Our purpose
Inspiring and empowering our people to create a positive difference for themselves, our clients and the planet.
Sustainable Energy First is an energy and sustainability consultancy, founded to solve energy management problems in very large, complex commercial estates.
This remains the core of our business driven by a commitment to sustainability and the goal of reducing our clients’ carbon footprint.
The Role in a Nutshell ️
As Head of Sustainable Compliance, you will lead the strategic direction, operational performance, and continued development of our Sustainable Compliance function. This is a senior leadership role with accountability for contractual delivery, regulatory compliance, customer confidence, and commercial performance across a growing portfolio of services.
You will be responsible for ensuring that our compliance solutions consistently meet the highest standards of quality, governance, and regulatory alignment while delivering exceptional outcomes for our clients. Working closely with internal stakeholders, industry bodies, and customers, you will drive continuous improvement, identify opportunities for growth, and strengthen Sustainable Energy First's position as a trusted partner in sustainability and compliance.
This role requires a commercially minded leader who can balance strategic thinking with operational excellence, inspire high-performing teams, and navigate a complex and evolving regulatory landscape.
This is a home-based position with regular monthly travel to our Preston office. The successful candidate will also be comfortable travelling throughout the UK to attend client meetings, site visits, industry events, and commercial engagements as required.
Requirements
We are looking for a talented individual that can demonstrate the following;
Strategy & Leadership
Define and lead your team’s strategy, ensuring alignment with organisational objectives and foster a collaborative and inclusive team culture that encourages innovation and accountability. You will work collaboratively with other senior team leaders to provide joined-up, high-quality, consistent leadership and communication across the department.
Innovation & Continuous Improvement
Contribute to product development, departmental strategy, and process improvement. Remain updated on the energy and carbon landscapes, including market trends, technologies, methodologies, and legislative changes, to inform strategy and compliance. You will provide senior technical input to ensure services remain commercially viable, technically robust and aligned to market and customer needs.
Financial Performance & Commercial Management
Own and manage the financial performance of your area, ensuring budgets, forecasts and resource plans are actively monitored and controlled whilst maintaining clear visibility of revenue, margin, cost control and utilisation, taking timely action where performance is off track. You will ensure financial risks are identified early, escalated where appropriate, and managed in line with organisational expectations.
Stakeholder Engagement & Collaboration
Collaborate with internal teams (e.g., Analysis, Reporting, Procurement, Commercial Operations and other relevant business functions) to integrate your products and services. You will represent the organisation in external forums, industry groups, and policy consultations whilst supporting marketing-led and external events where senior technical or commercial representation is required.
Culture & People Development
Build and nurture a team with a positive ‘can do’ attitude that is engaged and proactive, upholding company values, whilst line-managing direct reports through clear objectives, measurable OKRs and regular performance conversations. You will ensure the team maintains the technical capability required to support product development, service quality and customer outcomes, as well as maintaining accountability for the continuous professional development of the team, including personal development plans.
Customer Satisfaction & Risk Management
Ensure contract deliverables are met, and risks are minimised or communicated appropriately to stakeholders as well as technical solutions are robust, scalable, and aligned with client needs and regulatory expectations. You will act as a senior advisor to customers in your area of expertise.
Health & Safety
Ensure full compliance with all applicable health and safety rules, regulations and guidelines, protecting yourself, customers, colleagues and the company.
About you;
✅ Ability to translate organisational priorities, market developments and regulatory changes into a clear departmental plan with measurable objectives and practical delivery milestones.
✅ A strong focus on service governance, with the ability to define quality standards, monitor delivery performance, manage escalation routes, and ensure lessons learned are embedded into future work.
✅ Proven ability to lead through others, setting clear expectations, holding people accountable, and developing managers and technical specialists to deliver consistent outcomes.
✅ Confident senior stakeholder management skills, with the ability to influence internal teams, clients, partners and industry stakeholders through clear, credible and constructive communication.
✅ Strong commercial awareness, with the ability to manage budgets, forecast resource requirements, identify growth opportunities, and make decisions that protect margin and service quality.
✅ A working understanding of UK regulation and regulated schemes including but not limited to SECR, ESOS, CCA, Min-Met and EII, NCC, BICS and other relevant schemes.
✅ Have a UK driving licence and vehicle.
Benefits
Salary: £65,000 to £75,000 dependant on experience + Car Allowance
Holidays: 25 days + bank holidays + your birthday off, increasing to 30 days on length of service
Remote working with at least 1 day per month at our Fulwood Head Office
- Flexible working - including the ability to bank up to to 5 extra days off per year
- Gym contribution
Long service awards
Private Medical Insurance
Enhanced paternity/non-pregnant colleague and maternity/pregnant colleague leave
Simply Health scheme
EV Scheme
Inclusion and Belonging
We believe that diversity is more than a commitment, it’s at the heart of who we are. We aim to create an environment where everyone feels respected, valued, and empowered to bring their whole selves to work.
We celebrate different perspectives, backgrounds, and experiences because we know they make us stronger, bolder and more imaginative, which link to our core values. By fostering a culture of belonging, we aim to provide a workplace where every voice is heard, and every individual can thrive.
Our culture has been set up to bring the best out of our people. If we sound like the kind of business where you’re ready to take the next step, then we look forward to hearing from you!
