Senior Sustainability Manager

Salary: £83,000 to £88,000

Grade: Band 4

Contract type: Full‑time; Hybrid working within this role enables a balance of 50 per cent of time split between the office and home over a 4‑week period. Hybrid working arrangements can evolve subject to business requirements.

Application closing date: 03 May 2026 at 23:59

All offers of employment are subject to satisfactory right‑to‑work checks. Candidates must be able to demonstrate their right to work in the UK. At the present time TfL is unable to offer visa sponsorship for this role.

Overview of project/role:

Places for London is Transport for London’s property company. We’re creating thriving, sustainable places as custodians for one of London’s largest and most diverse estates. We’re also a highly responsible developer that is working in partnership to deliver homes and workplaces that are built to sector‑leading standards including BREEAM and Passivhaus.

We’re hiring two Senior Sustainability Managers to play leading roles in our new sustainability team. You’ll embed sustainability throughout our decision making and drive continuous improvement and transformational change to protect and grow value across our operations and estate, delivering measurable economic, environmental and social outcomes. You’ll lead the adoption of best practice sustainability across the organisation — managing risks and opportunities, setting ambitious yet deliverable targets, and responding to a fast evolving regulatory and market landscape.

Collaborating across the organisation, you’ll shape long‑term strategy and near‑term delivery programmes that balance commercial performance with long‑term and wider public value. You’ll collaborate across the organisation and our stakeholders, including working in close alignment with TfL, the Greater London Authority and our delivery partners.

Through your influence and leadership, you’ll help keep Places for London at the forefront of sustainable real estate, transforming our estate and operations to create low‑carbon, resilient, healthy and thriving places across the capital.

There are two Senior Sustainability Manager vacancies, each with a distinct focus:

• Business Partner: In this role, you’ll work collaboratively across the organisation to embed best practice sustainability standards throughout our property management and development activities. This will include leading the deployment and continual improvement of Places for London’s industry‑leading sustainable delivery frameworks, ensuring they are integrated into capital delivery, investment planning and day‑to‑day operations. You’ll also lead sustainability benchmarking and support the adoption of best practice standards and management systems, including the Global Real Estate Sustainability Benchmark (GRESB) Standing Estates.
• Climate and Environment: In this role, you’ll lead the development and delivery of strategies, programmes and disclosures across the environmental agenda, including net zero carbon, climate adaptation and wider systems resilience, biodiversity, resource efficiency and circularity. You’ll own Places for London’s strategy, implementation plan and accounting for Net Zero Carbon. You’ll also lead Places for London’s approach to biodiversity and shape emerging priorities for systems thinking and management standards such as PAS 2080.

Key Accountabilities:

• Set strategic direction by defining, documenting and advancing sustainability goals, strategies, plans, standards, policies and guidance that protect and grow long‑term value across Places for London’s land and property portfolio.
• Enable effective decision making by providing clear, evidence‑based insight at all levels, including executive and board level, translating complex technical matters into practical, accessible recommendations.
• Embed sustainability into governance and delivery by leading the application and continual improvement of sustainability frameworks (including our Sustainable Development Framework and Sustainable Estate Framework), standards and risk assessments, ensuring sustainability is integral to investment and operational decision making.
• Drive performance and continuous improvement through the leadership of programmes, projects, processes and internal and external reporting, addressing emerging risks and opportunities and tracking progress against commitments and targets.
• Shape and assure proposals by reviewing business cases, plans and initiatives to ensure alignment with sustainability objectives and best practice.
• Build strong partnerships and influence outcomes through effective collaboration, engagement and communication across Places for London, TfL, the GLA family, supply chains, customers and wider stakeholders.
• Provide expert leadership and insight by maintaining subject matter expertise, offering authoritative advice, thought leadership and market intelligence to support strategy, business planning and innovation.
• Translate insight into action by applying research, analysis and horizon scanning to develop clear plans and engaging communications that support organisational resilience, innovation and customer collaboration.
• Grow organisational capability by building sustainability awareness and skills through training, guidance, tools and knowledge sharing activities.
• Champion sector leadership by representing Places for London through external networks, events and communications, creating opportunities for collaboration, innovation and leadership across the sustainability agenda.

