Sustainable operations. Credible procurement.  Impacting the future. 

Sustainability Supply Chain Manager

*Internally, this role is known as a Sustainability Supplier Auditor

£55,000 - £60,000 (+ Benefits)

Reports to: Head of Procurement

Department: Chief Operating Office

Contract: 12 month fixed-term contract

Hours: Full time 35 hours per week

Location: Stratford, London. Office-based with high flexibility (1-2 days per week in the office)

Visa sponsorship: You must be eligible to work in the UK to apply for this vacancy. Cancer Research UK is not able to offer visa sponsorship. 

Closing date: 09 December 2024 23:55

This vacancy may close earlier if a high volume of applications is received or once a suitable candidate is found, therefore we strongly recommend that you apply early to avoid disappointment. If you require more time to apply as part of a reasonable adjustment, please contact [email protected] as soon as possible.

Recruitment process: One competency-based interview with an exercise

Interview date: From the week commencing 16 December 2024

How do I apply? We operate an anonymised shortlisting process in our commitment to equality, diversity, and inclusion. CVs are required for all applications; but we won’t be able to view them until we invite you for an interview. Instead, we ask you to fully complete the work history section of the online application form for us to be able to assess you quickly, fairly, and objectively.

At Cancer Research UK, we exist to beat cancer.

We are professionals with purpose, beating cancer every day. But we need to go much further and much faster. That’s why we’re looking for someone talented, someone who wants to develop their skills, someone like you.

In May 2024, Cancer Research UK was proud to publish our first Environmental Sustainability Strategy. As the UK’s largest charity, our ambition is to be operationally leading on environmental sustainability in the UK charity sector whilst achieving our mission to beat cancer. To do so, we need to take bold action to reduce our carbon emissions by 50% by 2030 and achieve net zero emissions by 2050.

To deliver our Sustainability Strategy we have identified Procurement as a key focus area to deliver this change. Our Procurement team’s credibility in helping the charity obtain the necessary resources to operate and achieve our objectives is essential to the smooth running of our organisation. Procurement manages a spend of c.£200m per annum and is a large and growing area of our emissions covering everything we buy – from the products we sell in our 600+ shops and online, to the equipment we use in our labs, and the suppliers our 4,000+ head office staff use. Currently, 99% of our emissions are indirect with purchased goods and services being the third largest contributor to Cancer Research UK’s emissions (14% of total Scope 3 emissions).  Therefore, we need sustainable decision-making in our procurement and supply chain processes so we can improve our organisational efficiency, environmental and ESG impacts of what we buy, and save money by buying less.

Our Procurement team is hiring for a newly created Sustainability Supply Chain Manager role to shape how we deliver our Sustainability strategy and ESG within our procurement and supply chain processes. In this role, you will act as the bridge between our Procurement and Sustainability teams while ensuring sustainability and ESG due diligence within our supplier process. You will play an impactful role in assessing our suppliers’ ability to meet Cancer Research UK’s sustainability requirements and identifying potential risks that could impact our reputation, financial performance, or legal compliance. This will involve using your understanding of ethical standards and legislation to evaluate our supplier’s environmental, social, and governance (ESG) practices  (including their energy use, waste management, labour practices, human rights policies, and compliance with relevant laws and regulations).  

If you are an experienced Procurement, Supply Chain, or Sustainability professional who has overseen supply chain sustainability and ESG within large organisations, we would love for you to join our mission.

What will I be doing?

• Acting as the bridge between the Procurement and Sustainability teams to deliver Cancer Research UK’s Sustainability Strategy in alignment with the Procurement team’s objectives.

• Leading on all sustainability and ESG initiatives and projects across Cancer Research UK’s procurement team and supply chain.

• Supporting in delivering Cancer Research UK’s implementation plan to tackle our emissions and achieve our net zero target. This includes but is not limited to:

  • Developing a sustainable purchasing strategy and policy which involves providing training and support to staff.

  • Engaging with core goods and service suppliers.

  • Learn more via our Sustainability Strategy (page 12).

