ESG Lead - Environmental Sustainability in Alconbury

MM Flowers is a leading international cut flower business, supplying many of the world’s major grocery retailers. Operating across the UK, Europe, Africa, and South America, the Group represents approximately 20% of the global cut flower market. Sustainability is fundamental to how we operate — from responsible sourcing and grower partnerships to innovation across our supply chain. With a strong growth trajectory, MM Flowers is committed to maintaining its position as an industry leader in environmental and social responsibility.

We are seeking an ESG Lead – Environmental Sustainability to play a critical role in shaping and delivering MM Flowers’ environmental sustainability agenda. This is a senior leadership position within the ESG function, responsible for setting strategy, driving performance, and ensuring measurable progress across the Group, our strategically important suppliers, and in collaboration with our retail customers. You will be the technical authority across all key environmental topics, including decarbonisation, packaging, water, waste, and nature, and will work closely with senior leaders to address material risks and opportunities. This is a high-impact role within a complex, global business, offering the opportunity to influence change at scale. The role includes line management responsibility for the ESG Manager – Carbon & Data and ESG Manager – Water and Nature.

Responsibilities

• Act as the technical lead for MM Flowers’ environmental sustainability agenda across the Group, its strategically important suppliers, and in collaboration with retail customers.
• Work with the Head of ESG to set clear environmental sustainability targets, delivery plans, and KPIs across operations and the supply chain.
• Lead engagement with customer sustainability teams to address systemic challenges and ensure MM Flowers’ plans are aligned with, or exceed, customer expectations.
• Provide technical environmental and sustainability support to flower shareholder companies and key strategic suppliers to inform ESG strategy development and target setting.
• Oversee and continuously update environmental risk assessment and due diligence processes to meet regulatory and disclosure requirements.
• Conduct horizon scanning for emerging legislation and frameworks, including TCFD, CSRD, and related climate-risk commitments.
• Establish and lead collaborative projects to address the most significant systemic environmental risks.
• Work closely with Technical, Buying, and Operations teams to embed environmental considerations into business processes and reporting systems.

Stakeholder & Industry Engagement

• Represent MM Flowers externally, building partnerships with NGOs, charities, trade associations, and multi-stakeholder initiatives to drive systemic change.
• Support customer engagement by contributing to sustainability communications, reporting, and presentations that showcase MM Flowers’ ESG approach and progress.

Required Skills

• Extensive experience in environmental or agronomic sustainability, ideally within horticulture, fresh produce, or global retail supply chains.
• Advanced stakeholder management skills, with the confidence to influence, challenge, and collaborate at all levels.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to translate complex issues into clear, compelling messages.
• Strong experience using data to generate insight and inform decision-making.
• Proven track record of developing and leading collaborative, multi-stakeholder projects.
• Ability to build and maintain strong internal relationships across functions.

Preferred Skills

• Familiarity with global cut flower production or perishable supply chains.
• Experience working with external suppliers, NGOs, and multi-stakeholder initiatives.
• Strong collaboration skills, particularly across commercial teams.