Head of Sustainability & ESG Tech

Hello. We’re Haleon. A new world-leading consumer health company. Shaped by all who join us. Together, we’re improving everyday health for billions of people. By growing and innovating our global portfolio of category-leading brands – including Sensodyne, Panadol, Advil, Voltaren, Theraflu, Otrivin, and Centrum – through a unique combination of deep human understanding and trusted science. What’s more, we’re achieving it in a company that we’re in control of. In an environment that we’re co-creating. And a culture that’s uniquely ours. Care to join us. It isn’t a question.

With category leading brands such as Sensodyne, Voltaren and Centrum, built on trusted science and human understanding, and combined with our passion, knowledge and expertise, we’re uniquely placed to do this and to grow a strong, successful business.

This is an exciting time to join us and help shape the future. It’s an opportunity to be part of something special.

At Haleon our mission is to deliver better every day health with humanity.   We have a new Win as One Strategy which will take the global organisation through an exciting and complex business transformation  journey.  Digital and Technology (D&T) in Haleon is responsible for partnering with the business to Transform the business through Technology, IT and Data;,  building and operating digital platforms, which are secure, reliable and underpinning everything we do across the company.

This permanent role offers flexible working, with 3days in the office as standard for Bankside London.

We are looking for an experienced transformational technology leader, to lead Sustainability and ESG systems, products and platforms across Haleon.   The Head of D&T Sustainability is accountable for cross-functional and cross-pillar shaping and execution of transformational and operational initiatives and programs required to meet our Sustainability commitments. This role will be the primary interface into the business, partnering with senior stakeholders to shape and define demand into D&T, along with development and execution to ensure that end-to-end enterprise commitments are successfully delivered. As this is a fast moving and emerging space, this role will be accountable for definition of approach and ways of working in partnership with Finance, Sustainability, Supply Chain, Quality, Procurement and external CMO’s (3rd Party manufacturing companies).  

This position is ideal for someone with strong leadership, product and influencing skills, and a passion for Sustainability, motivated by Haleon's positive impact as we achieve our commitments.  We would ideally seek a professional with experience in sustainability tech and data.

The core global platforms in Sustainability include a bespoke developed platform (which is being replaced),  Microsoft Sustainability Manager (implementation started) and a set of Haleon digital data products built on our Enterprise Data Platform (Azure based).    Sustainability data and integrations flow across the company, Operational Technology and Systems of Record.  Data & standards are also applicable from our 3rd party manufacturing partners.

Core skills for the role are :

• Deep Platform and functional knowledge, with technology transformation expertise in a major corporate

• A proven track record in simplifying technology and architecture landscapes, with a focus on Sustainability processes and systems which are employee and user experience focused. 

• High levels of leadership EQ – capable of communicating and partnering with all levels of the organsiation from the Executive Team through to junior engineers. 

• An ability to mobilise and energise technology teams who are globally distributed.

This is a leadership role, reporting to VP and Head of Technology, Corporate & Functions and Global Business Services.

The role is of global remit, responsible for delivery and change across Enterprise Systems and Applications that underpin global Sustainability business processes.

Influence & Strategy - direct accountability to develop and contribute to strategic direction for global business systems in alignment with strategic objectives and priorities.

Stakeholder Mgmt - extensive senior stakeholder mgmt across peer cross-functional leaders, direct and regular executive engagement/influence. Role requires deep knowledge and expertise across multiple 'expert' functional domains. Role sets professional direction across scope to ensure performance across all KPIs and objectives are met.

Operates independently and takes 'high impact' cross-functional decisions with autonomy. Consistently exercises judgment to lead resolution of complex problems across entire scope and related interdependencies. Assumes leadership accountability for domain relevant programs/initiatives to ensure key outcomes are met.

Vendor Management - significantly contributes to long-term, high value (£m's) strategic relationships with global Technology partners. Leader has general management experience relevant to Haleon's scale and complexity, reflected in their scope of control

Responsible for the management of Enterprise risk related to Cyber Security, Regulation, Compliance (SOX, GxP etc), Financial Reporting, Operational Stability (global business processes), Strategic Execution and Cost Management.

Key Roles & Responsibilities:

• Accountable for defining, shaping and executing Haleons Digital strategy in support of its Sustainability vision, commitments and compliance obligations.  This role is responsible as the technology leadership expert for all things Sustainability.

• Responsible for senior stakeholder engagement and alignment cross-functionally in Sustainability, QSC, Procurement and Finance, with responsibility for ensuring that the D&T commitments in solutioning, delivery and execution are robust; and that end of end orchestration associated with implementing new products and ways of working have been agreed, considering factors such as data ownership, points of accountability, lineage and transparency.

