Sustainability Systems Change Director

Systemiq, the systems change company and certified B Corp, was founded to drive the achievement of the UN Sustainable Development Goals and the Paris Agreement on climate change by transforming markets and business models in five key systems: nature and food, materials, and circular economy, energy, urban areas, and sustainable finance.

The conviction guides us that all system transformations are rooted in human transformations. We must continue to bring more diverse people and voices into real conversations to succeed. We know we don’t have all the answers; we may not even have all the right questions. But we know that open mindsets drive change, so relationships, people, and trust are at the heart of everything we do.

**Position**:
**Do you want to be part of the change?**

As a Sustainability Systems Change Director, you will be instrumental in driving some of our key projects in the Materials and Circular Economy platform. You will lead teams across multiple projects and manage multi-stakeholder relationships across government, NGO, and industry bodies. You will lead workstreams that draw expertise from around the organisation and amongst external partners. You will have ample opportunity to introduce and own your own workstreams within the Materials space. As such, we are looking for someone with experience in operating across a range of sectors and the ability to lead on corporate advisory projects and longer-term coalition work.

**Primary Responsibilities**
- Driving an agenda within the circular materials platform and create thought leadership and people followership around the area of focus
- Delivering a program of advisory projects with the support of Partners, managers, and other team members
- Project Director includes project scoping with risks and assumptions, realistic costing of the project, resourcing/utilisation management, and avoiding project creep.
- Developing jr colleagues in their approach and systems thinking
- Driving business development across advisory, coalition and think tank vehicles
- Contribute to the firm building through strategy development and management of the office and/or platform

**Who is leading the change?**

You will be part of the Materials & Circular Economy team, led by Partner Ben Dixon.

At Systemiq, Ben works across the circular economy and energy platforms. In his first year at Systemiq, he has worked with diverse clients, including the Ellen Macarthur Foundation, the United Nations International Resource Panel, and large multinational companies in the packaging and chemicals industries. He also manages SYSTEMIQ’s growing work programme on plastics, which aims to contribute to the critical transition towards a plastic packaging industry that is more circular, less wasteful, and does not pollute the environment and oceans with plastic.

Partner Sophie Herrmann leads the German office and focuses on circular business models in the consumer goods industry. At Systemiq, she has written reports on Everything as a Service Models and Circularity in plastic packaging in Germany with the Sun Foundation and the WWF. She has also advised a number of corporate clients on their circularity strategies. Her professional experience includes many years in the public and private sectors. She worked as a consultant with McKinsey & Company and as Natural Resources Management Specialist and Task Team leader at the World Bank.

**Requirements**:
**About You**
- Are excited. About the opportunity to work on pioneering sustainability topics within the materials and circular economy sphere across a range of themes.
- Have a Plan. And know how to get buy-in and support for the deployment, embedding, and sustainable utilisation of any operations intervention
- Decisions in Numbers. You use data-driven techniques to solve problems which has a positive financial impact
- Understand that change can be hard. You have a working knowledge of change management and the people side of behaviour change
- Have thoughts on the process. Your workload is meticulously organised and maintained, and you have a reputation for follow-through. You have exceptional time management and work prioritisation, and driving multiple responsibilities simultaneously with limited oversight does not faze you.
- Are humble. No task is too small for anyone, and you are eager to learn. You’re all about the team, not the individual.
- Get it done. You have a methodical approach to your work with a strong focus on accuracy, attention to detail, consistency, and superb quality. You take the initiative and can operate autonomously when needed.
- You’re a people person. You have outstanding interpersonal skills and can quickly establish rapport, build trust, collaborate, and demonstrate credibility and authority. You have proven stakeholder management skills and remain calm under pressure.
- You’re solution-oriented. You can clearly explain issues, contribute to their resolution, and effectively influence an