Skills, Knowledge & Experience:

Skills:

• Excellent written and verbal communication, including presenting persuasive arguments, influencing decision‑making at all levels, and keeping colleagues actively engaged to collaboratively deliver results.
• Advanced in translating technical concepts into accessible narratives and practical actions, and tailoring approaches to diverse audiences (Essential).
• Highly advanced negotiation, influencing and listening skills. Excels at delivering results through collaboration, agility, conflict resolution, and building consensus across diverse teams and functions including but not limited to Places, TfL, GLA and external parties (Essential).
• Demonstrable strengths in proactivity and resilience to avoid and resolve problems, highly able to drive innovation and continuous improvement, and to take colleagues with them to co‑deliver required change (Essential).
• Strong analytical and problem‑solving capabilities, able to interpret and translate complex data, assess risks and evaluate performance, and communicate insights and recommendations effectively to colleagues and decision makers (Essential).

Knowledge:

• Strong knowledge of sustainability approaches, methodologies, principles and reporting frameworks, including relevant national, global and local strategies, regulations, priorities, and standards (Essential).
• Excellent understanding of sustainability policy development, organisational change frameworks, and continuous improvement methodologies (Essential).
• Strong commercial awareness and business acumen, with the ability to apply strategic thinking at a senior level (Essential).
• Excellent knowledge of a range of analytical methods, including strategy, commercial, customer and business modelling techniques (Highly desirable).
• Knowledge of property, transport, and urban development agendas in London, the UK, and globally (Highly desirable).
• Knowledge of TfL's strategy and strategic plan, and an understanding of corporate approach to investment, resourcing and allocation of money including understanding of TfL’s (or a comparable organisation’s) business planning process (Highly desirable).
• A strong network in sustainability and the built environment (Highly desirable).

Experience:

• Significant experience of developing strategy and supporting tools including strategic frameworks, scorecards, business/investment cases and funding applications (Essential).
• Strong track record in data analysis, risk assessment, reporting and preparation of tailored and board‑level reports and recommendations. Extensive experience interpreting financial and non‑financial data to influence senior‑level decision‑making (Essential).
• Extensive experience of building, maintaining and applying strong relationships with colleagues, stakeholders and networks (Essential).
• Extensive experience in leading, developing, and motivating staff to deliver strategic objectives (Essential).
• Significant experience working in sustainability or related fields, ideally within the built environment sector (Essential).
• Experience managing budgets and delivering organisational capability programmes (Highly desirable).

Application Process:

Please apply using your CV and a one‑page cover letter. Think carefully about the skills, knowledge and experience in the advert and cover this in your CV and cover letter. PDF format preferred and do not include any photographs or images.

Equality, diversity and inclusion:

We are committed to equality, diversity and inclusion. We want to represent the city we serve, which will help us become a more innovative and efficient organisation. Our goal is to make our recruitment as inclusive as possible. We are a disability confident employer who guarantee an interview to any disabled candidate who meets all of the essential criteria. We also use anonymising software that removes identifying information from CVs and cover letters to make the process fair.

Benefits:

• Final salary pension scheme
• Free travel for you on the TfL network
• Reimbursement of 75% of the cost of a standard class Ticket for National Rail travel from home
• 30 days annual leave plus public and bank holidays
• TfL is committed to work‑life balance, operating a hybrid working approach where business and role requirements allow
• Tax‑efficient cycle‑to‑work programme
• Retail, health, leisure and travel offers
• Discounted Eurostar travel

We will make every effort to give you as much notice as possible, however some interviews/assessments could be organised at short notice.

Vetting Process:

At Transport for London, safety, trust and fairness sit at the heart of how we recruit. Our Vetting Charter explains the checks we carry out before you join us, helping ensure we create a safe, inclusive and reliable network for everyone who depends on our services. We simply ask that the information you provide is honest and accurate so we can progress your application smoothly. If something doesn’t match or can’t be verified, we may not be able to move forward with your application, but we’ll always treat you with transparency, respect, and clear communication throughout.