Sustainable Development Graduate

The RSSB Sustainable Development team acts collaboratively with government and industry to ensure that sustainability policy objectives, across a range of social and environmental topics, are identified, understood and consistently managed across the rail industry. The team provides technical leadership to the industry across emissions, including noise and air quality, social sustainability and inclusion, and natural environment topics, such as climate adaptation and biodiversity management.

RSSB delivers a cross-industry programme including research projects, tools and technical advisory services focused on delivering an even more sustainable railway, and coordinates a series of technical sustainability working groups and industry forums. Through this, and our work on training and leadership development, we are working with industry partners to develop a culture of sustainability with GB rail.

Over the course of 24 months, you will work across the Sustainable Development team, other RSSB departments and wider industry to support the delivery of sustainable rail. You will gain a holistic insight into how the industry is collaborating to become more sustainable and the challenges faced. You will rotate through a series of placements across the Sustainable Development team to gain a broad experience of sustainability in application and have the opportunity to work in collaboration with other departments within RSSB. You will undertake external placements with our member organisations, such as a train operating company, allowing you to gain a broader experience of sustainability in practice and build relationships across the rail industry.

Responsibilities

• Manage the delivery of sustainability-focused projects across the organisation.
• Act as technical contributor to RSSB’s sustainability knowledge base.
• Help facilitate RSSB’s Sustainable Rail working groups, ensuring effective coordination and outputs for our members.
• Proactively identify and promote opportunities to integrate sustainability principles throughout the rail sector.
• Work across the sustainability team and wider organisation, building strong working relationships with a range of stakeholders, fostering collaboration and alignment.
• Support initiatives to embed sustainability principles within RSSB’s internal operations and business practices.

Qualifications

Essential:

• A minimum of a 2:2 in a relevant university degree in environmental science, sustainability or equivalent.
• Good understanding of sustainability principles and their application in industry.
• A genuine enthusiasm for sustainability and a keen desire to contribute to positive environmental and social change.
• Analytical thinker – you can work with a variety of information, see patterns and trends and draw meaningful conclusions.
• Systematic - you can adopt a methodical and logical approach to identify the relevant points from information and data and evaluate the most appropriate options to understand and address a problem.
• Problem solving – you can see the bigger picture and think critically and creatively to define and understand a problem, before investigating and developing suitable solutions.
• Collaboration and teamwork – you are a team player with the ability to take on responsibility and where relevant manage and delegate to others. You can work collaboratively by building positive working relationships that help achieve goals and business objectives.
• Communication – you can communicate clearly and concisely to different audiences with a keen attention to detail and you can convey complex issues to non-technical users at all levels. You can actively listen to extract the necessary information to get to the heart of the matter.
• Personal effectiveness – you can prioritise, work efficiently and productively, and manage your own time. You can show how you decide what is important to focus on and get it done.
• Adaptability and resilience – you adapt to the situation; you are open to new ideas and challenges from others. You learn from challenging situations and work under pressure.
• Drive for achievement – you are willing to take control of your own development by actively engaging with the graduate programme. You will show determination and capacity to achieve challenging goals and proactively seek opportunities to broaden your skills and experience within the workplace.

Please note: The scheme may involve visiting RSSB member companies, as well as rotations to include placements internally or externally and flexibility would therefore be required to travel.

We are committed to investing in our staff and offer formal and informal learning opportunities for development. We value diversity and equal opportunities in employment and are committed to creating a workplace which is inclusive to everyone. As a member of the Disability Confident Scheme, we encourage candidates with disabilities who meet the minimum criteria, to apply for our jobs. If you have applied under the Disability Confident Scheme, please let us know in advance by emailing vacancies@RSSB.CO.UK.

We understand the importance of work-life balance and we offer our staff the flexibility to work within our core hours and the option to vary their location between both the office and home. If you are looking for further flexibility, speak to us at interview stage so that we can consider your request.

We value our staff and we offer a competitive benefits package to ensure our staff can achieve their best throughout their journey with us. This includes 30 days annual leave (plus bank holidays); a holiday buy and sell scheme; private medical and dental cover; a season ticket loan and travel subsidy; access to a cycle to work scheme; volunteer leave; a performance related bonus and pension.