Senior Sustainability Manager

The primary mission of this role is to drive the implementation of Melbourne Airport's comprehensive sustainability agenda across all physical assets and business operations. You will serve as a strategic partner to internal units such as Major Projects, Operations, and Finance, integrating environmental criteria into procurement, design, and capital investment decisions. Key responsibilities include steering decarbonisation programs, covering Scope 1, 2, and broader Scope 3 aviation emissions pathways, such as sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) facilitation and ground transport electrification. You will oversee rigorous sustainability and climate reporting in line with standards like AASB S2, TCFD, and GRESB, ensuring all corporate environmental data is strong, verifiable, and audit-ready. Additionally, you will champion initiatives in embodied carbon reduction, circular economy, and climate risk resilience, ensuring major projects like the Third Runway adhere to progressive sustainability principles.

Working within an asset-heavy aviation precinct exposes you to the cutting edge of industrial decarbonisation. You will gain deep technical understanding of hard-to-abate aviation emissions, including infrastructure requirements for alternative fuels and fleet electrification. You will also build advanced expertise in mandatory climate disclosures, navigating the transition to Australia's mandatory AASB S2 and IFRS S2 standards. This provides valuable cross-functional experience in aligning corporate financial modeling with long-term climate scenario analysis. Moreover, the role offers exceptional exposure to master-planned infrastructure delivery, broadening your skills in life-cycle assessment, circular procurement, and nature-positive development across commercial real estate and transport infrastructure.

The ideal candidate brings extensive background (typically 10+ years) in corporate sustainability, climate change, or ESG advisory, ideally gained client-side or within a major infrastructure or real asset environment. A tertiary qualification in sustainability, engineering, or environmental science is expected. Strong technical capability in carbon accounting, scenario analysis, and reporting standards (such as AASB S2, TCFD, or GRESB) is essential. Candidates should possess the analytical rigor to validate and critique complex emissions datasets with confidence. Crucially, you must have proven commercial acumen and stakeholder influence. You should be capable of negotiating pragmatic solutions that balance capital expenditure, engineering constraints, and environmental ambitions without direct line authority.

Highlight your experience delivering tangible sustainability outcomes inside complex engineering or asset-management contexts. Emphasize instances where you translated corporate ESG goals into concrete design choices or operational changes rather than merely writing high-level policy. Demonstrate familiarity with Australia's evolving reporting environment, specifically the transition to AASB S2 climate reporting. Detail your experience with Scope 3 accounting and data assurance processes, as this will show readiness for the airport's compliance needs. In interviews, articulate how you persuade non-sustainability stakeholders. Framing sustainability initiatives in terms of commercial viability, risk mitigation, and infrastructure resilience will strongly resonate with the leadership team.

The role centers primarily on operational and infrastructure decarbonisation across an expansive 2,400-hectare site. Priority areas include managing Scope 3 emissions, exploring infrastructure for sustainable aviation fuel, and driving electrification of airside vehicles and airport equipment. Sustainable infrastructure development is another critical focal point. You will address embodied carbon, water conservation, and waste diversion across major developments, including terminal expansions and commercial business park projects. Lastly, climate resilience and corporate governance form an essential pillar. You will lead climate risk assessments, evaluate physical and transitional climate risks, and produce transparent disclosures that satisfy regulators, investors, and community stakeholders.

A significant challenge lies in influencing cross-functional leaders who must balance sustainability against strict commercial budgets, delivery timelines, and 24/7 operational constraints. Success relies on finding workable compromises that protect environmental ambitions without compromising aviation safety or logistics. Addressing Scope 3 emissions in the aviation industry is inherently difficult due to dependencies on airline partners, aircraft technology, and regulatory progress. Navigating these external constraints requires realistic, long-term strategic patience. Additionally, preparing the organization for mandatory, auditable climate disclosures requires standardizing and validating disparate data streams from energy, water, construction, and waste systems across dozens of external airport tenants.

A typical day could start with reviewing greenhouse gas emissions models and briefing internal finance teams on compliance with AASB S2 reporting frameworks. By midday, you might join the Major Projects team to review low-carbon concrete options or circular design specifications for ongoing terminal upgrades or the Third Runway development, providing technical input on embodied carbon targets. In the afternoon, you may participate in a workshop with external airline representatives and infrastructure partners to discuss on-airport infrastructure readiness for electric fleet charging or sustainable aviation fuels, followed by synthesizing findings for the executive committee.

Given the scale of Melbourne Airport's ongoing growth, this role provides high visibility with senior leadership and board-level committees, positioning you well for broader executive roles such as Head of Sustainability or ESG Director. You will gain rare, sector-defining experience leading the decarbonisation strategy of a major national infrastructure asset, an expertise highly sought after across global transport, energy, and infrastructure funds. There is also substantial room to lead industry-wide initiatives, establishing yourself as a recognized thought leader in sustainable aviation and low-carbon infrastructure through government and industry partnerships.

Internally, you will collaborate extensively with the Major Projects and Development teams, project managers, and engineers to integrate sustainability specifications into project blueprints and capital requests. You will also work alongside Operations, Asset Management, and Finance, aligning climate risk data with core financial reporting and capital allocation plans. Externally, key interactions include airline partners, ground handling operators, regulatory bodies, and supply chain vendors, alongside community and local government representatives invested in precinct development.