Location: Hybrid: London (Chancery Lane area) and homeworking

Contract: Permanent, 0.8 FTE (open to flexible working options)

Reporting to: Managing Director, Head of Investment Management

Salary – Manager, Senior: £52,750 - £63,250 (full time equivalent) per annum, depending on experience

OVERVIEW

As we celebrate ten years since Big Society Capital (BSC) launched and implement our 2025 strategy to scale social impact investment to help improve people’s lives in the UK, we are excited to be recruiting this new role to better integrate Environment Social and Governance (ESG) factors, and specifically Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) factors, principally in our investment activity.  

This role recognises the pace at which ESG and EDI approaches, particularly Equality Impact Investing, have developed in recent years and our desire to reflect these in our activity to support our mission, and report them more widely including to our clients in the Schroders BSC Social Impact Trust (SBSI). You will work collaboratively across the organisation and with external partners to deliver our ESG and EDI objectives and consider ways to improve our approach, so we are looking for someone who shares our passion to improve people’s lives and who has specialist knowledge to support our activities.

It is a unique opportunity to join a dynamic team of people from a wide range of backgrounds, who are driven by transforming the way mainstream financial markets help deliver deep and lasting impact on people in the UK.

KEY ACCOUNTABILITIES AND SPECIFIC RESPONSIBILITIES

The ESG and EDI Manager will work with colleagues across the organisation to help deliver our investment objectives with a focus on ESG and EDI. The job holder will:

Support the implementation and development of our ESG and EDI approach for new and portfolio investments, including:

·       Champion and support deal owners to implement our existing ESG and EDI investment process approaches; and,

·       Provide support to deal owners to assess ESG and EDI factors for specific new and portfolio investments, including for our SBSI Liquid ESG investments, principally acting as a sounding board and from time to time, undertaking analysis for more complex investments; and,

·       Lead the continuous improvement of our ESD and EDI process, working with our Market Systems (Social Property, Social Lending, Impact Venture and Social Outcome Contracts) to develop tailored approaches and bringing in best practice from elsewhere.

Lead the delivery of our ESG and EDI reporting to share internally and externally our performance and learning, including:

·       Work collaboratively with the Market Systems, Data and Portfolio Operations and Impact Teams internally and external stakeholder, such as fund managers, to develop and implement proportionate metrics to measure our ESD and EDI performance including to meet new reporting standards (e.g. SFDR for SBSI);

·       Lead the analysis and writing to report our ESG and EDI progress for external publications (e.g. Annual Report and Impact Reports), regulatory disclosures (e.g. Task Force for Climate-related Financial Disclosures) and for initiatives we are involved in (e.g. as an existing signatory of the Operating Principles of Impact Management and the Principles of Responsible Investment that we hope to sign up to in the coming year); and

·       Lead our response to any Due Diligence Questionnaires on ESG and EDI that we receive from external investors, principally from our SBSI client product.       

Support the development of our ESD and EDI strategy and goals, including:

·       Supporting the development, implementation, communication and learning of our ESG and EDI strategy and annual goal setting, with the potential to take more ownership of this area over time.

·       Potential to lead sector-wide initiatives over time including developing, engaging and implementing standards and approaches with internal and external stakeholders.

Team and approach

·       Helping to build a world class social impact investment team and approach at BSC, including contributing to working groups and cross-team initiatives; and

·       Contributing to organisation-wide initiatives that help us deliver our mission such as working groups to improve the way we work or how we engage with certain stakeholders, such as being a B Corp.

PERSON SPECIFICATION

Experience (essential)

·       A passion and demonstrable commitment to improving lives in the UK

·       Experience of delivering ESG and/or EDI approaches within an investment context

·       Experience analysing complex data and producing external reports

·       Proven project management skills

·       Proven relationship building and influencing skills

Experience (desirable)

·       Work experience in impact investing

·       Experience of delivering and training others on ESG and/or EDI approaches within private markets, particularly in housing, venture, lending or social outcomes

·       Experience assessing investments for ESG and/or EDI factors

·       Experience engaging with market initiatives in ESG and/or EDI, for example PRI.

Skills, abilities and attributes

·       Structured thinker - able to deal with complexity and uncertainty

·       Innovative, creative and strategic approach to problem solving

·       Solves problems with multiple stakeholders in an open and empathetic way

·       Collegial team player - Flexible and willing to work with and contribute to a team

·       Self-starter - able to work under own initiative and identify new opportunities

·       Relationship management – excellent interpersonal skills and able to build relationships at all levels

·       A confident and effective communicator when writing and speaking

·       Hunger for continued learning and development, including developing others

Please note…

·       We are a UK-based business with an office in the Chancery Lane area of London, accessible to a number of public transport links. Our current approach allows colleagues to spend 40% - 60% of their working hours in the office, and the remainder from home. We hope that this working pattern encourages Big Society Capital employees to achieve a healthy balance between work and personal goals, as we continue to adapt to the changing needs of our diverse workforce.

·       Right to work: for candidates who do not have the right to work in the UK, Big Society Capital may consider visa sponsorship

·       Equality, Diversity and Inclusion: Big Society Capital is committed to being a diverse organisation that is truly representative of the communities we serve. We are an equal opportunities employer with an inclusive environment where all employees can contribute to their fullest potential. We want every colleague to be able to deliver their work with dignity, equality, comfort and independence. Our office is fully accessible with step-free access and an open-plan set up. We are open to accommodation requests regarding assistive technologies, accessibility tools, flexible working or any other reasonable adjustments that will make working or visiting here more accessible for you. If you have a disability or other access needs and require any support to assist you through the recruitment process, please get in touch with Ruth Davidson (People and Talent Manager) at rdavidson@bigsocietycapital.com

Applications

Please apply via Applied by midday Monday 29 August 2022

If you have any questions about the position before making an application, we invite you to a virtual Open Hour with Rebecca MacDonald (Managing Director, Head of Investment Management) and Ruth Davidson (People and Talent Manager) at 11.30am on Thursday 18 August via Zoom. This is an open opportunity to meet the team and to explore the role and Big Society Capital a little further before you apply. (For anonymity, attendees will have the option to remove their name and switch videos off). Please contact mrodrigues@bigsocietycapital.com if you would like to attend, and include what questions you would like us to cover (although we will aim to leave time for additional questions on the day).

As a Disability Confident employer, we guarantee an interview for all candidates with disabilities who meet the minimum criteria for the job. We are defining a disability in accordance with the Equality Act 2010, as a person who has a physical or mental impairment, and the impairment has a substantial and long-term adverse effect on their ability to carry out normal day-to-day activities. You will be asked in your Applied application whether this applies to you.

Interviews

·       Round 1 interviews will be held w/c 5th September

·       Round 2 interviews will be held w/c 12th and w/c 19th September

If you would like some guidance on what to expect from the interviews, you can find out more on our website here:

https://bigsocietycapital.com/about-us/work-for-us/recruitment-approach/