Are you passionate about sustainability? Would you like to play a key role in a business that has placed sustainability at the core of its business strategy, with the opportunity to make a significant contribution to the UK's net zero commitments?

We are Zenith, the UK's leading independent leasing, vehicle outsourcing and fleet management provider.  We're looking for an ambitious manager, inspired by our sustainability ambitions, to lead the development and implementation of Zenith's People Powered Impact plan.  The successful individual will help set the standards and framework for Zenith to achieve its net zero ambition and wider sustainability goals. The successful individual will be responsible for delivering integrated environmental and social initiatives, through to enhancing the sustainability of our business operations and influencing our supply chain.

To Zenith, sustainability is integral to our purpose, brand, and culture, it is one of our fundamental business drivers and key to how we deliver enduring value to all our key stakeholders.  We recognise that our approach should be clear, transparent, and underpinned by a robust materiality assessment and pragmatic stakeholder engagement.  We understand that our sustainability plans should be interwoven into our commercial and communications strategies.  As an organisation, we are committed to delivering on our purpose and vision.

The opportunity

This is a 12-month fixed term contract to lead the development and implementation of Zenith's People Powered Impact plan.  Our overall strategy is owned at board level, but this critical role will lead Zenith's Sustainability and ESG strategy development in line with the commitments we have as part of our People Powered Impact plan. You will lead the committees, processes, and implementation programmes aligned to our plan.

The successful individual will act as a catalyst for sustainable change and will drive, influence and support colleagues to translate our overall strategy into action.  This will include the establishment of sustainability plans that deliver on our overall ambitions; where appropriate this may include working alongside and/or supporting colleagues in the wider business to embed sustainability initiatives.

What you'll be doing

• Lead the development and delivery of the Zenith sustainability strategy & roadmap, working with colleagues to embed our sustainability commitments across the business, that establishes Zenith as the most sustainable business in our sector and a UK sustainability leader.
• Own our Scope 1, 2 and 3 emissions reporting and reduction plans, potentially underpinned by science-based targets, and creating engagement and approaches within the business to reduce Zenith's emissions. Provide appropriate reporting on progress alongside creating priorities for action to achieve targets.
• Delivering/co-ordinating sustainability initiatives across the business that build on our strong foundations and deliver against our vision and purpose, from achieving net zero, to carbon neutrality, to site-specific initiatives, as part of a ‘joined up' sustainability strategy, that enables Zenith to move beyond a sequence of sustainability initiatives.
• Sustainability reporting, setting a standardised reporting protocol to allow stakeholders to compare commitments against performance, including contributing to the Zenith annual report.
• Sustainability communications – internal and external – setting the agenda, working with marketing colleagues, making sustainability part of our ‘lifeblood', connected to our brand narrative – bringing sustainability alive, importantly engaging with our internal and external audiences to ensure integrity between the internal knowledge and external presentation of sustainability.
• Developing and managing Zenith's internal sustainability stakeholder network across all colleague levels (ESG Committee and beyond), to ensure relevant engagement and visibility. of our People Powered Impact plan.
• Creating and leading a centre of sustainability knowledge, innovation & excellence that enables high quality delivery, inspires colleagues, and enables us to evolve/futureproof our People Powered Impact plan.
• Relationships with bodies & organisations – mapping what we need to be part of & representing Zenith, building our external sustainability network.
• Lead the development and delivery of environmental knowledge and awareness programmes across the Group by working with key teams such as learning and development, in addition to acting as our Carbon Literacy Ambassador.
• Connecting People Powered Impact to customer goals, working with divisional and functional sustainability leads to inspire, influence, and support their sustainability programmes. The functional sustainability leads take the People Powered Impact commitments and contextualise it in a way that is relevant for their area of operation, with support from yourself.
• Understanding the link between our sustainability commitments and commercial positioning. This will likely include supporting with customer tenders and engaging, in addition to benchmarking and tracking Zenith's sustainability performance versus the competition.  It may also include the identification of awards and events that recognise Zenith's contribution to improving our world through the factors we can directly influence.

What you'll bring

• A passion for sustainability, alongside several years of relevant experience and/or a post graduate qualification.
• Ability to develop effective working relationships at all levels, internally and externally.
• Strong oral, written, presentation, and interpersonal skills.
• Able to communicate clearly and effectively to multiple audiences.
• Demonstrates curiosity and challenges the status quo.
• Effective time and project management.
• Ability to demonstrate creative thinking.
• Strong influencing, administrative and reporting skills.
• Able to constantly deliver high level of accuracy and quality.
• Ability to work within a team environment and to communicate effectively.
• Ability to work to tight deadlines, while remaining focused.

Reward

• Salary from £45,000
• Company bonus
• Car allowance
• 24 days annual leave (plus your birth off and the option to buy/sell)
• 6.25% Employer pension contribution
• Private Medical Cover
• Life Assurance (4x salary)
• Critical Illness cover
• AA Breakdown cover
• Dental and Health cash plans
• Tech Scheme
• Salary Sacrifice car scheme
• Cycle to work scheme
• Season ticket loans
• Perks at Work – save money on everyday essentials with access to a shopping discounts site
• Support for your wellbeing – onsite GP & Masseuse, Employee Assistance Programme, Pensions advice, Funded HRT Treatment, and Mental Health First Aiders
• Sports and Social club - Company/Team activities
• Agile working 
• Free parking
• Onsite bistro
• Equality, Diversity & Inclusion networks

SOUND LIKE THE RIGHT OPPORTUNITY FOR YOU?  APPLY NOW!

We want to positively encourage differences in Zenith and believe it is critical to our success as a company. Zenith is proud to be an equal opportunity workplace that seeks to recruit, develop and retain the most talented people from a variety of backgrounds, perspectives, and skills. We therefore encourage applications from all genders, races, religions, ages and sexual orientations, as well as parents, veterans, people living with disabilities, and any other groups that could bring diverse perspectives to our business.

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