Senior Manager Sustainability

The role owns the Canadian execution of Sysco's global sustainability strategy, Securing the Future of Food, with a clear commercial KPI: scaling the One Planet, One Table sustainable offering with customers. Day to day, this means building and implementing market-level sustainability plans, identifying where sustainability can be embedded into core operational processes, and working across sales, operations, technology, and marketing teams to make that happen. A significant portion of the work is program design and delivery, developing the Canadian One Planet, One Table offer, leading the Emerging Suppliers Program with an initial focus on Indigenous suppliers through Pathways to Procurement, and driving sustainability communications and stakeholder engagement. The role also carries a strong customer-facing dimension. The incumbent provides strategic guidance to local and national sales teams, prepares sustainability tools and materials, contributes to RFP responses, and develops targeted strategies for key accounts. Acting as an internal subject-matter expert, they advise on customer-oriented initiatives such as food donations, waste management, fleet optimization, and facility-related sustainability strategies. On the performance side, the position establishes processes to track Canadian sustainability initiatives, analyze their impact, and present results to leadership. Continuous improvement is expected, driven by feedback, data analysis, and cross-functional collaboration. Long term, the goal is to generate measurable environmental and commercial outcomes while supporting broader North American growth priorities through the global sustainability team.

This role offers unusual exposure to the commercial side of sustainability. The candidate will learn how to build a customer-facing sustainable product offering, price and position it with sales teams, and measure its uptake as a KPI, skills that sit at the intersection of sustainability and revenue generation rather than in a purely reporting function. Working on RFP responses and key account strategies will sharpen the ability to frame sustainability as a business advantage. There is also deep learning in sustainable procurement. Leading the Emerging Suppliers Program, with an initial focus on Indigenous suppliers under Pathways to Procurement, provides practical experience in supplier diversity, community engagement, and supply chain transformation, areas that are increasingly central to credible ESG strategies but hard to learn in theory. Finally, operating within a global sustainability team while owning a market-level plan builds cross-cultural and matrix-management capability. The candidate will likely gain fluency in Sysco's global framework, local Canadian regulatory requirements, and the translation work between them, which is a portable skill set for any multinational.

The ideal candidate holds a bachelor's degree in sustainability, environmental science, business, or a related field, with a master's degree as a differentiator, and brings more than seven years of experience in sustainability strategy or program management. Sector experience in foodservice, consumer goods, or distribution is valued because it signals comfort with high-volume, low-margin operations where sustainability must justify itself commercially. Technical fluency matters: familiarity with Canadian sustainability regulations, ESG reporting frameworks, Scope 3 accounting, food waste measurement, and fleet or facility decarbonization. Equally important are program management discipline and stakeholder influence: this person must move sales, operations, technology, and marketing teams without direct authority over most of them. Soft skills are decisive. The role requires someone who can simplify complex sustainability concepts for commercial audiences, manage competing priorities across markets, and stay pragmatic when global ambition meets local constraints. Experience working with Indigenous communities or diverse supplier initiatives would be a strong plus, as would bilingual English-French capability given the Canadian market context.

Because this is a bilingual-friendly Canadian role nested inside a global sustainability team, use your application to show that you can translate global frameworks into Canadian execution. Your resume should quantify program outcomes, not just list responsibilities: how many customers adopted a sustainable offering, how many suppliers were onboarded, what revenue or emissions impact followed. Point explicitly to any experience with Indigenous or diverse supplier programs, food waste, fleet electrification, or facility-level sustainability, since these are named priorities here. In your cover letter, don't summarize your CV. Instead, sketch a first 12-month plan for scaling One Planet, One Table across Canada and for launching Pathways to Procurement. Reference Sysco's public commitments and the foodservice context. Show that you understand the difference between a global strategy team and a market-level operating role: this position needs someone comfortable influencing sales teams who are measured on revenue, not sustainability. Prepare for interviews by studying Sysco's sustainability disclosures and annual report, and be ready to discuss how you would handle a sales leader who sees sustainability as a distraction. A candidate who can speak credibly to commercial tension, not just environmental ambition, will stand out in the Greater Toronto Area market.

