Director, India Sustainability

Salesforce is hiring a Director of Sustainability for India to lead and localize its environmental strategy. This role involves establishing Salesforce as a leader in sustainable AI, managing energy transition projects, and engaging with various stakeholders to promote sustainability initiatives. The director will mentor local leaders, support climate advocacy, and collaborate with teams to implement sustainability programs while driving impactful change across the region.
About Salesforce
Were Salesforce, the Customer Company, inspiring the future of business with AI+ Data +CRM. Leading with our core values, we help companies across every industry blaze new trails and connect with customers in a whole new way. And, we empower you to be a Trailblazer, too — driving your performance and career growth, charting new paths, and improving the state of the world. If you believe in business as the greatest platform for change and in companies doing well and doing good – youve come to the right place.
Salesforce is seeking a dynamic and visionary Director of Sustainability for India to localize and lead our environmental strategy across the region. In this high-impact role, youll position Salesforce as a leader in sustainable AI, while driving flagship initiatives like our 1t.org forest restoration commitment, India energy transition pilots, and AI for climate use cases with NGO partners. Youll engage with government, customers, employees, and partners to elevate our climate and nature agenda—shaping policy, mentoring local leaders, and building deep ecosystem collaborations. If youre passionate about accelerating sustainable impact and influencing change at scale, wed love to hear from you.
This role reports to the SVP & Managing Director, Sites, India, and works in close coordination with the global VP of Climate Action. They will work closely with our India Philanthropy lead, Government Affairs, and the global Impact team, which develops and executes Salesforces strategy to support a low-carbon future and a nature-positive world.
Responsibilities
- Localize and Lead Sustainability Implementation in India
- Establish Salesforce as a national Sustainability leader, including on sustainable AI
- Lead on India energy transition pilot projects as a local implementation of Salesforces Science-based Targets and Climate Transition Plan
- Identify and support building of high profile AI use cases for climate, nature and water action in particular with NGO customers
- Lead on the India deployment of our 1t.org activities and resources (our 100M tree commitment) and identifying new companies to join 1t.org
- Mentor India leadership team and employees to become advocates/ambassadors for sustainability and impact initiatives
- Establish country-specific targets & programs to support key priority areas, like policy, nature, and employee engagement in partnership with the global Impact team
- Build awareness and excitement for sustainability within Salesforce India, leveraging global moments to create local events/engagement opportunities
- Elevate sustainability initiatives to the Impact team and India leadership team in order to gain support/budget for implementing
- Collaborate with the national Philanthropy lead to align India climate grantmaking with global and national sustainability priorities
- Manage stakeholders effectively to achieve shared goals (including collaborating with local and global leadership)
- Partner with PR, internal comms and Government Affairs to localize global company messaging to local context.
Policy & Advocacy:
- Collaborate with Impact, Government Affairs, Legal and PR teams to implement the India climate & nature advocacy agenda
- In partnership with Government Affairs, engage with local stakeholders and trade associations to identify, evaluate and recommend advocacy engagements to set India on a path towards a 1.5 degree future.
Customer & Ecosystem engagement:
- Raise awareness locally for Salesforces sustainability leadership
- Align and collaborate with peers at other organizations, including customers and Salesforce partners.
- Represent Salesforce at major events and conferences
- Liaise with Sales, Marketing, and the Net Zero Cloud teams to support strategic customer engagement and better position Salesforce products with potential customers.
- Develop strong partnerships with organizations that are focused on sustainability initiatives and identify opportunities to scale the initiatives.
- Ensure that Sustainability program is fully integrated and represented at key internal and external events
- Provide input into and bring innovative ideas to the global strategy through identified channels
Skills & Experience
- The ideal candidate will have a proven track record of successfully managing complex projects in a fast-paced environment. They should also have a strong understanding of corporate sustainability fundamentals, especially the challenges and opportunities that companies encounter as they chart their climate and nature action journeys.
- Exceptional written and verbal communication skills and attention to detail are critical. This role requires driving change through influence and the management of stakeholders from various functions in the business.
- +10 years of overall professional experience, +5 years in environmental sustainability, preferably in the corporate context
- Environmental degree or similar environmental credentials
- Robust regional and local sustainability knowledge and network
- Proven track record in engaging in the transition to renewable energy in India
- Proven track record in stakeholder engagement or management (such as leading or being a representative in a sustainability stakeholder coalition)
- Fluency in English and proven ability to communicate effectively, including public speaking
- Proven experience to learn new technologies, including the application of AI for climate and nature goals
- Proven experience in a role requiring high-attention to detail and organization skills in a fast paced environment
- Excellent stakeholder management skills - including proven experience working closely with executives
- Familiar with local government policies and laws related to environmental topics
- Familiar with corporate grantmaking or CSR engagement (either on corporate side or from an NGO perspective)