ESG Performance & Reporting Manager

The role has three intertwined missions that run through the entire posting: running the group's ESG action plan, producing reliable ESG data and reporting, and steering external assessments such as EcoVadis and CDP. Day to day that means coordinating owners, milestones and performance indicators across functions and countries, then checking that actions are actually moving. Where gaps appear, the manager supports the responsible teams and escalates where needed. On the data side, the manager coordinates collection, validation and consolidation of ESG information from different geographies, develops dashboards and management reports, and works on data quality, governance and traceability. The aim is reporting that can withstand external assurance and audits, with evidence that is easy to find. That flows into group-level reporting and frameworks such as GRI and CSRD, and into preparing or supporting submissions and certifications. Assessment work is more strategic than purely administrative. The manager leads the EcoVadis and CDP processes, analyses the results, and converts findings into prioritised improvement actions with measurable targets. A commercial thread also exists: responding to ESG-related client requests for information and contributing to proposals, which links the group's ESG performance to business development. The overarching goal is to strengthen Sia's ESG programme and show measurable progress across a group of 3,000 consultants in twenty countries.

The first area of learning is external assessment practice. Sia names EcoVadis and CDP as central to the role, so the person can expect to gain direct command of these methodologies: how questions are scored, which evidence is accepted, how improvement actions move the result year over year. That skill is portable and in demand. Second, the reporting frameworks angle is deep enough to build a genuine specialism. Working on GRI and CSRD reporting, and supporting external assurance and audits, teaches a candidate how to move from a spreadsheet to auditable, traceable disclosed data. This is the part many sustainability professionals lack, and it is exactly what the posting emphasises through the language of data quality, governance, traceability and audit readiness. Third, the coordination scope across functions and geographies builds project management and stakeholder skills that are hard to acquire elsewhere. The person will likely run the group's ESG action plan with owners, milestones and indicators, which means learning to influence senior people without hierarchy. Add the commercial exposure from client RFIs and RFPs, and the role offers a mix of technical, regulatory and business experience. Mentorship is not described in the posting, so the practical assumption is that learning happens through doing, backed by the group's consulting culture.

The posting sets a clear baseline: a Master's degree from a top university, business or engineering school, and three to five years in ESG, sustainability, CSR, reporting or data analysis. That range points to a professional who has already run parts of a reporting cycle rather than a graduate entering the field. The strongest differentiator is direct experience preparing EcoVadis and CDP submissions, which the posting calls strongly preferred. A candidate who has done this understands how evidence files are structured, how scoring weights work, and how findings turn into an action plan. Alongside that, the profile needs solid knowledge of disclosure frameworks such as GRI and CSRD, plus real data skills: collection, validation, consolidation, and dashboards that management can use. Project management and cross-functional coordination are named again and again, so the person should be comfortable setting owners, milestones and performance indicators, then chasing delivery without direct authority. On soft skills, the posting asks for rigour, autonomy, and comfort in an international, matrixed organisation. That combination is specific: someone who documents decisions, keeps evidence traceable, and can hold a deadline with a country manager in a different time zone. Fluency in English is required and French is a plus, which fits a group headquartered in Paris with twenty countries to cover. Analytical judgement matters too, since assessment results and raw data must be translated into prioritised actions that non-experts can act on.

Prepare a short account of one reporting cycle you actually ran. The posting asks for a hands-on manager with three to five years in ESG, reporting or data analysis, and the hiring team will likely test process thinking over vocabulary. Build a one-page case story from a past role: the data you collected, the owners you chased, the quality checks you introduced, and the final evidence pack. If you have never prepared an EcoVadis or CDP submission, treat that as a gap and fill it before applying by studying the public methodologies and the questionnaire structures. Then write a cover letter that maps your past work to the four pillars of this role: action plan coordination, data consolidation and dashboards, external assessments and disclosures, and audit or RFI support. The role sits in a consulting group with 3,000 staff across 20 countries, so show that you can work across borders without a formal hierarchy over your counterparts. Mention specific examples of chasing data from country managers or function leads, of setting deadlines that stuck, and of improving traceability so that an auditor could follow a number back to its source. Quantify outcomes where you can: assessment scores lifted, reporting cycles shortened, open actions closed. In interviews, expect discussion of EcoVadis and CDP scoring mechanics, CSRD and its relation to GRI, and assurance readiness. Bring an analytical point of view rather than a list of frameworks. Fluency in English is required and French is a plus, so if you hold French, say how it helps you collect data from the Paris-headquartered group and its local entities. Ask questions that show you understand the matrixed context: who owns ESG data in each country, and how internal controls are set.