• Advising on, developing, and implementing comprehensive supply chain sustainability and ESG programs.

• Implementing, maintaining, and monitoring ESG-supply chain compliance, policies, and procedures.

• Driving continuous improvements within Cancer Research UK’s supply chain due diligence processes.

• Partnering and collaborating across Procurement, Contract Management, and Sustainability teams to identify carbon hot spots across the charity’s supply chain.

  • This includes creating, embedding, and monitoring plans to ensure the reduction of our supply chain’s carbon emissions aligns with Cancer Research UK’s net zero targets.

• Supporting Sourcing and Supplier Management teams to develop effective plans to embed sustainable, ethical, and diverse supply chains.

• Collaborating with Procurement teams to help them support suppliers to meet our sustainability and ESG standards and compliance requirements.

• Ensuring the appropriate ESG governance is in place to measure and report on supply chain initiatives including, but not limited to:

  • Supplier code of conduct

  • Modern slavery & human rights in high-risk areas

  • Carbon emission reduction

  • Biodiversity impacts

  • Supply chain diversity

  • The usage of Subject Matter Experts (SMEs)

• Proactively engaging & upskilling the Procurement team, Supplier relationship managers, and the wider business to deliver the aims of our Sustainability strategy with a specialist supply chain focus.

• Engaging with employees and suppliers to meet Cancer Research UK’s sustainability and ESG supply chain requirements.

  • This will involve developing and delivering internal and external communications to support and advocate our supply chain sustainability requirements and strategy.

What skills will I need?

• Experienced Procurement, Supply Chain, or Sustainability professional who has been responsible for supply chain sustainability and ESG within large organisations.

  • We are open to applicants from different industries (e.g., retail, consumer goods, hospitality, pharmaceuticals, research, life sciences, manufacturing, construction, waste, textiles, warehousing & distribution, Events etc).

• Experience leading, driving, and advocating sustainability and ESG change within procurement and supply chain processes and ways of working.

• Highly knowledgeable in the principles and practices of Supplier Management schemes and their operations.

• Demonstrable understanding and experience in delivering audits and reports based on Supplier Management Sustainability Principles. This includes:

  • Ethical and Modern Slavery (MSA) audit reports (e.g., SMETA, BSCI or other Sustainability programs).

  • Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) audits.

  • The technical delivery of Supplier Management scheme audits.

• Strong business partnering skills with a proven ability to build collaborative, credible, and influential relationships with internal stakeholders and teams as well as external suppliers.

• Ability to use evidence and data to both make decisions and advise on decision-making.

Our organisation values are designed to guide all that we do.

Bold: Act with ambition, courage and determination  

Credible: Act with rigour and professionalism   

Human: Act to have a positive impact on people  

Together: Act inclusively and collaboratively

We’re looking for people who can believe in and embody these organisation values and can use them to drive forward progress against our mission to beat cancer.

If you’re interested in applying and excited about working with us but are unsure if you have the right skills and experience we’d still love to hear from you.

What will I gain?

We create a working environment that supports your wellbeing and provide a generous benefits package, a wide range of career and personal development opportunities and high-quality tools. Our policies and processes enable you to improve your work-life balance, take positive steps in your career and achieve your personal wellbeing goals.

You can explore our benefits by visiting our careers web page.

Additional Information

For more information about working with us please visit our website or contact us at [email protected].  

For more updates on our work and careers, follow us on: LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, X and YouTube.

Our vision is to create a charity where everyone feels like they belong, benefits from and participates in, the work we do. We actively encourage applications from people of all backgrounds and cultures, in particular those from ethnic minority backgrounds who are currently under-represented.

We want to see every candidate performing at their best throughout the job application process, interview process and whilst at work. We therefore ask you to inform us of any concerns you have or any adjustments you might need to enable this to happen. Please contact [email protected] or 020 3469 8400 as soon as possible. 

Unfortunately, we are unable to recruit anyone below the age of 18, so that we can protect young people from health & safety and safeguarding risks.