Chief Sustainability Officer — Urban Infrastructure Platform

The mandate

A Canadian urban-infrastructure platform has made public commitments on climate resilience, emissions, accessibility, procurement and community benefit. Delivery remains uneven because many commitments sit with a central team while asset leaders own the budgets and operating choices. Several assets are being prepared for monetisation, bringing an immediate requirement to show what has been achieved, what remains funded and which obligations transfer to a buyer.

The perimeter covers approximately C$25,700 million in projects and operating assets and 1,300 employees and material partners. Accountability includes sustainability strategy, transition and resilience, social value, responsible procurement, nature and circularity, disclosure governance, transaction evidence and sustainability talent. Operations owns service and finance owns statutory reporting. The CSO owns the integrity of commitments, the assignment of operational responsibility and the evidence connecting investment with outcome.

Urban assets face linked pressures. Heat, flooding, energy, materials, access, construction disturbance and local economic participation affect different communities and asset economics. The CSO must prevent separate initiatives from creating contradictory choices—for example, reducing maintenance access to claim lower disruption while increasing future resilience risk.

Monetisation will test whether promises are embedded or personally sponsored. Buyers should be able to reproduce key indicators, understand future expenditure and identify obligations within concession, financing or community agreements.

Why this seat is open

This is a planned replacement with a four-to-six-month transition. The incumbent continues normal authority and will transfer stakeholder, disclosure and asset context through a structured handover. The search is confidential so employees, communities and transaction counterparties receive coordinated communication. No concealed reporting or conduct event triggered the succession.

What you will own

• Convert public commitments into asset-owned plans and budgets.
• Integrate resilience and social outcomes into capital decisions.
• Establish controlled, reproducible sustainability evidence.
• Define transferred, retained and transitional obligations in sales.
• Govern claims, assurance and stakeholder communication.
• Develop asset sustainability leaders and successors.

Commitments will be decomposed into actions with accountable operators, funding, dates and evidence. The CSO will identify aspirations that lack a credible delivery path and recommend investment, redesign or transparent reset. Targets will distinguish portfolio influence from direct control. The organisation will not claim an outcome created by public policy, tenants or suppliers without stating the boundary.

Resilience choices will use service consequence and adaptation pathways. Flood, heat, wildfire smoke, power interruption and supply disruption scenarios will identify physical thresholds, operational responses and capital triggers. A single resilience score will not conceal asset-specific failure modes. Transaction candidates will carry residual exposure and planned adaptation, including the implications of delay.

Social value will be measured through durable benefit rather than spend labels. Local and Indigenous engagement, accessibility, workforce participation and supplier development require early involvement and transparent commitments. Consultation will not be described as approval. Where stakeholder expectations exceed contractual or capital capacity, the CSO will bring the trade-off to the sponsor before promises are made.

Data and disclosure will trace back to normal operations. Meter boundaries, estimation, supplier inputs, community measures and methodology changes will have owners and controls. Independent assurance will focus on material claims and known uncertainty. Marketing or transaction language cannot convert an unverified forecast into achieved performance.

Sale preparation will distinguish obligations that attach to the asset, remain with the seller or require cooperation. Green-finance terms, community agreements, carbon claims, supplier commitments, permits and data rights will be mapped into transaction documents and separation plans. The CSO will ensure a buyer understands the cost of maintaining claimed performance.

The first 12 months

Within 90 days, the CSO will verify the ten most material public commitments, assess asset leadership and identify unsupported transaction claims. The sponsor will receive investment conflicts, assurance priorities and immediate disclosure decisions.

By month eight, four priority assets should operate integrated sustainability plans, two capital cases should use resilience and social-value evidence, and the first sale candidate should carry a complete obligation map. Material indicators will have named operational and data owners.

At year-end, 90% of priority commitments should have funded delivery paths, material reporting exceptions fall 30% and resilience actions close within approved dates. No transaction should receive a material diligence qualification caused by an unowned sustainability obligation, while ready cover exists for 70% of pivotal sustainability roles.

What the board will measure

• Public commitments supported by operating ownership and capital.
• Resilience choices tied to asset service and value.
• Community outcomes represented honestly and respectfully.
• Buyer-grade evidence and clear obligation transfer.
• Strong sustainability leadership across assets.

The person

You are a Chief Sustainability Officer, infrastructure transition leader or senior ESG executive with 18–22 years of experience. You have carried accountable scope above C$14,900 million and led at least 900 people. Your record includes physical assets, public stakeholders and a transaction or financing process where sustainability evidence received external challenge.

The board will test a public target you reset because its delivery path was weak, a resilience investment changed by operational evidence and an asset sale where obligations were separated clearly. You must combine public-interest judgement with capital discipline. Reporting-only experience will not meet the threshold.

This onsite Toronto role requires extensive asset, community, authority and investor travel.

Compensation and terms

Base compensation is C$330,000–440,000 plus annual incentive. Measures cover commitment delivery, resilience, evidence, transaction readiness, stakeholder trust and succession. Final terms follow the confirmed platform scope.

Confidentiality

The client, assets, communities, commitments and transaction plans are confidential. Further detail follows qualification and mutual confidentiality. Rounded values and blended circumstances protect identity.