The dominant focus is customer-facing sustainability through the One Planet, One Table offering, which means helping foodservice customers reduce their own environmental footprint, likely through product choices, waste reduction, and operational guidance. This is sustainability as a commercial value proposition, not just an internal target. The role also touches food donation and waste management, where social impact and circularity intersect with Sysco's core distribution business. On the environmental side, fleet optimization and facility strategies are explicitly named, which points to Scope 1 and 2 emissions reduction across a large distribution network. Supplier engagement, particularly the Emerging Suppliers Program focused on Indigenous suppliers, sits at the social and governance end of ESG, building economic inclusion into the supply chain while strengthening resilience and community relationships. Sustainability data and tools are another pillar, suggesting the role contributes to measurement and reporting infrastructure for the Canadian market. Governance is present but less prominent. The candidate will need to align Canadian plans with Sysco's global framework and local regulatory requirements, which means staying current on Canadian ESG disclosure expectations and translating them into market-level action. Overall, the role is weighted toward environmental and social impact delivered through commercial channels.

The central tension in this role is commercial versus sustainability priorities. Sales teams at Sysco are measured on volume, margin, and customer retention, and sustainability can be perceived as a cost or a distraction. The incumbent must win credibility with commercial leaders and prove that One Planet, One Table drives customer loyalty and revenue, not just environmental outcomes. That requires patience, data, and strong relationship-building. A second challenge is operating in a matrix. The role reports into a global sustainability function while serving a Canadian business with its own operational and regulatory realities. Balancing global frameworks with local execution, and knowing when to adapt versus when to align, will require constant judgment and communication. Third, measuring impact in foodservice distribution is genuinely difficult. Scope 3 emissions, food waste, and supplier engagement span dozens of facilities, thousands of customers, and complex logistics. Building credible tracking processes from a relatively early stage of maturity means the candidate may spend significant time on data quality and internal alignment before seeing headline results.

A typical day likely starts with a check-in with the global sustainability team or Canadian leadership to align on priorities, followed by internal meetings with sales, marketing, or operations colleagues to push a specific initiative forward, perhaps refining the One Planet, One Table pitch, reviewing supplier onboarding progress, or preparing materials for an upcoming customer RFP. Much of the work is collaborative and matrixed, so calendar management and clear communication are essential. Midday might involve direct engagement with a supplier, a customer sustainability question routed through sales, or a working session on data tracking and reporting. The role probably alternates between strategic thinking, how to scale a program across Canada, and hands-on execution, such as drafting a communication piece or building a slide for leadership. Occasional travel to distribution facilities or customer sites is plausible given the operational scope. Variability comes from the sales cycle and reporting rhythms. Weeks around quarterly reviews or major RFP deadlines will be heavier on analysis and presentation preparation, while other periods may focus on program design, stakeholder relationship-building, or internal education. There is likely a steady drumbeat of cross-functional follow-ups to keep initiatives moving without direct authority.

The most visible growth path is deeper ownership of the Canadian sustainability agenda, potentially evolving into a market-level sustainability lead role with broader budget and team responsibility. Because the position sits within a global team, strong performance can also open lateral moves into North American or enterprise-wide sustainability functions, particularly around customer-facing sustainability solutions or supplier engagement. The role's exposure to growth priorities in North America means a successful incumbent could move toward commercial sustainability leadership, a relatively rare and valuable hybrid profile. There is also room to build expertise in specific domains such as sustainable procurement, Scope 3 emissions, or ESG reporting, which are increasingly portable across industries. Mentorship likely comes through the global sustainability team and senior commercial stakeholders. If Sysco invests in formal development, certifications in ESG reporting, sustainable procurement, or climate strategy could be supported, though the strongest growth will come from delivering measurable results on the One Planet, One Table KPI.

Internally, the most important relationships are with the Canadian commercial and sales leadership teams, who own customer relationships and must be convinced to carry the One Planet, One Table offering into the market. The candidate will also work closely with operations, technology, and marketing colleagues to embed sustainability into processes and build the tools and materials that sales teams need. Reporting lines and strategic direction come from Sysco's global sustainability team. Externally, suppliers are central, particularly emerging and Indigenous suppliers participating in Pathways to Procurement, who need onboarding, support, and visibility. Customers, especially large foodservice operators, are another key group, both as buyers of sustainable offerings and as partners in food donation, waste reduction, and fleet or facility initiatives. Industry associations and community organizations may also feature in stakeholder engagement work. A less obvious but important stakeholder group is the RFP and procurement teams at customer organizations, who increasingly ask sustainability questions. The candidate will need to equip sales colleagues with credible answers and may occasionally engage directly with customers on complex sustainability issues.