Regional Environmental and Sustainability Manager - Northern EU

The core mission is to lead environmental sustainability performance across H&MV Engineering's Northern European operations. In practice, that means owning compliance with environmental legislation, permits and client requirements, running a risk-based audit and assurance programme, and making sure the group's Environmental Sustainability Management System is applied consistently across every project in the region. You would also manage and develop a team of environmental professionals, allocating resources according to project risk, workload and geography. Beyond compliance, the role carries responsibility for delivering the Northern EU environmental sustainability plan, aligned with group strategy and annual targets. That includes driving initiatives across carbon and energy, circular economy and waste, biodiversity and natural capital, people development, and transparent reporting. You would oversee project environmental documentation such as construction environmental management plans, waste and resource plans, aspects and impacts registers and permit registers, and you would lead the regional response to significant incidents, complaints and permit breaches. A significant part of the job is interface work: acting as the primary regional contact for operational leadership, key clients and regulators, escalating material risks to the Environmental Sustainability Director, and feeding regional risks into tender reviews with the Pre-Construction Environmental Sustainability Advisor. The monthly regional dashboard, covering incidents, audits, actions, permits, key risks and sustainability performance, is another recurring responsibility that ties the role to measurable outcomes.

This role offers exposure to a wide range of environmental and sustainability practice within a regulated engineering and construction environment. You would deepen your knowledge of Northern European environmental legislation and permitting across multiple countries, and gain practical experience auditing and improving an ISO 14001 management system at regional scale. Incident investigation, regulatory engagement and corrective action programmes are areas where you would build significant hands-on expertise. On the sustainability side, the six strategic pillars mean you would touch carbon and energy, circular economy and waste, biodiversity and natural capital, and transparency and reporting, rather than specialising narrowly. Producing senior management reports and performance dashboards would sharpen your analytical and communication skills. Leading a geographically distributed team would develop your people-management and resource-planning capabilities, with coaching and technical support responsibilities built into the role. Working alongside the Pre-Construction Environmental Sustainability Advisor and cross-regional colleagues also creates opportunities to learn how environmental risk is assessed at tender stage and how group strategy translates into regional execution. For someone aiming at a director-level environmental role, this position provides the portfolio breadth and governance experience that path typically requires.

The ideal candidate likely holds a bachelor's degree or equivalent in environmental management, environmental science, sustainability, engineering or a related discipline, plus at least ten years of environmental management experience in construction, engineering, infrastructure, utilities or energy. Proven experience leading environmental professionals and managing performance across multiple projects or countries is essential, as is strong working knowledge of environmental legislation, permitting and construction-related risks in Northern Europe. Technically, you should be comfortable implementing and auditing environmental management systems, particularly ISO 14001, and have experience managing significant environmental incidents, regulatory engagement and corrective action programmes. Producing senior management reports, performance dashboards and risk-based assurance programmes should be familiar ground. Professional membership or relevant environmental certification is desirable but not mandatory. On the soft skills side, the role calls for leadership and people-management ability with geographically distributed teams, strong stakeholder influence at director level, and the judgement to balance environmental risk against client expectations and project delivery. Resilience, a solutions-focused approach and excellent written and verbal communication across cultures matter, as does a full clean driving licence and willingness to travel regularly across Northern Europe.

Your application should make the regional and multi-project dimension obvious, because that is what separates this role from a single-site environmental management job. Quantify the number of projects, countries or teams you have covered, and be specific about the sectors involved, especially construction, utilities, energy or infrastructure. Named experience with ISO 14001 implementation and auditing, incident investigation and regulator engagement will carry more weight than general sustainability statements. Since H&MV works on high-voltage grid, data centre, wind, solar and battery storage projects, showing familiarity with the environmental risks those projects create, such as ground disturbance, waste, water, pollution prevention and ecological constraints, will signal that you understand their world. Referencing how you have balanced compliance with delivery pressure, and how you have influenced operational leaders, addresses the stakeholder-management demands described in the posting. For interview preparation, be ready to discuss specific incidents or permit issues you have handled, how you escalated or resolved them, and what changed afterwards. Demonstrating a coaching approach to team development and a clear method for prioritising risk across a large portfolio would align well with the responsibilities. Attention to the six strategic pillars in your answers, and to travel and cross-cultural working, would show you have read the role carefully.