• The Head of D&T Sustainability will be a trusted business partner to the Sustainability team, to be a key member of the Sustainability Working Group, Sustainability Leadership team, and to support updates into the Sustainability Steering Committee as the D&T representative.

• Responsible for leading across D&T to ensure successful delivery of all Sustainability initiatives across D&T, operational and transformational.

• Lead Sustainability team and establish matrixed leadership into partnering pillars, such as Data, Platform support and product management

• Accountable for D&T Sustainability products and portfolio, including demand, investment prioritisation and value delivery against commitments. Also innovation; proactively driving through challenges and risks which impact delivery. Accountable for execution of D&T governance framework and processes. Accountable for establishing Operating Model and RACI across the multiple teams in D&T and ensuring cohesion across multi discipline teams to delivery outcomes

• Partner with GRC and the business to understand emerging developments in ESG policy, standards and regulation and create products that allow flexibility and adaptation

• Lead and Champion Sustainability within D&T itself, creating innovative way to reduce Digitals impact on sustainability goals

• Education across D&T on Sustainability; build the Sustainability capability in D&T to help create an environment that inspires continuous improvement and one that motivates to achieve excellence.

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Business Expertise:

• A strong communicator, able to present ideas simply and coherently leading to an aligned outcome, even where stakeholders are from a diverse range of business areas

• Experience in Product Management with an emphasis on enhancements that deliver value aligned with business outcomes.

• Excellent relationship management, strong influencing & collaboration skills with an ability to gain the respect/buy-in from all stakeholder levels across Haleon

• Ability to solve Haleon wide challenges in the emerging and evolving external requirements for Sustainability.

• Knowledge of data concepts, including data lakes, data flow, and data quality improvement.

• Individual required to be highly skilled in ability to influence without authority, negotiation and potential to represent both internally to senior leaders and externally to peers in the market.

• Strategic Thinking: Ability to provide strategic guidance on ESG product stack

• Enterprise mindset is key as we work as one team on behalf of Haleon.

• Experience in delivering multi-year programs > £20 million.

• Complex problem solver with ability to manage non-technology stakeholders through deeply technical and data challenges. Ability to pull together disparate strands and to be able to identify broader impacts of change/problems. Innovative thought leader able to identify novel solutions to problems

• Strong business, leadership and communication skills as well as sufficient experience to understand: what is possible given current technology, how trends will affect the product in the future, and how to communicate between business and technology teams

You will be able to identify and solution problems is key to the role.  As well as offering guidance to the team on both business and system related issues and how to organise Agile/multidisciplined Product and Tech teams.

Dealing with upstream and downstream systems, is another key part to this role.  Those systems have release cycles and managing the impacts of each needs to be considered as changes could impact downstream and vice versa.  Managing the conflict this creates and ensuring robust and low risk solutions are found is part of the role.

Nature & Area of impact

Sphere of influence is significant; each business area is critical so sub optimal operation or failure can result in major damage to our business and reputation. Current environment is reaching a level of complexity where functions struggle to respond and move in the agile manner which the business needs which creates a further risk. If the job holder partners with the business to solve this problem and find a way to deliver simpler, more economical services and allow the business to move faster without incurring more risk, this will have a major impact enabling our growth agenda.

The role holder will be required to interact with all levels in the organization, particularly senior Tech and business stakeholders.  This is a global role and interaction is required with Tech and business teams globally and across business units.  There is a need for the role holder to be business aware and be able to manage expectations across a variety of business and geographic cultures.

The job holder must be able to engage and build relationships with a mixture of strategic and non-strategic suppliers who service Haleon’s Tech needs. This will include interactions from senior supplier leaders through to tactical issue escalation and resolution.     

Minimum Experience:         

At least 10 years Information Technology Operations or Management experience in a similar environment

Exceptional communication and interaction skills, and experience with agile development methodologies

Proven IT leadership, people management, recruiting and development skills

Care to join us. Find out what life at Haleon is really like www.haleon.com/careers/

At Haleon we embrace our diverse workforce by creating an inclusive environment that celebrates our unique perspectives, generates curiosity to create unmatched understanding of each other, and promotes fair and equitable outcomes for everyone. We're striving to create a climate where we celebrate our diversity in all forms by treating each other with respect, listening to different viewpoints, supporting our communities, and creating a workplace where your authentic self belongs and thrives. We believe in an agile working culture for all our roles. If flexibility is important to you, we encourage you to explore with our hiring team what the opportunities are.

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Haleon is an Equal Opportunity Employer. All qualified applicants will receive equal consideration for employment without regard to race, color, national origin, religion, sex, pregnancy, marital status, sexual orientation, gender identity/expression, age, disability, genetic information, military service, covered/protected veteran status or any other federal, state or local protected class.

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