Sustainability Manager (People, Customer & Partnerships)

Job Introduction

Are you looking for a new challenge that gives you the chance to get creative and use your knowledge of Sustainability to take Customer and Employee experience at Selfridges to the next level?  Looking for a company that wants to help further your career as well as provide you with an exciting, inspiring and fun place to work?   

If the answer to all of these questions is ‘yes’ then you’re just the kind of person we’re looking for! 

Role Responsibility

Scope

At Selfridges, our vision is to reinvent retail and our purpose is to imagine and create a sustainable future for our customers. Sustainability is at the heart of our business and our commitments underpin our ambitions to not only change the way we shop, but how we do business too.

Project Earth, our sustainability strategy, is built on three themes – transitioning to more sustainable materials, exploring new business models and challenging mindsets.  By focusing on our destinations, products, people and our customer experience, and by working with our team members, brand partners and customers, together we can imagine and create a sustainable future for retail. We can create a profitable business that respects our world, builds trust and embodies creativity and innovation.

This role will be a recognised and respected companywide authority on sustainability issues that support the Mindsets agenda of Project Earth, including those relate to our strategic NGO partnerships, community investment and giving, customer insights on sustainability and connecting team members across functions to the strategy, enabling them to understand their role in delivering change.

Mindsets strategy – our people, our customers, our communities

• Work with HR, Learning & Development, Internal Communications and Retail Operations to develop and deliver a long-term sustainability literacy and capacity building strategy.
• Co-develop and support the delivery of People sustainability targets to meet the longer term sustainability ambitions for the People Plan (living wage, health and wellbeing, etc).
• In collaboration with the Insights Team, develop and support the longer term customer research plan in line with the Mindsets agenda, assessing how we are inspiring our customers to change the way that they shop
• Develop and manage the long term strategy for community investment, and the strategic partnerships that will help deliver this.

Charitable giving and NGO partnerships

• Identify, manage and develop strategic charity and NGO partnerships to help deliver on specific elements of our sustainability plan.
• Develop and manage a community investment and giving strategy and plan, including  responding to charitable donation and sustainability-related requests and administering donations in line with the charitable giving policy.
• Develop a framework and work with NGO and charity partners to measure and report on impact.
• Work with Learning & Development, Internal Communications and Retail Operations to support on team member engagement including brokering volunteering opportunities with our strategic partners and developing opportunities for fundraising.

Knowledge building, engagement and training

• Produce internal training material and induction information on sustainability that is used for all new team members, and key business functions.
• Develop and deliver the sustainability module at Management Induction and key business function team meetings.
• Support in the development and maintenance of key tools that embed Team Member sustainability objectives across the business.
• Drive team member awareness, engagement and behaviour change to reduce our impact through building knowledge and skills within our Green Warriors network and driving communications and engagement across the business.

Reporting and governance

• Work with the Sustainability Project Manager to ensure that the sustainability master tracker is updated and period reporting is reflective of progress.
• Contribute to the development of a sustainability dashboard which monitors key sustainability metrics and initiatives, and which is based on robust input data.
• Review and develop sustainability policies and position statements; ensure internal stakeholders sign off, the statements and policies are updated in the tracker and filed appropriately.
• Prepare papers and provide updates to the Sustainability Steering Committee and Group sustainability meetings where relevant.

Communications

• Work with with relevant NGOs, Creative, Retail Operations and Projects teams to deliver sustainability/NGO partnership messaging through our creative schemes and broader comms channels.
• Work with the Sustainability Comms and PR Manager as needed to advise and support initiatives on customer and Team Member facing sustainability messaging.
• Work in close collaboration with senior managers within Retail Operations to drive awareness and engagement across all stores.

Research and insights

• Proactively address hotspots by horizon scanning for relevant sustainable innovation, bringing new solutions to Working Groups.
• Keep up-to-date with the sustainability agenda, new legislation and best practice guidelines and understanding of how they may affect the business

Team

• Support the development and implementation of team tools, processes, and systems.
• Provide timely and robust ad hoc support to Head of Sustainability and Executive Director, Communications & Sustainability as needed.
• Provide input to broader Project Earth strategy development and future revisions, as appropriate.

The Ideal Candidate

Qualifications/ Training

• Degree level (desirable)

Experience

• Knowledge and experience on environmental/ethical issues relevant to fashion/food supply chain/sourcing
• Experience of retail or equivalent customer-focused environment
• Experience in change management, including strong influencing and collaboration skills
• Experience of multi-stakeholder working (NGOs, media, brands etc)
• Experience in project management; creating and implementing project plans
• Experience of chairing and managing working groups including minute taking

Technical Skills

• Essential knowledge of MS Excel and other MS Office applications (i.e. Word, PowerPoint)

Personal Attributes/ Behavioural Skills

• Highly motivated with a personal passion for sustainability
• Excellent communication, presentation and interpersonal skills
• Demonstrated ability to work cross-functionally with diverse stakeholder needs
• Ability to build strong working relationships with multiple stakeholders internally and externally
• Confident negotiator and influencer
• Able to zoom out to see and articulate ‘the bigger picture’ in terms of sustainable business and zoom in to the detail
• Highly organised, methodical and with attention to detail
• Analytical thinker
• Action orientated
• Numerate
• Team player

This guide represents a summary of the role, however all team members are expected to be flexible in the work they undertake, which may change from time to time, according to the needs of the business

About the Company

Our Creative Spirit 

We are more than a shop. We are a social space where culture and commerce collide to release an energy that we call the Selfridges spirit. We are here to make our world brighter, and everyone is welcome. 

Our Awards Cabinet 

We’re not ones to brag, but since you asked...Selfridges has won the award for The World’s Best Department Store an unprecedented four times at the IGDS awards, with an additional award for the Best Sustainability Campaign.  

Our Future 

Since 1909 we have been at the forefront of retail and today our stores in London, Manchester and Birmingham – alongside selfridges.com and the Selfridges App – continue to redefine the way we shop and socialise. As a Selfridges team member, you will learn what it takes to consistently drive innovation, success and amazing customer experiences. 

Everyone is welcome

We are committed to a diverse and inclusive working culture, and we see this as key to our success and our working culture. Here at Selfridges, everyone is welcome - irrespective of race, gender, ethnicity, sexuality, age or disability, we stand by equal opportunities for all. We are diverse, we are inclusive, we are Selfridges.

The Fun Stuff  

There are lots of reasons to be excited about joining Team Selfridges – from our fantastic team member communities to volunteer days and behind-the-scenes Selfridges experiences throughout the year. 

Other benefits and rewards include:

• Generous bonus and/or commission scheme 
• Discounted gym memberships 
• Pension contributions  
• Annual travel pass and cycle to work schemes 
• A volunteer day for all team members 
• Access to a wide range of training programmes to help your career development

Selfridges