The role sits at the operational end of H&MV's environmental agenda. Because the company builds high-voltage substations, grid routes, wind farms, solar and battery storage, the sustainability focus is likely concentrated on the environmental impacts of that construction activity: permit compliance, pollution prevention, waste and resource management, ecological protection and habitat considerations at project sites across Northern Europe. Carbon and energy also feature through the company's Net Zero and energy efficiency pillar, so you would support decarbonisation of operations and renewable integration in how projects are designed and delivered. The circular economy and waste pillar points to lean engineering, sustainable procurement and minimising construction waste, while the biodiversity and natural capital pillar suggests involvement in nature-positive design and habitat restoration where projects touch sensitive areas. On the reporting side, you would help maintain transparent internal and external sustainability reporting, including the monthly regional dashboard and input to ISO 14001 governance. The role is therefore less about corporate ESG strategy in the abstract and more about making environmental performance hold up on live engineering sites.

One likely challenge is balancing environmental risk against project delivery pressure in a construction business where schedules and costs are tightly managed. You will need to hold firm on compliance and pollution prevention while staying pragmatic enough to keep projects moving, and that tension often plays out in conversations with operational directors and project leaders rather than in purely technical decisions. Another challenge is the geographic spread. Covering multiple countries and a complex regional project portfolio means significant travel, time zone and cultural differences, and the constant need to prioritise where to focus limited team resources. Incidents, permit breaches and regulator queries can arrive without warning and require fast, well-judged escalation, sometimes under reputational pressure. Building and maintaining a consistent environmental culture across distributed sites is also demanding. You depend on project teams to follow procedures, report incidents and act on audit findings, so influencing skills and persistence matter as much as technical knowledge. Keeping the management system, dashboards and reporting accurate while the business grows adds a further layer of complexity.

A typical day likely blends people leadership and technical assurance. You might start with a call with your Environmental Sustainability team spread across Northern Europe, checking on project mobilisation reviews, upcoming audits or an incident that needs escalation. Mid-morning could be a meeting with operational directors on a hyperscale data centre or substation project, where you weigh environmental risk against delivery pressure and agree practical controls. Afternoons might be spent reviewing construction environmental management plans, waste and resource plans or permit registers for an upcoming project, or preparing the monthly regional dashboard that tracks incidents, audits, permits and key risks. You could also join a tender review with the Pre-Construction Environmental Sustainability Advisor to flag regional environmental risks before handover into delivery. Variability comes from the portfolio itself. A permit breach, regulator query or client complaint can shift the day toward investigation and stakeholder engagement, while quieter periods allow more time for strategy work on carbon, biodiversity or team development.

The role reports directly to the Environmental Sustainability Director, which places it close to senior decision-making and gives visibility across the group's environmental strategy. For someone with regional delivery experience, that proximity could support progression toward a group-level or director position, particularly as H&MV continues to grow internationally and its environmental function matures alongside ISO 14001 governance and reporting obligations. Beyond promotion, the breadth of the role supports lateral development. You would gain exposure to carbon and energy, circular economy, biodiversity and reporting, and could deepen expertise in any of these areas. Leading a multi-country team and coordinating regional resource planning builds management credentials that transfer to larger operational or sustainability leadership roles. High-visibility projects in data centres, renewables and grid infrastructure mean your work is seen by operational directors and key clients, which can open doors to broader roles. Cross-regional collaboration and involvement in tender and mobilisation stages also offer chances to influence how environmental risk is handled earlier in the project lifecycle, a skill set increasingly valued at senior levels.

The most immediate stakeholders are your own Environmental Sustainability team and the Environmental Sustainability Director, to whom you report and escalate material regulatory, client or reputational risks. You would also work closely with operational directors and project leaders across Northern Europe, since they own delivery and you need their cooperation to implement environmental controls, audits and corrective actions on site. Externally, the role is the primary regional interface with regulators, which means engaging on permits, compliance issues and incident responses. Key clients, particularly in data centres, renewables and utilities, will also be regular contacts, as their own environmental requirements and expectations shape project commitments. The Pre-Construction Environmental Sustainability Advisor is a key internal partner during tender and mobilisation stages. You can expect to interact with cross-regional counterparts in other parts of H&MV, sharing lessons learned and aligning on group standards, and with specialist functions such as quality and health and safety teams where ISO management systems overlap. The nature of these interactions ranges from formal audits and management reviews to informal coaching and problem-solving on live project issues.