Environment and Sustainability Lead

The core of this role is building and running the environmental and sustainability architecture for the SMR programme. That means writing the strategy, translating it into management processes, audits and performance reporting, and making sure environmental requirements survive contact with programme controls, governance gates and commercial decisions. You are the specialist voice that keeps permitting, compliance and net zero considerations on the agenda of people whose day job is engineering and delivery. Day to day, the work is a mix of reviewing design and procurement documentation for environmental implications, running or supporting assurance activities, advising technical teams on legislation and standards, and chasing corrective actions when something slips. Longer term, you are expected to leave behind a functioning environmental management system, a supply chain that understands what is expected of it, and a programme culture where environmental risk is raised early rather than managed after the fact. The role reports into the Head of Health, Safety, Environment and Sustainability, so you are a senior specialist rather than a lone operator. You will be expected to provide visible leadership to consultants and suppliers as well as internal teams, which means the influence work is as important as the technical work. Strategy plus assurance plus influence is the honest summary of the mandate.

The obvious learning curve is first-of-a-kind programme delivery. Small Modular Reactors are being deployed in the UK at scale for the first time, and the environmental, permitting and regulatory questions that come with that are not fully settled. Being inside the programme that selected Rolls-Royce SMR as preferred bidder gives you exposure to how novel nuclear technology is actually assessed, permitted and governed, which is difficult to buy anywhere else. You would also deepen your grounding in the frameworks this role names: ISO 14001, PAS 2080, environmental permitting, carbon accounting and sustainability reporting. Because the remit spans design, procurement, contractor management and assurance, you would build capability in embedding sustainability into commercial and engineering processes, a skill that transfers well to any major infrastructure or energy programme. There is also the less formal development that comes from working with the supply chain and senior stakeholders. Coaching contractors and technical advisers on environmental expectations, and learning how to make proportionate recommendations under programme pressure, is the kind of judgement that only develops on live projects. If you are working towards IEMA membership, this role would likely give you strong material for it.

The posting points to someone with a track record in environmental management, sustainability or ESG inside a highly regulated setting, and it names nuclear, energy, major infrastructure and construction as the relevant worlds. Experience of supporting complex programmes, writing environmental strategies and sustainability frameworks, and setting up compliance and reporting arrangements matters more here than a narrow specialism. A degree in environmental management, engineering, science, geography or similar, or equivalent experience, is the stated baseline. The technical toolkit the role leans on includes UK environmental legislation, environmental risk management, management systems (ISO 14001 is named as advantageous), carbon reduction, resource efficiency, waste, permitting and continuous improvement. Desirable extras include nuclear new build or decommissioning exposure, familiarity with PAS 2080 or similar carbon frameworks, and experience working with supply chains and senior stakeholders. Professional membership or progress towards IEMA is listed as advantageous rather than required. On the softer side, the role rewards someone who can analyse complex information and give practical advice rather than theoretical positions. You will be advising engineers, commercial leads and assurance teams who need answers they can act on, so the ability to be clear, proportionate and credible in front of sceptical audiences is likely as decisive as any certification. Given the vetting requirement, eligibility and willingness to go through National Security Vetting is also a practical consideration.

Because Great British Energy - Nuclear explicitly says candidates need not meet every requirement, the strongest applications will pick two or three of the stated areas and demonstrate depth rather than claiming familiarity with all of them. If you have embedded environmental requirements into design or procurement processes on a regulated programme, that is the story to lead with, since the role's whole purpose is integration rather than standalone environmental management. Tailor your materials to the frameworks and legislation the posting names. Concrete examples involving ISO 14001, environmental permitting, carbon reduction planning or PAS 2080 on infrastructure or energy projects will read as directly relevant. If your background is construction or general infrastructure rather than nuclear, it is worth addressing the transferable parts explicitly, particularly regulated compliance, assurance and supply chain influence, rather than hoping the reader connects the dots. The application form is described as short, which means the cover material and any answers you give will carry weight. Reference the SMR programme, the Rolls-Royce SMR selection and the first-of-a-kind nature of the work to show you understand what you are applying into. Also note the 3 days a week in Warrington and the vetting requirement early; signalling that you are comfortable with both removes two easy reasons for a reviewer to hesitate.

