenges, identifying, prioritising, and educating these issues with internal and external stakeholders.

What you'll be doing:

• Working closely with the Compliance & ESG Director and ESG Committee to drive the business to deliver continuous improvementacrosstheESGagenda,consideringopportunitiesforbusinessgrowthandrisk mitigation.
• Driving engagement across organisational, technical, and political boundaries, leading as a catalyst for cultural change; Embed ESG knowledge and understanding throughout the organisational culture and processes, linking sustainability to financial performance.
• Supporting the delivery of Environmental strategies through cross-functional collaboration and applying critical review to ensure to alignment with ESG strategy.
• Offering challenge for internal initiatives stated to support ESG objectives, highlighting potential risks and future opportunities, to purposefully ensure our efforts are focused and steadfast to deliver ESG strategy.
• Developing the Groups ESG reporting, highlighting Pennon ESG performance, activities, and future topics implanting the capital strategy into our business wide decision making, demonstrating both Return on Investment (ROI) and the Social Return on Investment (SROI) through benefits realisation processes.

What we are looking for:

• Educated to degree level standard or able to demonstrate working to degree level, with a sustainable accreditation as desirable
• Extensive and broad-based business experience, delivering diverse corporate projects in a medium/large organisation
• Demonstrable experience of Governance, compliance, and audit processes
• Demonstrable experience building relationships and influencing senior leaders and stakeholders
• Demonstrable experience of establishing, promoting, and delivering programmes and projects according to best practice governance principles
• Strong understanding of sustainability principles, frameworks (e.g., GRI, SASB, TCFD), and industry best practices
• In-depth knowledge of ESG metrics, reporting standards, and investor expectations
• Leads with passion, creativity, and critical thinking capabilities on ESG issues to drive the business forward on ESG matters.
• Commercial, creative, and pragmatic thinking about improving ESG practices and takes personal responsibility to keep their business knowledge up to date.

What's in it for you:

We know that the support and commitment of our staff is key to our success so you will receive the opportunity for ongoing support and development for a long-term career with us. We're one of the largest companies in the South West and are proud to have been awarded Investors in People recognition.

In return, we offer an excellent range of benefits including:

• A company car or cash for car allowance
• A company bonus
• Private Medical Insurance
• Competitive Contributory Pension
• Invest in Pennon through our employee Sharesave scheme
• Generous holiday allowance plus bank holidays, with an option to buy / sell leave offering you extra flexibility
• Take up to 26 weeks' additional maternity leave
• Shared parental leave
• Look after your wellbeing through our Champion Health support platform
• Enjoy free eye tests and discounts on frames and lenses at Specsavers
• Enjoy access to thousands of deals and discounts on supermarkets, online retailer, travel, eating out, cinema, gyms and more through Perkbox

Closing Date: Sunday 28th April, 2024

Be yourself, we like it that way. Together, we will build a culture of belonging, where inclusion is instinctive. Diversity is our strength and a reflection of our communities. We care, we value everyone, we celebrate uniqueness.

Our core values which are essential to our success are:

Be Rock Solid - Build trust and be trusted. Be the one we all look to and can depend on.

Be You - We want you to bring your best everyday. Be yourself and make your mark in your individual way.

Be the Future - Embrace change. Drive Progress. Own the challenge.