Sustainability Strategy & Policy VP - 18 Month Full Time Contract

The Sustainability Strategy and Policy VP will be responsible for identifying, researching and developing strategy/policy proposals on emerging (and current) sustainability topics. This role will collaborate closely with internal and external stakeholders to ensure different insights and views are captured as part of this process. The VP will work particularly closely with our ESRM team to ensure strategic ambition is aligned with our approach to risk management.

Key Accountabilities

• Support the co-Heads of Sustainability Strategy & Policy to deliver on the Bank’s sustainability strategy objectives, in particular identifying emerging relevant themes and quickly forming a view of how Barclays should address.
• Lead the preparation of materials for key, internal senior governance fora (including Board and ExCo level).
• Engage with key stakeholders, NGOs, Clients, Government and other stakeholders to understand concerns and address potential risks.
• Work closely with ESRM colleagues to ensure the Bank’s strategy and policy objectives and aligned with approaches taken to environmental and social risk management.

Essential Criteria:

• Experience in sustainability, ideally across the three areas of climate change, nature/environment and social/human rights.
• Strong knowledge of environmental and social regulations, international standards, and industry best practices.
• Excellent communication, negotiation, and stakeholder management skills.
• Comfort with working in a fast-paced environment with multiple projects.
• Experience of senior management engagement and preparation of senior fora materials.
• Ability to analyse complex environmental and social data and synthesise conclusions into recommendations for the Bank to take forward.

Preferred Skills:

• Experience in a financial institutional with knowledge of corporate and investment banking products
• Experience operating in a strong risk and controls environment.

You may be assessed on key critical skills relevant for success in role, such as risk and controls, change and transformation, business acumen, strategic thinking and digital and technology, as well as job-specific technical skills.

18-Month Secondment.

Position is based is Canary Wharf, London.

Purpose of the role

To identify, develop, and embed an approach to managing Barclays' sustainability-related risks, strategy, and ambitions; and supporting the banks’ business objectives, priorities, and regulatory requirements.

Accountabilities

• Collaboration with stakeholders to develop, support, and direct on sustainability-related activities which align to Barclays’ sustainability-related ambitions, targets, and priorities, providing advisory and strategic direction, including for risk management, policies and standards, governance processes, and reporting.

• Identification of sustainability risks and opportunities, through use of sustainability materiality assessments, data analytics, internal and external stakeholder perspectives, and awareness of internal and external industry trends.

• Provide strategic, risk, and policy advisory on sustainability-related activities, guiding on external best practice, whilst maintaining appropriate alignment and benchmarking with industry peers.

• Develop and embed Barclays' sustainability-related activities with internal and external stakeholders to support the banks’, ambitions, targets, and business objectives.

• Management and execution of sustainability-related frameworks and approaches to risk management including alignment to regulatory, policy and legal requirements.

• Development and execution of group-level sustainability-related projects or supporting business-level priorities and ambitions through creating plans, identifying key resources, and monitoring completion within time and budget.

• Identification of industry trends and developments related to sustainability management by attending conferences, participating in training, and conducting market research on emerging sustainability-related techniques and tools.

Vice President Expectations

• To contribute or set strategy, drive requirements and make recommendations for change. Plan resources, budgets, and policies; manage and maintain policies/ processes; deliver continuous improvements and escalate breaches of policies/procedures..

• If managing a team, they define jobs and responsibilities, planning for the department’s future needs and operations, counselling employees on performance and contributing to employee pay decisions/changes. They may also lead a number of specialists to influence the operations of a department, in alignment with strategic as well as tactical priorities, while balancing short and long term goals and ensuring that budgets and schedules meet corporate requirements..

• If the position has leadership responsibilities, People Leaders are expected to demonstrate a clear set of leadership behaviours to create an environment for colleagues to thrive and deliver to a consistently excellent standard. The four LEAD behaviours are: L – Listen and be authentic, E – Energise and inspire, A – Align across the enterprise, D – Develop others..

• OR for an individual contributor, they will be a subject matter expert within own discipline and will guide technical direction. They will lead collaborative, multi-year assignments and guide team members through structured assignments, identify the need for the inclusion of other areas of specialisation to complete assignments. They will train, guide and coach less experienced specialists and provide information affecting long term profits, organisational risks and strategic decisions..

• Advise key stakeholders, including functional leadership teams and senior management on functional and cross functional areas of impact and alignment.

• Manage and mitigate risks through assessment, in support of the control and governance agenda.

• Demonstrate leadership and accountability for managing risk and strengthening controls in relation to the work your team does.

• Demonstrate comprehensive understanding of the organisation functions to contribute to achieving the goals of the business.

• Collaborate with other areas of work, for business aligned support areas to keep up to speed with business activity and the business strategies.

• Create solutions based on sophisticated analytical thought comparing and selecting complex alternatives. In-depth analysis with interpretative thinking will be required to define problems and develop innovative solutions.

• Adopt and include the outcomes of extensive research in problem solving processes.

• Seek out, build and maintain trusting relationships and partnerships with internal and external stakeholders in order to accomplish key business objectives, using influencing and negotiating skills to achieve outcomes.

All colleagues will be expected to demonstrate the Barclays Values of Respect, Integrity, Service, Excellence and Stewardship – our moral compass, helping us do what we believe is right. They will also be expected to demonstrate the Barclays Mindset – to Empower, Challenge and Drive – the operating manual for how we behave.