The stated focus areas of the role are reporting, data and assessments, so its intersection with Sia's sustainability work is broad but weighted toward governance and disclosure. EcoVadis and CDP sit at the centre of the job, and these assessments typically look at environmental performance, labour and human rights, ethics and sustainable procurement. For a consulting group employing 3,000 people, ESG priorities are likely to concentrate on the social and governance dimensions: employee-related policies, ethics and compliance, supplier engagement, and the environmental footprint of offices and business travel. CSRD and GRI reporting shape how those topics get measured and published, and the manager contributes directly to group-level reporting. The action plan that the role coordinates is the mechanism through which the group turns disclosed commitments into measurable movement, so involvement spans environmental indicators such as emissions where relevant, social indicators across the workforce, and governance items relating to policies and controls. There is also a commercial angle worth noting. Sia advises clients on artificial intelligence, strategy and management, and the posting mentions responsibility as part of the group's positioning. A credible internal ESG record strengthens the client-facing narrative, particularly when procurement teams ask for ESG information through RFIs and RFPs. The manager's work therefore supports both the group's own accountability and its ability to win responsible-transformation engagements.

The clearest difficulty is authority without ownership. The action plan spans functions and twenty countries, but the manager will rarely be the line manager of the people who must deliver the data. Influencing busy country and function leads, and keeping milestones credible when priorities shift, is a daily test. The posting itself signals this by asking for someone comfortable in a matrixed, international organisation. Data quality is the second hurdle. The manager is asked to improve governance, traceability and audit readiness while also producing dashboards and management reports. Those two goals can conflict under deadline pressure: a fast reporting cycle often tempts teams to accept unverified numbers, while audit readiness demands evidence and controls. Progress on EcoVadis and CDP scores can be slow, since several criteria depend on evidence owned elsewhere and on policies that take time to formalise. Regulatory pressure adds complexity. CSRD and assurance requirements are evolving, and a global consultancy must decide how the group perimeter, policies and disclosure choices respond to them. The ESG manager may need to absorb these shifts while keeping existing reporting stable. Finally, the role carries a client-facing dimension through RFIs and RFPs, so competing demands from internal governance and commercial deadlines are likely. Balancing rigour with responsiveness is probably the central challenge.

A regular day is likely split between data work and coordination. The manager might spend the morning reviewing ESG data received from country or function contacts, checking completeness, resolving inconsistencies and updating the dashboards that track progress against targets. That work is methodical: validating figures, chasing missing evidence, and preparing consolidated files before they feed into reports or assessment submissions. Meetings fill much of the rest. Short check-ins with action owners inside the group, calls with colleagues in different time zones, and working sessions with the finance or HR teams who hold parts of the data are all plausible. During an assessment cycle, the pace shifts toward EcoVadis or CDP: gathering evidence, drafting answers, and reviewing drafts with internal experts. In the run-up to a reporting or assurance deadline, the role becomes more intense, with more validation rounds and evidence requests. The rhythm varies by cycle. External assessment periods and reporting deadlines bring concentrated effort, while quieter stretches allow work on data governance, documentation and traceability improvements. Occasional support for client RFIs or proposals adds a commercial interruption, and the manager may need to turn around ESG information quickly for a bidding team.

Sia describes itself as a global consulting group in artificial intelligence, strategy and management, so an ESG manager here sits close to the firm's own responsibility agenda. Growth can come from depth as the regulatory load increases: the CSRD and related assurance work are expanding quickly, and the person who learns to build rigorous, auditable ESG reporting for a consulting group could become the reference for regulatory reporting and controls. That is a durable specialism in the market. Breadth is the second path. The role coordinates the action plan across functions and geographies, which gives visibility with leaders well beyond the sustainability team. If the person performs well, a move toward a Head of ESG or Group Responsibility role is a plausible next step, though the timing depends on how the group structures its function. The commercial angle is also open: responding to client RFIs and contributing to RFPs puts the manager in front of business teams, and in a consultancy that connection to revenue is valuable. Finally, the internal advisory model typical of consultancies could allow lateral moves, for example into commercial due diligence or transformation engagements with an ESG or responsibility angle. The posting does not promise a set promotion ladder, so the realistic reading is that growth will follow demonstrated impact on the assessments and on the quality of group reporting.

The core relationships are internal. The ESG Performance and Reporting Manager will work with action owners across functions, likely HR and people teams, finance, IT, procurement, legal and operations, and with country or entity contacts in the twenty countries where Sia operates. Those interactions are coordination-heavy: agreeing indicators, requesting data, validating figures and following up on gaps. Much of the job is influencing people who do not report to the manager, which shapes the nature of the relationship more than any meeting cadence. Upward, the role supports a Group-level ESG or responsibility lead and interacts with management who consume the dashboards and reports. External assessment bodies are another set of stakeholders: EcoVadis and CDP are named in the posting, and the person will be the internal point of contact for those submissions. Externally, auditors and assurance providers will interact with the manager during certification and verification work, and client-side procurement or sustainability teams may reach out through ESG-related RFIs and RFPs. Collaboration with peers in business consulting and AI practices is also plausible, since Sia's own responsible-use and client-facing claims can depend on group ESG data. Front Deployed Engineers and client teams will not be frequent contacts, but anyone whose work touches ESG data or client questionnaires could cross the manager's path.