ESG Manager / Lead

Location: London or Manchester (full-time office attendance during the three-month probationary period, hybrid thereafter)

Contract: Permanent, full-time

Reporting to: CFO / COO

About the Company

Our client is a London-listed group combining an investment trust with an established independent professional services business, serving institutional and corporate clients across trustee, governance, and corporate services mandates. The Group is bringing its Environmental, Social and Governance agenda into line with the standards expected of listed investment trusts and their peers, building the framework, data infrastructure, and disclosure capability required as the UK regime moves from TCFD-aligned disclosure towards UK Sustainability Reporting Standards.

The Role

Our client is seeking to recruit an ESG Manager / Lead to design, embed, and lead the Group’s ESG agenda, owning the framework end to end from governance and strategy through to regulatory reporting, data, and KPIs.

This is a build role, not a maintenance one. It carries the chairing of the ESG Committee, the reporting cycle and the systems beneath it, and the work of bringing senior stakeholders who have not previously prioritised ESG onside. A high degree of autonomy is expected from day one.

The role is based in London or Manchester, with full-time office attendance during the three-month probation and hybrid working thereafter.

Key Responsibilities

• Design and implement the ESG governance structure, including board and committee reporting lines, policies, roles and escalation routes, and take over chairing of the ESG Committee
• Develop the Group’s ESG strategy and roadmap, setting priorities, targets and timelines aligned to the business and to investor expectations
• Build the end-to-end ESG reporting cycle (data collection, assurance-readiness, narrative and disclosure) across the annual report, TCFD statement and other client and stakeholder reporting
• Ensure the Group meets its obligations under applicable ESG regulation, including TCFD and mandatory sustainability reporting, and stays ahead of related regimes such as ISSB-aligned standards, UK SRS and SFDR
• Select, implement and maintain ESG data and reporting systems, define the Group’s KPI framework and dashboard, and establish data governance standards to support external assurance
• Own the Group’s carbon footprint measurement and reporting across Scope 1, 2 and 3, and implement a decarbonisation pathway with associated reduction targets
• Act as the primary point of contact for ESG across the Board, Executive Committee, investors, clients, rating agencies and proxy advisers
• Embed ESG ownership and data collection across business units, including coordination with the Group’s external investment manager on investment trust data
• Lead change management with senior stakeholders who have not previously prioritised ESG, building buy-in for new mandatory reporting obligations
• Design and lead environmental, social and governance initiatives, spanning landlord energy reduction, DE&I and wellbeing, board effectiveness, ethics, and supply chain procurement
• Lead ESG messaging alongside Communications and Marketing across investor communications, website and PR, and support business development with ESG credentials and pitch content
• Maintain horizon scanning across the UK and international ESG regulatory landscape, translating change into action plans with Compliance, Legal and Risk, and briefing the Board on emerging requirements