Environmental & Sustainability Lead - Exclusive

EMEA Recruitment has exclusively partnered with an international organisation in its search for an Environment & Sustainability Lead.

This is a senior opportunity to shape environmental strategy across a complex, multi-site European organisation. Working closely with senior leadership and operational teams, you will strengthen environmental governance, manage risk and drive consistent standards and long-term improvement across the business.

The role can be based from a number of the organisation’s key European locations and will require regular international travel, particularly during the first 6–12 months. This is a full-time role with a strong on-site presence.

Key responsibilities of the Environment & Sustainability Lead:

• Develop and embed environmental strategy, policies, standards and governance across multiple European operations
• Establish a consistent approach to environmental performance, risk management and continuous improvement
• Provide leadership and oversight across key environmental topics, supporting sites in managing complex operational challenges
• Partner with senior and operational leaders to ensure environmental considerations are embedded within business planning, investment decisions and operational performance
• Oversee environmental incidents, risks and improvement programmes, ensuring best practices and lessons learned are shared across the organisation
• Lead environmental reporting, data governance and assurance activities, supporting evolving European sustainability reporting requirements
• Build effective relationships with relevant external stakeholders, including regulatory and assurance bodies
• Strengthen environmental capability across the organisation through benchmarking, knowledge sharing, training and support

Experience required:

• 10+ years’ environmental experience gained within a complex, highly regulated industrial or process-driven environment
• Proven experience operating at regional, group or multi-site level, with responsibility for environmental strategy, standards or improvement programmes
• Broad technical environmental knowledge and the ability to provide credible leadership and guidance across complex operational topics
• Strong understanding of European environmental legislation and experience working within highly regulated operations
• Experience with environmental reporting, data governance, assurance and audit processes
• Master’s degree in Environmental Science, Environmental Engineering, Chemistry or a related discipline; relevant environmental management or auditing credentials would be advantageous
• Strong stakeholder management and influencing skills, with the ability to operate effectively from site level through to senior leadership
• Experience engaging with regulatory authorities and other external stakeholders
• Fluency in English; additional European languages would be advantageous

EMEA Recruitment is committed to promoting Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion in the workplace. We act as a neutral third party in the recruitment process, basing our candidate searches on skills and experience. We welcome all applications regardless of age, gender, sex, relationship status, disability, race, religion/beliefs, or sexual orientation.