The ESG & Social Impact Manager takes the lead on defining and executing the sustainability agenda for a major Canadian financial cooperative. You will bridge the gap between high-level strategic commitments and daily operations, ensuring that environmental and social governance is integrated into every product and decision. This involves managing the full lifecycle of ESG data, from collection and validation to the final disclosure of auditable reports.
This role is critical for the bank as it transitions its brand and deepens its commitment to responsible finance. You will be at the heart of community impact initiatives, financial inclusion programs, and climate risk assessments. By aligning local grassroots values with global reporting standards, you help ensure the organization remains a trusted leader in sustainable banking within British Columbia.
This suits someone who possesses a strong backbone in financial ESG frameworks and thrives on translating complex data into meaningful social outcomes. You should be comfortable working in a matrixed environment where influencing diverse stakeholders is just as important as technical reporting expertise.
Job FAQs
What are the main missions and responsibilities of this role?
The primary mission is to translate the bank's strategic ESG commitments into auditable actions and measurable community outcomes. This involves managing the entire data lifecycle, ensuring that all disclosures are consistent with emerging banking regulations and global sustainability frameworks.
You will also take responsibility for the social impact portfolio, which includes managing community investment programs, financial inclusion initiatives, and social enterprise partnerships. This role ensures that social outcomes are tracked with the same rigor as financial metrics, providing a holistic view of the company's value creation.
Beyond reporting, you will act as a subject matter expert across business units, helping to embed ESG considerations into the design of banking products and enterprise risk management. You will coordinate responses to regulators, investors, and rating agencies to maintain the bank’s reputation in responsible finance.
Key learning opportunities for this job
You will gain significant exposure to the institutionalization of ESG within a regulated financial setting. This includes practical experience in applying climate risk methodologies and sustainable finance standards to a retail and commercial banking portfolio, which are highly transferable skills in the current market.
The role offers a deep dive into the complexities of social impact measurement. You will learn to navigate the intersection of community investment and formal banking KPIs, refining your ability to quantify the 'Social' aspect of ESG using modern impact investment frameworks.
Furthermore, you will sharpen your regulatory literacy. As banking regulations in Canada evolve, you will be at the forefront of implementing new disclosure requirements, providing you with expertise in navigating the intersection of finance, law, and sustainability.
How does the ideal candidate look like (experience, skills)?
The ideal candidate brings between 5 and 7 years of professional experience in ESG, corporate social responsibility, or community investment, preferably within the financial services sector. A Bachelor's degree in a relevant field like sustainability, finance, or public policy provides the necessary academic foundation.
Technical proficiency in ESG data management and reporting frameworks is essential. Candidates should demonstrate a track record of handling complex data sets and turning them into compliant, transparent disclosures that satisfy high-level stakeholder scrutiny.
Highly valued are strong interpersonal skills and the ability to influence others without formal authority. Because this role interacts with Risk, Compliance, and Finance teams, you must be a pragmatic problem-solver who can speak the language of business as effectively as the language of sustainability.
Advice to stand out and make a successful application
Focus your application on your bank-specific ESG knowledge. Reference your familiarity with relevant local and international banking regulations or voluntary standards like TCFD, as this technical expertise is highly valued by a cooperative bank looking to professionalize its reporting.
Highlight your impact measurement experience. Instead of just listing tasks, provide concrete examples of how you have tracked, quantified, and reported on social or environmental KPIs in previous roles. Demonstrating a data-driven approach to community investment will set you apart from more generalist applicants.
Show your alignment with the cooperative model. Since First West/Tru is a member-owned organization, explaining why you value grassroots community impact and how that fits into a broader corporate ESG strategy will resonate strongly with their organizational culture.
What aspects of the company's sustainability is this role likely to focus on?
The role focuses heavily on responsible banking and financial inclusion. This means ensuring that the bank's products and services are accessible and support the social well-being of the communities in British Columbia through targeted social impact initiatives.
There is a strong emphasis on environmental governance and climate risk. You will likely lead efforts to assess how climate change impacts the bank's loan portfolio and operations, aligning these assessments with the bank's long-term decarbonization goals and regulatory expectations.
Transparency through rigorous ESG reporting is a central pillar. The role ensures that the company's sustainability performance is communicated accurately to stakeholders, including members, regulators, and rating agencies, backstopped by solid data and logical frameworks.
What are the main challenges someone in this role might face?
One significant challenge will be embedding ESG into a matrixed organization. You will need to convince different departments, from IT to branch operations, to prioritize ESG data collection and sustainability goals alongside their primary financial objectives.
Navigating the rapidly changing regulatory landscape in Canada's financial sector can be demanding. Staying ahead of new reporting requirements while maintaining existing workflows requires high adaptability and a keen eye for detail to ensure continuous compliance.
Balancing strategic planning with hands-on execution is another hurdle. You will be expected to think at a high level about the bank's strategy while also being the person who validates the spreadsheets and writes the reports, requiring excellent time management skills.
How could a typical day look like for someone in this position?
A typical day might begin with reviewing updated ESG metrics or managing a data collection process with the Finance department, ensuring that inputs for the annual sustainability report are accurate and validated.
Mid-day, you might lead a cross-functional meeting with the Risk and Compliance teams to discuss how to integrate climate-related risks into the enterprise risk framework, or meet with community partners to evaluate the progress of social impact programs.
In the afternoon, you could spend time on strategic research, monitoring new industry trends or regulatory changes. You might end the day by drafting a internal communication piece or training material to help branch staff understand how to discuss the bank's social impact with members.
What are the opportunities for professional growth and development in this role?
There is a clear path toward senior sustainability leadership as the bank’s ESG function matures. Success in this role could lead to a more senior director position or a specialized role focusing on sustainable finance and impact investment strategy.
The position provides high visibility with senior stakeholders, including executive leadership. This exposure can open doors to broader strategic management roles within the cooperative bank or the wider financial services industry, where ESG expertise is increasingly a prerequisite for leadership.
You will also have access to extensive professional development, including in-house training and support for external certifications, allowing you to become a recognized expert in the niche but growing field of responsible banking.
The main stakeholders you might be interacting with
You will frequently collaborate with the Risk, Compliance, and Finance teams to ensure that ESG data is robust and that environmental risks are accounted for in the bank's financial reporting.
Internal stakeholders also include HR and Business Unit leaders, with whom you will work to embed social impact initiatives and drive employee engagement around the bank’s sustainability purpose.
Externally, you will interact with community partners and NGOs to deliver social impact programs, as well as regulators and rating agencies who require accurate and timely disclosures on the bank's ESG performance.
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