thinkBeyond: Senior Sustainability Consultant

• Location: London, UK (office / client based 2-3 days / week) plus remote working
• Duration: Full time
• Reports to: Director of Sustainability
• Remuneration: £50-57k
• Start date: ASAP 

Overview

thinkBeyond is a social impact and sustainability consultancy that supports leaders and organisations to drive agency growth and make a positive impact on the world both in, and through, sport. We create strategies, deliver programmes, measure and evaluate impact, and communicate positive change for brands, rights holders and athletes. 

Spun off from the global movement, Beyond Sport, thinkBeyond has grown significantly since its inception in 2014, tripling its staff and steeply climbing in profits and clients in the last three years.

Role summary 

We’re looking for a sustainability expert who’s excited about the opportunity to use their expertise to manage and deliver exciting and varied client projects, including those being delivered in partnership with some of the world’s leading sports organisations. Clients we have worked with, and in many cases continue to do so, include Bloomberg, Disney, ESPN, Euroleague Basketball, The IOC, Liverpool Football Club, UK Sport, SailGP, Goodwood, NFL, World Athletics, and The FA.

This is a doing role – you will be working closely with clients whether developing their sustainability strategy or delivering it, this will be the focus from day one. Our senior consultants drive client work with very little oversight and with excellent results. Our clients are at the forefront of driving sport’s role in sustainability, whether they are a brand, league, international federation, professional club, etc, and they rely on us to make sure that remain at the cutting edge of this work.

Our ideal candidate will have 5+ years of relevant experience and bring an analytical mind, a clear understanding of sustainability as a driver for a better business, and a passionate and creative spirit to their work. You must be comfortable creating business strategies, developing operational action plans and pulling insights from the data to drive continual improvement for the client. You’ll have experience of auditing to specific standards and plans and helping clients embed such standards into their business. You’ll be supported by a wider team, both specialists and generalists, and you’ll also have the opportunity to nurture the junior talent within our organisation. 

You’ll need to share our belief in positive societal change in and through sport, but you don’t need to come from the sport sector; we’re more interested in how you use your mind and expertise to deliver ground breaking work. 

If you’re ready to be part of a thriving and talented team and want the opportunity to take responsibility from day one, this is the role for you. 

Responsibilities

• Develop and maintain excellent relationships with some of the company’s highest value and strategically important clients, being their main point of contact within the business 

• Command the room in client meetings and workshops, designing and facilitating sessions that build trust and confidence in how we think and support our clients.
• Consistently challenge thinking and processes throughout delivery to make improvements and ensure the project delivers beyond client expectations 
• Drive end-to-end project delivery for clients - which may include all or some of the following: discovery, analysis, strategy development, operational delivery planning, commercial-sustainability alignment, activation, and fan engagement programmes
• Manage all project communications
• Create (including developing copy and managing design, where relevant) key project documents including pitch presentations, delivery plans, progress updates, and outcome reports

• Engage and manage additional members of the thinkBeyond team (both senior and junior), ensuring they contribute as needed for the timely delivery of the project

Requirements

• 5+ years working experience, ideally within the sport and/or sustainability sectors, although relevant applicants from other backgrounds will be considered
• Excellent technical knowledge, skills and a broad understanding of the spectrum of sustainability to effectively deliver our projects supported by a specialist area of interest e.g., environmental management, carbon management, waste, biodiversity, sustainable procurement, etc
• Evidence of your ability to build and manage credible, robust sustainability operational platforms to international standards, specifically ISO 20121 or similar, such as B-Corp 
• The ability to carry out audits against standards and plans, as well using these plans/standards for improved business operations 
• Legal compliance experience to allow for auditing against environmental and/or social legislation (e.g. accessibility) 
• Experience of both quantitative and qualitative data collection and analysis and ability to deliver robust sustainability reports, track against KPIs and set targets
• Excellent end to end project management skills, including using project management tools, creating, and managing timelines and ability to ensure a client’s brief, budget and timescales are met
• Exceptional attention to detail 
• Excellent analytical and problem‐solving skills 
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills, to include presenting to senior stakeholders 
• Excellent stakeholder and client management skills
• Exceptional reliability and punctuality 
• The ability to work efficiently, quickly, manage multiple projects and deliver to deadlines – there is an immediacy element to our office that runs through everything we do 
• A commitment to and belief in the ability of sport to create societal change 
• The right to work in the UK 

To apply

Find out more about the job, including how to apply, click here.

Applications close: Midnight, 15 February 2023 

Round 1 interviews start: 20 February 2023