Operational Sustainability Lead


Company:	Government Recruitment Service
Salary:	£57,515 to £57,515 a year
Hours:	Full-time
Location:	Hastings
Job type:	Permanent
Posting date:	15 Sept 2026
Closing date:	4 Oct 2026

Apply for this job

Summary

Can you drive sustainability performance across a complex organisation?

Have you delivered reporting, targets and environmental improvement initiatives?

Are you a confident leader who influences and collaborates effectively?

If so, we'd love to hear from you!

As Sustainability Performance Lead, you will play a pivotal role in driving operational sustainability across the Department for Transport and its family of agencies and Arm's Length Bodies. You will lead the development, review and delivery of the Operational Sustainability Strategy, ensuring meaningful and achievable targets are in place to support ambitious sustainability objectives and Greening Government Commitments.

You will oversee key sustainability reporting, including contributions to the Department’s Annual Report and Accounts, TCFD disclosures and quarterly performance returns. Working closely with stakeholders across government, contractors and property teams, you will lead sustainability and environmental projects, influence strategic decision-making and help improve environmental performance across a diverse national estate.

Joining our department comes with many benefits, including:

Employer pension contribution of 28.97% of your salary. Read more about Civil Service Pensions here
25 days annual leave, increasing by 1 day each year of service (up to a maximum of 30 days annual leave), plus 8 bank holidays a privilege day for the King’s birthday
Flexible working options where we encourage a great work-life balance.

Read more in the Benefits section below!

Find out more about what it's like working at DfT.

The role holder will provide strategic leadership on sustainability performance across the Department’s estate and wider organisation, ensuring environmental objectives are effectively embedded into operational activities. They will build strong relationships with a wide range of internal and external stakeholders, drive continuous improvement through data-led decision making, and identify opportunities to enhance sustainability outcomes. The postholder will also lead the delivery of environmental projects, provide expert advice and assurance, and support the Department in meeting its corporate sustainability and environmental commitments.

Your responsibilities will include, but aren’t limited to:

Lead on sustainability management, improvement and reporting across DfT Group (including Arm’s Length Bodies); ensuring compliance with Greening Government Commitments reporting requirements.
Lead on the development of the Sustainability section of the Annual Report and Accounts, including the TCFD return.
Maintain, manage, review and renew the DfT Operational Sustainability Strategy and ensure appropriate policies, standards and targets are in place and communicated across the organisation and suppliers.
Keep abreast of all industry trends, developments, and legislation on carbon, waste and the environment and represent DfT at the cross-Whitehall Sustainability Forum.
Manage the sustainability data and reporting across DfT. Utilising existing data management contracts, identify improvements and manage any sustainability data requirements in renewed or relet contracts
Encourage the use of renewable and sustainable energy resources across the portfolio, driving innovation and championing industry best practice. Particularly working with the Building Services team to improve the sustainability performance of the central Department.
Ensure that all areas of property management are driving towards the reduction of environmental impact and supporting the government’s sustainability agenda and lead the production of the Annual Report and Accounts Sustainability. Report/Statement.
Develop relationships with colleagues, suppliers, contractors and other Government Departments to share best practice, improve performance and achieve targets.

Flexible resourcing

Colleagues are expected to work with a degree of flexibility, meaning responsibilities may change to support priority delivery.

For further information on the role, please read the role profile. Please note that the role profile is for information purposes only - whilst all elements are relevant to the role, they may not all be assessed during the recruitment process. This job advert will detail exactly what will be assessed during the recruitment process.

Apply for this job

Proud member of the Disability Confident employer scheme

About Disability Confident

Disability Confident is a government scheme. It encourages employers to recruit and retain disabled people and those with long term health conditions.