This role leads the operational rollout of Hilton’s Travel with Purpose sustainability and responsible business strategy across hundreds of properties in the Asia Pacific region. Based in Singapore and reporting into global leadership, you will serve as the regional subject matter expert, guiding property general managers, regional functional heads, and hotel champion networks to hit hard environmental targets alongside social impact commitments.
Driving decarbonization, water efficiency, and waste elimination across massive real estate footprints in diverse Asian markets presents a key leverage point for hospitality. By regionalizing corporate policies into actionable property-level playbooks and championing responsible sourcing, you will directly influence how one of the world’s largest hotel brands reduces its footprint while creating community opportunities in rapidly growing tourist hubs.
This suits someone who blends deep environmental credibility with sophisticated relationship management, capable of influencing senior corporate executives, asset owners, and frontline operations across varied cultural contexts.
Job FAQs
What are the main missions and responsibilities of this role?
The appointed director oversees the execution of Hilton's Travel with Purpose 2030 Goals throughout the Asia Pacific region. This encompasses developing and operationalizing concrete programs targeting carbon reduction, energy conservation, water stewardship, waste reduction, animal welfare, and responsible procurement across regional managed and franchised properties.
On an ongoing operational level, the role acts as the lead advisor for regional corporate functions (such as Architecture, Design & Construction, Engineering, Food & Beverage, and Supply Management) ensuring sustainability standards are integrated into asset renewals and brand operational guidelines. The director also mobilizes and maintains the regional Travel with Purpose Champions network to foster bottom-up property engagement and organizes landmark activations like Earth Day and Travel with Purpose Week.
Additionally, the position is responsible for analyzing property-level environmental data, identifying operational gaps, contributing regional content to Hilton's annual corporate sustainability reporting, and serving as the external brand spokesperson on regional industry coalitions and panel forums.
Key learning opportunities for this job
A professional in this capacity will gain high-visibility leadership experience driving sustainability across one of the most culturally, economically, and operationally diverse regions in the world. Leading sustainability within the hotel sector offers comprehensive exposure to the realities of commercial real estate operations, multi-unit resource efficiency, and decentralized management models.
This position also offers deep practical immersion in hospitality-specific certifications and frameworks, such as GSTC (Global Sustainable Tourism Council), Green Key, and ISO environmental management standards, alongside corporate-level greenhouse gas accounting and reporting protocols across multiple Asian regulatory environments.
Furthermore, operating as the regional bridge between global corporate headquarters in the US and frontline APAC hotel assets will refine strategic change management, executive presentation skills, and the capability to navigate complex ownership-management contract dynamics.
How does the ideal candidate look like (experience, skills)?
The ideal candidate brings at least 8 years of professional experience, including a proven track record of at least 3 years directly driving corporate sustainability, ESG implementation, or sustainable business transformation within hospitality, commercial real estate, or management consulting.
Technical proficiency in greenhouse gas accounting, resource efficiency technologies, and supply chain ethical sourcing standards is essential. Strong analytical capabilities are necessary to evaluate property performance data and extract operational insights, combined with persuasive communication skills to engage stakeholders from property engineers to senior regional vice presidents and hotel owners.
Given the footprint of the APAC portfolio, linguistic proficiency in Mandarin Chinese is considered a significant asset to directly support properties across Greater China, alongside a demonstrated ability to independently manage cross-border projects across global time zones.
Advice to stand out and make a successful application
Candidates should frame their application around demonstrable achievements where operational change or measurable environmental savings were delivered through decentralized teams. Highlighting prior experience in influencing stakeholders who do not report to you directly (such as asset owners, franchise operators, or third-party suppliers) will prove essential.
In the cover letter or interview discussions, move beyond broad corporate sustainability philosophies to address the tangible tension between guest experience, operational feasibility, and resource reduction in commercial buildings. Reference Hilton's Travel with Purpose framework to show an understanding of their specific milestones.
Candidates should also emphasize international versatility and readiness to act autonomously as the primary regional subject-matter expert while maintaining proactive alignment with US-based global sustainability directors.
What aspects of the company's sustainability is this role likely to focus on?
The position centers directly on the practical decarbonization and environmental footprint reduction of hospitality assets, specifically targeting energy conservation, renewable energy adoption, water stress mitigation, and food waste reduction across APAC hotels.
Beyond environmental metrics, the role intersects with Hilton's social and ethical commitments, championing responsible sourcing standards, animal welfare milestones in regional supply chains, local community volunteerism, and youth economic empowerment initiatives.
External positioning and sustainability compliance also form a key dimension, encompassing alignment with emerging regional reporting guidelines, tourism sustainability certifications, and accurate data capture for global ESG disclosures.
What are the main challenges someone in this role might face?
The most prominent hurdle is driving consistent execution across a highly varied footprint of managed and franchised assets. Because hotel owners bear capital expenditures while operators run the daily activities, securing buy-in for energy and water upgrades requires strong commercial justification rather than simple mandates.
Additionally, the geographical breadth of APAC presents fragmented regulatory environments, inconsistent waste-sorting infrastructure, varied renewable energy grid access, and language barriers, making a one-size-fits-all policy unviable.
Balancing strategic program development with the day-to-day coordination required across thousands of property champions, corporate regional departments, and late-night or early-morning alignment calls with US headquarters can also present substantial bandwidth challenges.
How could a typical day look like for someone in this position?
A regular day could start with reviewing property-level utility data dashboards to spot anomalies and track progress toward regional carbon and waste benchmarks. This might be followed by an advisory call with a cluster general manager and chief engineer to discuss water recycling installations or food waste composting pilots.
Midday could be dedicated to collaborating with regional procurement and food & beverage teams to evaluate cage-free egg transition progress or sustainable seafood supplier vetting across Southeast Asia markets.
In the late afternoon, the director might facilitate a virtual workshop for regional hotel sustainability champions, while the evening could wrap up with a coordination session alongside the Senior Director in the United States to align regional progress with global corporate disclosures.
What are the opportunities for professional growth and development in this role?
Serving as the regional sustainability director for an industry heavyweight like Hilton positions an executive at the forefront of the sustainable tourism transition across high-growth markets. Successful leadership in this role can lead toward elevated global director or vice president responsibilities within corporate ESG, operational leadership, or real estate asset management.
The breadth of cross-functional engagement (spanning architecture, brand management, operations, and procurement) prepares candidates for broader operational executive positions or chief sustainability officer pathways across consumer, real estate, and hospitality sectors.
The external advocacy required in this role also establishes the individual as a leading industry authority across regional sustainability councils and hospitality forums.
The main stakeholders you might be interacting with
Internal direct stakeholders include the Senior Director of Global Sustainability & Responsible Business and regional peer directors across the Americas and EMEA, ensuring strategic continuity across global operations.
Within the APAC regional headquarters, routine collaboration takes place with regional heads of Operations, Engineering, Architecture Design & Construction (AD&C), Brands, Food & Beverage, Human Resources, Communications, and Procurement.
At the property level, the director collaborates with General Managers, hotel Chief Engineers, and local Travel with Purpose Champions, while externally liaising with asset owners, hospitality sustainability associations, external auditors, NGOs, and sustainable supply chain partners.
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