Senior Consultant (Biodiversity & Nature)

Groupe Ecoact is hiring a Senior Consultant (Biodiversity & Nature) in London. The role involves leading projects for corporate clients on biodiversity footprinting, Science-Based Targets, and sustainability management. Responsibilities include project management, client engagement, and team mentoring. The consultant will develop solutions addressing environmental challenges and contribute to the consultancy's overall function, ensuring quality and fostering relationships across services.
EcoAct, is an international climate consultancy and project developer that supports companies to set robust science-aligned net-zero strategies and achieve their climate targets. Founded in France in 2005, the company now spans three continents with offices in Paris, London, Barcelona, New York, Montreal, Munich, Milan, and Kenya.

With a team of more than 300 international climate experts, EcoAct’s core purpose is to lead the way in delivering sustainable business solutions that deliver true value for both climate and client. EcoAct is a CDP Gold Partner, a founding member of ICROA, a strategic partner in the implementation of the Gold Standard for the Global Goals and reports to the UN Global Compact.

About the role

Our consultants help our clients create business value through carbon, energy, biodiversity and sustainability management. They help them to understand their impacts, risks and dependencies on nature and then go beyond measurement to create achievable management plans and to communicate their achievements.

The mission of the Senior Consultant is to develop and deliver intelligent solutions for our clients, that help make sense of the environmental landscape and the challenges presented by a changing climate.

The Senior Consultant will contribute to our overall consultancy function and take responsibility for managing and delivering a range of carbon, energy and sustainability projects.

Key Responsibilities and Deliverables:
• Leading strategic projects with large corporate clients to build and implement ambitious biodiversity footprinting and risk assessment projects.
• Spearhead the development and execution of Science-Based Targets (SBT) for Forest Land & Agriculture (FLAG) projects for our primary clients.
• Identify and merge the connections and mutual benefits between Science-Based Targets Network (SBTN) and SBT FLAG into our service portfolio.
• Engaging and developing with our project development team to establish no net loss/net gain and/or nature positive outcomes (at site or portfolio level).
• Explore and establish broader relationships between Biodiversity & Nature evaluations and extended mitigation strategies beyond the value chain, such as carbon offsetting.
• Seek and foster broader connections between Biodiversity & Nature and our extensive services, which include sustainability reporting, Scope 3 emissions assessments, Life Cycle Analysis, and disclosures to the Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP).
• Developing and delivering SBT Forest Land & Agricultural (FLAG) projects and biodiversity impact, risks and dependency assessments for key clients.
• Identifying links & synergies between SBTN and SBT FLAG, and folding these into our offerings.
• Project managing a selection of projects including: SBTis, Corporate Carbon Footprints, Compliance including but not limited to SECR, Climate Change Agreements (CCA), Emission Trading System (ETS).
• Managing teams, including mentoring and training.
• Internal performance reporting on service line and supporting technical.
• External relationships are a key part of the role, with a requirement to liaise with project teams, clients, overseas offices, regulators and representatives from partner organisations.
• Contributing to firm building and identifying improvements in our service.
• Quality Assuring large data sets and analytical outputs; Producing findings reports following research and communicate recommendations to the wider team.

Relationships

Reporting to a senior member of the Advisory Team, the Senior Consultant will be required to work closely with all members of the team, both Advisory and Business Development, to achieve Company objectives.

Professional Background and Experience

Significant post-graduate experience of working within sustainability services and have supported on a range of projects, ideally demonstrated through client consulting engagements in the private sector.

Technical
• An undergraduate degree in ecological, biological, biophysical or social science required. Relevant post-graduate degree desired but not essential.
• Understanding of key global biodiversity challenges, targets and standards.
• Technical background in ecology, terrestrial and/or marine biodiversity, and/or ecosystem services is required.
• Experience establishing and delivering no net loss/net gain and/or nature positive outcomes (at site or portfolio level) preferable.
• Familiarity with major biodiversity safeguards and standards, such as IFC Performance Standard 6 and the Equator Principles, is desired.
• Experience working with and applying major biodiversity reporting standards (e.g., TNFD, CSRD, SBTN, etc.) is advantageous.
• Detailed knowledge of issues surrounding climate change, energy, greenhouse gas emissions and sustainability.
• Familiarity with biodiversity assessment tools such as Global Biodiversity Score (GBS) would be an asset.
• Working knowledge and experience of carbon accounting, carbon measurement techniques and calculation methods for Scopes 1, 2 and 3.
• Excellent data handling skills and advanced knowledge of Excel is essential in this role.
• Familiarity with a range of approaches to target setting including science-based target methodologies, CDP, climate-related risk assessment and scenario analysis.
• Familiarity with the recommendations of TCFD, ISSB and other guiding bodies to help companies manage and prepare against the impact of climate change.
• Detailed understanding of UK legislative frameworks, such as SECR.

Professional
• Strong commercial skills and comfort with supporting the delivery and management of large business deals with FTSE 100 clients, including the ability to coordinate responses to proposals, sell and deliver to new and existing clients.
• Experience of working in a consultative manner to understand client needs and guide them to a solution, preferably demonstrated through client consulting engagements in the private sector.
• Excellent organisational skills, with the ability to manage complex project deliveries across multiple simultaneous client engagements.
• Excellent communication skills, with the ability to speak and present information with confidence in front of an audience, lead and influence client workshops and represent EcoAct at industry events.
• Strong analytical and problem-solving skills with an ability to produce well- presented, error-free work.
• Experience and success in contributing to building teams and business lines in a commercial and profitable way including staff resource planning/skills and monitoring utilisation levels to manage optimum project staffing.
• Strong leadership and management skills and a team player with high personal and professional standards, who can mentor and motivate more junior staff.

Location

The role is based in the UK with a flexible blend of home and office working. The role requires attendance at the London head office as necessary for business purposes.

Salary and Benefits

EcoAct know how important it is to look after our colleagues. As well as a competitive salary, EcoAct offers a comprehensive benefits package including a flexible pension allowance, private medical insurance, life insurance, professional subscriptions plus the option to opt into a range of individual and family benefits.

EcoAct offers great opportunities for your personal development and career advancement. We offer a structured career development path with clear timelines and expectations for progression.

Working with our dedicated team of experts, you will gain a high standard of skills development and expertise, starting with our in-depth induction programme, through to ongoing technical training and an extensive range of learning and development opportunities.

Company Culture

Company culture is of great importance to us and is something that every member of EcoAct helps to create. Our colleague led initiative, which represents the three pillars of Colleagues, Community and Environment, runs numerous activities including, Veggie lunches, volunteering and fund-raising opportunities, wellbeing activities, plastic reduction and energy saving initiatives, social and sports events.

Employee well-being is a key priority for us, and we recognise the importance of work-life balance and how EcoAct can be supportive of individual needs; working from home, working part-time or flexible start and finish times can all be accommodated.

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