Senior Consultant - Disclosures

at  Nationwide

Demonstrating how we are a responsible business, including from both an environmental and social perspective, is becoming increasingly important to our members, colleagues, investors, and regulators. Our purpose: Banking - but fairer, more rewarding, and for the good of society, guides our approach, and our environmental, social and governance (ESG) ambitions are embedded within the four strategic drivers of our purpose-led strategy. Having strong ESG ambitions and credentials that have a positive and meaningful impact on customers, communities and society as a whole, is crucial for supporting Nationwide’s reputation and ESG ratings.
As a Senior Strategy Consultant, you’ll be responsible for communicating externally on our progress and achievements against our four strategic drivers, through publications such as our Annual Report and Accounts. You’ll also be responsible for communicating on our progress against our ESG ambitions, through our externally facing ESG Disclosures, Principles for Responsible Banking Report and Modern Slavery Statement, as well as supporting with ESG rating agency questionnaires as required, and other internal reporting. You’ll be working with key internal stakeholders to help collate the information required to gain a representative view of achievements from across the business.
This role sits within the Strategy, Performance and Sustainability team within the Finance Function. We are a small team with a wide ranging and varied remit, undertaking important and influential work to very high standards and tight deadlines.
At Nationwide we offer hybrid working wherever possible. More rewarding relationships are supported through our hybrid approach, bringing colleagues together across our UK wide estate, whilst also supporting generous access to home working. We value our time in the office to solve problems, to learn, and to feel connected.
For this job you’ll spend at least two days per week, or if part time you’ll spend 40% of your working time, based at our Swindon office. If your application is successful, your hiring manager will provide further details on how this works. You can also find out more about our approach to hybrid working here.
If we receive a high volume of relevant applications, we may close the advert earlier than the advertised date, so please apply as soon as you can.

ABOUT YOU

We’re interested in people who enjoy looking ahead, thinking strategically, and seeing the bigger picture. We would like you to be:

• able to demonstrate a good understanding of the importance of being a socially responsible business.
• able to use your outstanding writing skills to produce high-quality narrative. These skills will be used for ESG related and other external disclosures.
• comfortable in dealing with ambiguity and a self-starter, with the ability to tackle complex issues and undertake analysis on a broad range of topics relating to environmental and social themes
• adept at presenting your thoughts to internal stakeholders, including senior leaders, and engaging and responding to queries and challenges
• an excellent communicator and narrator, with the ability to advise, challenge, and influence at a senior level within the Society
• proficient in the use of Word, Excel, and PowerPoint and able to create high-quality materials to communicate, sometimes complex, ideas in a clear and engaging manner
• a team player, with the ability and willingness to share your knowledge with colleagues within the Society
• Experience in writing reports, papers, or disclosures will be essential for this role. Experience in an ESG-specific or insight-led role, and knowledge of ESG themes and developments, would also be useful.

Our Customer First behaviours are all about putting customers and members at the heart of how we work together. You can strengthen your application by showing the behaviours that resonate with you, and how you might have already demonstrated these.

• Say it straight - This is about being honest and direct, with good intent, and saying what needs to be said in the room. It’s also about being clear, precise, and using language that we and, importantly, our customers and members can understand.
• Push for better - This is about aiming high and constantly looking for better in how we work together and serve our customers and members.
• Get it done - This is about prioritising what will have the greatest impact, being decisive and taking accountability for delivering on the end-to-end outcome.

We know applying for jobs can sometimes feel like you’re sending an application into a black hole. We review each application individually. So, it’s a good idea to call out your most relevant experience on your application to give yourself the best chance.

In this role, you will be involved in collating key information to demonstrate our progress and achievements against our broader Society strategy, as well as with respect to ESG themes, and communicating this information in a clear, understandable, and impactful way through a variety of external disclosures and internal reporting.
You’ll also work closely with internal stakeholders to develop and influence our ESG ambitions, which we articulate through our Mutual Good Commitments.
We will need you to maintain an awareness of external developments relating to ESG matters, including current and future regulatory and reporting activity, and understand what our competitors are doing and how this compares to Nationwide.