Chief Sustainability Officer — Refining And Marketing System

The mandate

A privately held refining and marketing group has made public sustainability commitments whose delivery remains dispersed across operations, projects, commercial teams, finance and communications. An operating-model separation now threatens to break data lineage and divide obligations between entities before ownership is clear. The organisation needs a Chief Sustainability Officer who can translate commitments into funded operational work and keep external reporting credible through the change.

The remit covers a £38,500 million operated asset and trading perimeter and influences approximately 1,600 employees and material partners. Relevant issues include operational emissions, energy and water efficiency, product and customer claims, environmental obligations, transition capital, workforce impacts and supplier information. The CSO will not replace technical or line accountability; the role creates standards, challenge, integration and evidence.

Based onsite in London, the appointee reports to the Group Chief Executive or designated executive committee sponsor. The board expects auditable delivery, capital integration and trustworthy stakeholder reporting. Claims unsupported by operating plans or financial ownership must be corrected before the separation creates contractual or reputational ambiguity.

Why this seat is open

This is an urgent new appointment. Distributed sustainability sponsorship is no longer sufficient once assets, services, data and obligations are being allocated between operating models. There is no predecessor. Interim governance protects scheduled disclosures but cannot make enduring ownership choices. The board aims to progress from qualified shortlist to offer within six to eight weeks.

What you will own

• Create a complete commitments register linking public statements, regulatory obligations, customer claims and internal targets to baseline, boundary, owner, capital and evidence.
• Determine how environmental liabilities, targets, data histories and reporting controls should transfer or remain shared through the separation.
• Integrate sustainability criteria into capital papers, including abatement cost, operational dependency, delivery confidence, regulatory exposure and economic downside.
• Challenge initiatives that depend on unapproved capital, unproven technology or double-counted benefits, and recommend transparent revision where the original commitment is no longer supportable.
• Establish reporting controls across asset data, estimates, consolidation, management review and external assurance, preserving lineage as systems and teams separate.
• Govern product and customer sustainability claims with legal, commercial and technical leaders so that marketing language reflects verifiable boundaries and use cases.
• Build an operating network of accountable sustainability leaders across refining, logistics, marketing, projects and functions rather than centralising delivery in a corporate team.
• Advise the board on emerging standards and stakeholder expectations, distinguishing mandatory action from choices driven by strategy and market trust.

The first 12 months

The first 60 days should reconcile every material public commitment with its operational and financial path. Identify boundary assumptions that the separation will change, data sources that depend on the other operating model and obligations without an accepting owner. Escalate unsupported external claims before documents, systems or contracts are divided.

By day 100, present the board with a commitments and separation map. It should identify owners on both sides, shared-service requirements, transitional data controls, capital dependencies and decisions that must precede legal or operational cutover. Agree assurance priorities with finance, legal and the relevant board committee.

Months four through eight should embed commitments into budgets and operating scorecards, execute the highest-risk data transfers and close ownership gaps. Rework or withdraw claims that cannot be substantiated. Train leaders receiving separated responsibilities and test whether evidence can be reproduced without informal support from the original organisation.

At the first anniversary, each material commitment should have auditable performance, an accountable executive and a funded delivery or transparent revision path. External reporting must survive separation without unexplained boundary shifts, and capital allocation should show how sustainability consequences influenced the chosen portfolio.

What the board will measure

• One hundred per cent of material public and regulatory commitments mapped to boundary, baseline, accountable executive, funding and evidence within 90 days.
• No material reporting metric dependent on an uncontracted data source after separation cutover.
• Independent assurance completed over the highest-risk disclosures with all critical findings closed by agreed dates.
• Sustainability implications documented in every material capital decision, including explicit treatment of delivery uncertainty and residual exposure.
• All external product and customer claims reviewed against technical evidence, with unsupported language corrected before publication.
• At least 90% retention of designated critical specialists and ready-now succession for 70% of the CSO’s direct reports.

The person

You are a Chief Sustainability Officer, Transition Executive or Operations Strategy Leader with 18–22 years in energy, refining, chemicals, utilities, industrial services or another asset-heavy setting. You have placed operational and financial ownership behind a public commitment and can describe the controls that made reported progress auditable.

Candidates require accountability for at least £22,350 million in P&L, book, budget or portfolio and leadership of 1,125 or more people. You have worked through a separation, transaction or major operating-model change involving reporting boundaries and liabilities. Communications expertise alone is insufficient without capital and operating consequences.

The appointment is onsite in London with international relocation supported. Board, asset, finance and assurance engagement will require regular in-person leadership.

Compensation and terms

The indicative package is £210,000–280,000 base plus annual incentive. Final positioning will reflect accountable scope and current mix. The urgent appointment schedule may accommodate notice up to six months where early access to separation decisions and a protected handover can be agreed.

Confidentiality

The private organisation, owners, separation perimeter, commitments and assurance findings remain confidential. Identifying material is released only after qualification, reciprocal interest, diligence and signed confidentiality protections.