Head of Sustainability

Responsible for leading, developing and managing the sustainability plan, in line with the England Golf Strategy 2025-2030 – strategic goal to ‘educate & influence on sustainability’.

Working Relationships:

• Internal: Chief Executive, Chief Operating Officer – meetings & communication. Board – attendance if required. SMT – as required to embed sustainability across all teams. Development & Membership (RMs & CCSOs) – communication & support. Commercial Manager – regular engagement to support planning & development. Data & Insight Manager – regular engagement to support planning & development. Communication team – to support specific campaigns & engagement. Unified counties, Unions & Associations – communication & promotion. Golf clubs – communication with paid workforce & volunteers.
• External: GB&I sustainability group – stakeholder engagement, including Home Nations. The R&A – aligning sustainability planning & messaging. Sport England – link to funding cycle as appropriate. Relevant EG Partners – engagement on communication & advocacy. Member organisations such as BIGGA, GCMA - to advocate to workforce. Other key stakeholders & organisations – as per alignment to the plan.

Main Duties & Key Responsibilities:

• Lead, develop and implement the England Golf sustainability plan 2025-2030.
• Deliver a sustainability promotional & advocacy campaign aligned to the plan, working closely with the communications team.
• Engage and collaborate with the R&A on sustainability projects, including Golf Course 2030.
• Engage with the British Association for Sustainable Sport (BASIS), aligning the 12 principles against the sustainability plan.
• Lead by example as a positive ambassador for England Golf, influencing behaviour changes and raising the profile of sustainability across the golfing landscape.
• Engage directly with government, Sport England and other relevant bodies on regulatory elements of sustainability, with specific focus on water resilience.
• Oversee the reduction of carbon across the organisation, including championships/events, in collaboration with consultants and colleagues.
• Engage with the National Golf Centre (NGC) team to ensure sustainable practices are identified and implemented across the business.
• Support Sustainability Officer to work closely with the Development & Membership team to provide guidance for golf clubs on key issues (water, energy, biodiversity).
• Ensure that environmental, social and economic elements of the sustainability plan are connected across the organisation.
• Support Sustainability Officer with the England Golf annual awards in relation to the sustainability category.
• Explore the commercial opportunities for sustainability in conjunction with the Commercial Manager.
• Oversee and manage the resource and capacity requirements of sustainability to calculate our carbon footprint and explore the potential to become net zero.
• Ensure sustainable golf insights are developed by collecting relevant data, analysis and assessing emerging trends.
• Implement changes to make our workplace greener, working closely with Human Resources and Admin team.
• Produce and deliver the sustainability annual operational & financial plan, including the cascading of the plan at a local level.
• In addition to the duties and responsibilities listed, the job holder will be required to perform other duties reasonably requested from time to time.

Dimensions/Resources:

• Staff: 1 full time.
• Financial: Sustainability annual budget.
• Administrative: External meetings with key stakeholders, groups & organisations. GB&I Sustainability group – lead role. Internal sustainability working group – co-ordinate & lead. Board, senior management team, team meetings, full staff meetings. Presenting at county/club update meetings & workshops as required.

Location: England Golf Headquarters, Woodhall Spa, Lincolnshire, hybrid working or potential to work from home. If the latter, as a guide it is expected that time is spent at the headquarters at least 2 to 3 days every 2 weeks.

Essential:

• Educated to degree, or relevant qualification level.
• Excellent knowledge of the sustainability sector and sustainable practices.
• Sound understanding of facility management.
• Knowledge of sustainability & environmental legislation in the UK.
• Experience working in business, sport, government or NGO context.
• Ability to build and sustain relationships with staff, volunteers and partners.
• Ability to empower and influence.
• Preparation and production of clear and detailed reports.
• Capable of gathering and analysis of information.
• Outstanding communication skills, including public speaking.
• Computer literate in spreadsheet, word processing and presentation software.
• Motivated and proven track record of inspiring others.
• Friendly and willingly offer support and assistance to colleagues and customers.
• Explain information clearly, accurately and using appropriate language.
• Confidence and social skills to represent the company in external professional contexts.
• Encourage and display attitudes and behaviours that respect and value diversity and promote equal opportunities.
• Experience of delivering sustainability programmes.
• Experience and interest in sustainability, business management or environmental science.
• Effective and proven budget management.
• Prior work in leisure or sports related industry.
• Proven people management.
• Tutoring/facilitator experience.
• Valid driver’s licence as travel will be required.

Desirable:

• Degree in business, environmental sciences, environmental management, engineering or sustainability.
• Chartered Environmentalist (CEnv), or member of the Institute of Environmental Management and Assessment (IEMA) or Chartered Institute of Waste Management (CIWM).
• Understanding of golf facility management and/or leisure/recreation.
• Structure of national, regional & county-based sport.
• Structure of golf (general, club based, structure).

Closing date: Monday 23rd June