Environmental Social & Governance Manager in London

This is an exciting opportunity to join our Environmental Social & Governance (ESG) team within Procurement and play a key role in delivering our Procurement for Mutual Good programme for a more inclusive, ethical, and environmentally responsible supply chain. You’ll be joining a high-performing team that has been recognised with external awards, including the CIPS Best Commitment to Carbon Reduction in Supply Chains and finalists for Nationwide’s Green Champion Award in 2024. We are happy to consider flexible working approaches to help you perform at your best. This is a 14-month secondment opportunity. At Nationwide, we offer hybrid working wherever possible. More rewarding relationships are supported through our hybrid approach, bringing colleagues together across our UK-wide estate, whilst also supporting generous access to home working. We value our time in the office to solve problems, to learn, and to feel connected. For this job, you'll be located at our nearest regional hub. There will be a need to regularly connect with colleagues for collaboration events in one of our office sites. This is anticipated to be once per month in London.

If your application is successful, your hiring manager will provide further details on how this works. Nationwide is committed to the redeployment of our employees impacted by change, as such applications for redeployment candidates will be prioritised in this recruitment process. If you’re a colleague on long-term absence (for example, on parental leave) or a temporary worker, please use your personal email address to submit an application.

Responsibilities

On a day-to-day basis, you will be accountable for overseeing the delivery for the Procurement for Mutual Good programme and plan, supporting your team to deliver quality output by utilising your ESG expertise, relationships and influence to remove obstacles, and escalating to senior management when required. This will include overseeing business-as-usual activities such as supplier ESG due diligence and ongoing monitoring, as well as key projects including our science-based target and nature strategies, responsible purchasing training, living-wage milestones, and supplier engagement and support to enhance ESG performance. You’ll monitor performance against team objectives and performance metrics, ensuring action is taken to remediate where off track. You’ll ensure activities evolve in line with maturing industry best practice and regulation, whilst supporting broader Procurement team objectives and process change.

You’ll be accountable for the ESG Risk Domain, acting as an escalation point when suppliers refuse ESG contractual expectations, and using your negotiation and influencing skills to find an outcome that supports progress and commitment towards our ESG standards. You’ll also be responsible for ensuring high-quality content is provided for all ESG disclosures, ratings, and questionnaires, including but not limited to the Annual Report, ESG Disclosure, Modern Slavery Act Statement, Task Force on Climate‑related Financial Disclosures (TCFD), Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP), United Nations Global Compact (UNGC), Standard & Poor’s (S&P), Buy Social Corporate Challenge, and Investing in Ethnicity. You’ll draft, review, and approve content that accurately reflects our Procurement for Mutual Good programme, ensuring all data points are evidenced and thoroughly checked.

You will represent Nationwide at internal and external forums, including Climate Change Risk Committee, AI Council, and Finance Initiative for Sustainable Procurement Steering Committee. You’ll also support senior stakeholders in preparing for internal and external ESG meetings as required and will promote Procurement for Mutual Good internally and externally through award and recognition opportunities. You will also act as the Procurement team’s lead Social Impact rep, attending Chief Operating Office (COO) Social Impact meetings, contributing to COO activities, and promoting broader initiatives within Procurement to support Fairer Futures.

You will manage a team of four direct reports and maintain a high-performing, inclusive, and engaged team culture. You’ll provide regular performance check-ins and feedback, offer coaching and career development support, and lead by example in demonstrating our Customer First Behaviours. You’ll bring the team together virtually at least weekly and in-person at least monthly, with the expectation the geographically spread team continue to meet, primarily in London. You’ll also manage the ESG team budget, ensuring sufficient budget for and timely payment of relevant third-party costs or memberships. You’ll support our Inclusive Procurement Champions in maximising our relationships with Social Enterprise UK and MSDUK, as well as overseeing our EcoVadis relationship.

About you

For this role, you will have/be:

• Sustainable procurement knowledge with demonstrable experience managing and delivering a programme of sustainability projects within a large organisation
• Strong written communications skills with experience drafting quality ESG disclosure content or equivalent
• Strong relationship building and influencing skills across all levels, and be able to motivate and inspire colleagues against a clear vision
• A confident communicator with experience passionately presenting to large groups virtually and in-person
• Experienced managing a team and cultivating a high-performing, inclusive, and engaged culture

Our customer first behaviours put customers and members at the heart of how we work together. They are the set of behaviours that every colleague needs to display, in every role:

• Feel what customers feel - We step into our customers’ shoes, using their feedback and insights to empathise with them and to understand their needs, so that every decision we make starts and finishes with our customers in mind
• Say it straight - We are brave in speaking out and saying what we think – we’re honest and direct with good intent, openly sharing diverse perspectives to reach the best conclusions and using language everyone can understand
• Push for better - We don’t settle for mediocrity, we challenge the status quo, taking responsibility for continuous improvement and personal development
• Get it done - We prioritise what will have the greatest impact, we are decisive, and we take accountability for delivering brilliant customer outcomes

You can strengthen your application by showing how our customer first behaviours resonate with you, and where you may have already demonstrated these.

Qualifications

The extras you’ll get

There are all sorts of employee benefits available at Nationwide, including:

• 25 days holiday, pro rata
• Access to private medical insurance
• A highly competitive pension to help you build a strong foundation for retirement
• Access to an annual performance-related bonus
• Training and development to help you progress your career
• A great selection of additional benefits through our salary sacrifice scheme
• Life assurance to provide peace of mind for you and your loved ones in the event of your death
• Wellhub – access to a range of free and paid options for health and wellness
• Up to 2 days of paid volunteering a year

Banking – but fairer, more rewarding, and for the good of society

We forge our own path at Nationwide. As a mutual, we’re owned by our members - those customers who bank, save or have a mortgage with us. We challenge the financial sector status quo. We don’t see customers as the engine of our own profit. We share our profits with them and put their needs first. Always there when they need us. Supporting them and their lives. If you’re inspired by fairer finances, passionate about making a meaningful impact, and truly care about our customers, you’re one of us. At Nationwide, you are challenged to grow and rewarded for doing so. Valued. Recognised. Inspired to be your best. As a community, we want our working lives to count. As a team, we celebrate what we achieve. As a standard-setter, we work for the good of customers, communities, and broader society. We are purpose-driven. Uncompromisingly customer. Unstoppably Nationwide.

What to do next

If this role is for you, please click the ‘Apply Now’ button. You’ll need to attach your up-to-date CV and answer a few quick questions for us. We respond to everyone, so we will be in contact shortly after the closing date to let you know the outcome of your application.

The hiring manager for this role is Zara Ferris, and the main recruitment contact is Andrew Ducker.