Climate Resilience, Biodiversity, & Green Infrastructure Lead (12-month cover)

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Climate Resilience, Biodiversity, & Green Infrastructure Lead (12-month cover)

This is a 12-month cover role while the incumbent postholder is on an external secondment. Climate change is already affecting London's transport network through extreme heat, flooding, drought and other severe weather events. At the same time, TfL is committed to protecting and enhancing the green infrastructure and biodiversity that make London healthier, more resilient and more attractive to live in.

This is a rare opportunity to lead one of the UK's most high-profile climate resilience and nature programmes. You will shape how TfL responds to climate risks, delivers its Climate Change Adaptation Plan and Green Infrastructure & Biodiversity Plan, and ensures environmental ambition is translated into practical action across one of the world's largest integrated transport networks. Leading a team of environmental specialists, you will provide expert leadership on climate adaptation, biodiversity and green infrastructure while working closely with operational, engineering and delivery teams to embed resilience and nature-based solutions into projects, assets and business decisions. Success in this role will depend as much on your ability to influence and enable delivery as on your technical expertise.

Note - Internal job title for this role is 'Senior Sustainability and Environment Manager(Climate Adaptation and Green Infrastructure)'.

Key Accountabilities

• Drive TfL's climate adaptation, biodiversity, and green infrastructure agenda, influencing decision-making across the organisation and ensuring environmental ambitions are translated into tangible outcomes for London's transport network.
• Lead TfL's climate resilience, adaptation, biodiversity and green infrastructure programmes, ensuring alignment with corporate objectives and the Mayor's Transport Strategy.
• Translate climate adaptation and biodiversity policy into practical requirements, standards, guidance and investment priorities for operational, engineering, planning and project teams.
• Ensure climate resilience and nature-based solutions are embedded within asset management, capital delivery and operational decision-making.
• Influence senior leaders across TfL to incorporate climate risks, resilience opportunities and biodiversity outcomes into business planning and investment decisions.
• Build organisational capability so that climate adaptation is part of how TfL manages its network rather than a standalone environmental activity.
• Represent TfL externally with regulators, government, boroughs and industry partners, helping shape best practice for climate resilience and green infrastructure across the transport sector.
• Oversee performance monitoring, adaptation planning and resilience reporting, ensuring TfL can demonstrate measurable progress against its commitments.
• Lead, coach, and develop teams, building capability.
• Champion diversity, inclusion, and inclusive leadership.

Skills, Knowledge & Experience

Skills

• Ability to translate complex environmental policy, scientific evidence and strategic objectives into practical actions for operational and delivery teams.
• Ability to influence senior stakeholders in large, complex organisations where delivery is achieved through collaboration rather than direct authority.
• Strong communication skills, capable of engaging equally effectively with technical specialists, operational leaders and executive audiences.
• Proven ability to balance long-term environmental ambition with safety, operational and commercial considerations.

Knowledge

• Expert understanding of climate adaptation and resilience within large infrastructure, transport, utilities or public-sector organisations.
• Strong knowledge of biodiversity, natural capital, green infrastructure and nature-based solutions.
• Understanding of how climate risks such as extreme heat, flooding and drought affect critical infrastructure and service delivery.
• Knowledge of translating policy and regulatory requirements into business processes, standards and investment decisions.
• Understanding of the political framework within which TfL operates.

Experience

• Experience building and leading climate adaptation, resilience, or green infrastructure programmes, ideally within a large, complex infrastructure, transport, utilities or public-sector organisation.
• Demonstrable experience translating strategy, policy and technical evidence into operational practice, standards, investment decisions and measurable delivery outcomes.
• Experience influencing senior stakeholders and leading change across organisational boundaries.
• Experience working with engineering, asset management, operations and project delivery functions to embed environmental requirements into business-as-usual activities.
• Experience advising executive leaders and governance bodies on complex environmental and climate-related risks and opportunities.
• Experience representing an organisation externally with government, regulators, industry bodies, local authorities or partner organisations.
• Experience leading multidisciplinary teams and developing specialist capability.

Application Process

• Please apply using your CV and a one-page Covering letter.
• Think carefully about the skills, knowledge and experience in the advert and cover this in your CV/ covering Letter.
• PDF format preferred and do not include any photographs or images.

Interviews are expected to take place early November (exact dates tbc).

Equality, Diversity and Inclusion

We are committed to equality, diversity and inclusion and aim to reflect the diverse communities we serve. We believe that a diverse workforce enables us to deliver better services and outcomes. Our goal is to make our recruitment as inclusive as possible. As a Disability Confident Leader, we actively encourage applications from disabled people. As part of the Disability Confident scheme, we aim to offer an assessment or interview to candidates who apply via the scheme where the minimum essential criteria for skills, knowledge and experience has been met.

Across all recruitment activity, we recognise that selection methods may vary depending on the nature and scale of the campaign and will be applied fairly, consistently and proportionately in line with our Disability Confident commitments.

Vetting Process

At Transport for London, safety, trust and fairness sit at the heart of how we recruit. Our Vetting Charter explains the checks we carry out before you join us, helping ensure we create a safe, inclusive and reliable network for everyone who depends on our services. We simply ask that the information you provide is honest and accurate so we can progress your application smoothly. If something doesn’t match or can’t be verified, we may not be able to move forward with your application, but we’ll always treat you with transparency, respect, and clear communication throughout.

As a fixed-term contractor, we can offer you a choice of pension arrangements. If you choose not to take our final salary pension scheme, you will be paid an allowance on top of your salary, subject to Tax and National Insurance. We will share all the details with you at the offer stage, and the choice will be yours based on your circumstances. Depending on what you choose, you can add up to 14% to your salary.

Benefits

In return for your commitment and expertise, you will enjoy excellent benefits and scope to grow. Rewards vary according to the level of role but mostly include:

• Final salary pension scheme
• Free travel for you on the TfL network
• Reimbursement of 75% of the cost of a standard class Ticket for National Rail travel from home or 75% reimbursement on a 28-day flexi ticket
• 30 days annual leave plus public and bank holidays
• TfL is committed to work-life balance, operating a hybrid working approach where business and role requirements allow
• Private healthcare discounted scheme (optional)
• Tax-efficient cycle-to-work programme
• Retail, health, leisure and travel offers
• Discounted Eurostar travel

We will make every effort to give you as much notice as possible, however some interviews/assessments could be organised at short notice.