The environmental focus here is broad but sits on a nuclear platform, so the headline is decarbonisation of the UK energy system through new nuclear capacity rather than corporate emissions housekeeping. Within the programme, expect the work to concentrate on environmental permitting, environmental risk management, biodiversity and waste, and embedding net zero and carbon reduction thinking into design and delivery decisions. Resource efficiency and broader environmental performance improvement are named alongside carbon, so this is a generalist environmental remit, not a pure carbon accounting one. The governance angle is significant. The role exists to make sure environmental protection and sustainability requirements are integrated into programme controls, decision-making and contractor management, which means much of the impact is indirect: the frameworks you write shape what suppliers commit to and what design teams are allowed to approve. Supply chain capability building is explicitly part of the remit, so the sustainability footprint being managed extends beyond the organisation itself. Social and governance dimensions are lighter in the posting, which is typical for a nuclear programme environmental lead. The social value likely sits in public confidence and regulatory trust around new nuclear, plus the inclusive workplace commitments the organisation states. If you are looking for a role centred on community investment or social impact measurement, this is probably not it; if you want environmental and carbon governance at the heart of national energy infrastructure, it is.

The defining challenge is first-of-a-kind delivery. Environmental permitting and regulatory expectations for SMRs are still being worked through in practice, so the role may involve shaping precedent as much as applying it. That means operating with incomplete certainty while still giving programme teams advice firm enough to plan against, which is a difficult balance and likely to be tested regularly. Influence is the second hurdle. The postholder has specialist authority but sits alongside technical, commercial and delivery teams who own the schedule and the budget. Getting environmental requirements taken seriously in procurement and design decisions, especially where they add cost or time, requires credibility and persistence. Supply chain management adds another layer, since contractors may have varying maturity on environmental matters and the programme still needs consistent standards across them. The practical logistics also deserve attention: 3 days a week in Warrington, travel across programme sites as needed, and National Security Vetting. On top of that, the assurance and incident response elements mean the workload is not purely planned; non-conformances and environmental incidents can disrupt priorities at short notice. Someone who needs a fully predictable calendar might find the rhythm uncomfortable.

A typical day would likely split between desk-based assurance and advisory work and meetings with programme teams. You might review design or procurement documentation for environmental implications, work on management system processes or performance reporting, and prepare advice on a specific legislative or permitting question. Because the role spans governance, assurance and delivery support, the calendar probably mixes scheduled review sessions with reactive requests from technical and commercial colleagues. Interaction is central. Expect regular contact with the Head of Health, Safety, Environment and Sustainability, technical and design teams, commercial and procurement staff, and assurance functions, plus consultants and suppliers who need environmental expectations clarified. Meetings are likely to be a mixture of programme governance forums where you represent the environmental position and smaller working sessions where you help teams solve specific problems. Stakeholder engagement with regulators or external advisers may feature periodically, particularly around permitting. Variability comes from the programme stage. During design and procurement phases the emphasis leans toward embedding requirements and reviewing documents; during delivery and site activities it shifts toward assurance, inspections and incident response. An environmental incident or a regulatory query could reset the day's priorities entirely, so the role rewards someone comfortable moving between planned work and reactive problem-solving.

The role sits inside a high-profile national programme at an early stage, which tends to create visibility. Successfully building the environmental and sustainability framework for the first SMRs would be a demonstrable achievement that carries weight across the nuclear, energy and infrastructure sectors. As the programme moves from selection and design into delivery and eventual site activities, the remit could expand in scope and team size, which is a natural route to a broader environmental leadership position. There is also lateral growth available within the organisation's structure. The parent body works across nuclear new build and investment facilitation, so experience gained on the SMR programme could open doors to other programme areas or to more strategic roles in the wider energy security and net zero agenda. The government arm's length body setting also exposes you to policy-adjacent work that pure private sector roles often do not. On the capability side, the combination of assurance, supply chain influence and first-of-a-kind regulatory engagement builds a profile that is scarce in the market. If you pursue IEMA membership or similar credentials, this role provides the practical evidence base. The main caveat is that growth here is likely tied to programme milestones rather than a fixed promotion ladder, so it suits someone who creates their own opportunities.

The closest working relationship is with the Head of Health, Safety, Environment and Sustainability, who owns the overall function and to whom this role provides specialist support. Beyond that, the posting names programme, technical, commercial, delivery and assurance teams as the core internal interfaces. In practice that means design engineers whose choices carry environmental consequences, procurement and commercial staff writing contracts, delivery leads planning site activities, and assurance colleagues running audits and reviews. The external picture includes consultants, suppliers and the wider supply chain. The role is expected to promote best practice and build supplier capability on environmental and sustainability expectations, so relationships with contractors are advisory and standard-setting rather than purely transactional. Depending on how permitting develops, there may also be contact with regulators and technical advisers, which would make regulatory engagement part of the stakeholder map. The nature of these interactions is mostly influence without direct authority. You will be advising people who own budgets and schedules on requirements they may see as constraints, so the relationships need to be built on credibility and consistency. The posting's emphasis on visible leadership and strong relationships suggests the organisation expects this role to be a trusted adviser across the programme rather than a compliance checkpoint at the end of the process.