Daily Sustainability Job Post

* The link and job description provided was active on August 26, 2020 – the date this was posted. Please refer to the employer’s website for up to date information. This is not our search, we are providing these links as a service to the community of sustainability and ESG jobseekers.

Position Overview:

Summary:

Hitachi America, Ltd. (HAL) is looking for an experienced Sustainability Manager, whose key roles are to develop, implement and manage regional sustainability strategy and action plan in the US, Canada and Mexico (“region”), in line with Hitachi’s sustainability strategy and to support integrate sustainability into all aspects of Hitachi Group companies’ business operations in order to improve sustainability performance, increase the recognition of Hitachi’s sustainability activities and enhance the reputation and visibility of the Hitachi Group companies in the region.

The scope of work includes areas such as sustainability strategy, environmental management, responsible business practices that incorporate sustainability into the company’s business operation to create positive environmental, social and economic impacts, non-financial information disclosure, community citizenship activities, stakeholder engagements, and other areas related to sustainability. The role requires to work closely and cooperate with various departments across the organization, Hitachi Group companies mainly within but also outside the region, and with Sustainability Promotion Division (“SusD”), Hitachi Corporate Office in Washington DC (WASHI) and other divisions of Hitachi, Ltd. (Tokyo, Japan). It also requires working closely and cooperate with other stakeholders as necessary.

Responsibilities:

Working Attitude:

• With open-mindedness, develop constructive and cooperative working relationships with others, and maintaining them over time.
• Collaborate with various departments across HAL’s organization, Hitachi Group companies mainly within but also outside the region, and with SusD, WASHI and other divisions of Hitachi, Ltd. and provide support as necessary.

Strategy & Activities:

• Understand and implement Hitachi’s sustainability strategy, initiatives and requirements across the region.
• Communicate the strategy, directives and policies to the Hitachi Group companies in the region. Explain what the information means and provide guidance.
• Develop, implement and manage regional sustainability strategy and action plans.
• Provide insights, recommendations and ideas on how to improve and enhance Hitachi’s sustainability performance in the region.
• Propose, carry out or support activities (eg. regional meetings, training sessions, workshops, stakeholder engagements, HRDD, strategic corporate citizenship activities, supply chain management, etc.) in line with Hitachi’s and regional strategy.
• Coordinate and facilitate sustainability activities with Hitachi Group companies in the region.

Environmental Management:

• Develop and deploy environmental action plans for HAL and assist the Hitachi Group companies in the region to develop and deploy their environmental action plans, to enable environmental value through collaborative creation among Hitachi stakeholders taking into account of the local aspects such as policies and legal requirements.
• Organize an annual Regional Environmental Conference focusing on key environmental policies and operations with Hitachi Group company regional managers.
• Environment monitoring.

Maintaining Network:

• Maintain regional sustainability network with Hitachi Group companies in order to communicate relevant information among the group.
• Coordinate and track the region’s environmental network in order to identify environmental issues, mitigate risks and communicate relevant information among the Hitachi Group companies in the region.
• Develop and maintain network with external sustainability professionals and relevant stakeholders.

Collecting Information:

• Collect information about the Group companies sustainability activities and share with SusD.
• Monitor sustainability-related trends and collect relevant information in the region – eg. legislations, business and civil societies, etc. and share them with relevant parties within the Hitachi Group.
• Follow developments on environmental policies, legislations and regulations in the region.

Other Tasks:

• Organize and/or attend various meetings in order to perform the required responsibilities and maintain meeting minutes.
• Arrange and make business trips internationally and domestically in order to perform the required responsibilities.
• Perform day-to-day administrative tasks such as: maintaining information files and processing paperwork, send weekly and monthly reports as well as pre- and post- initiative reports to SusD, and develop HAL’s sustainability budget and manage resources and spending within the budget.

As a Manager:

• Perform the following duties as a team manager:
  • Manage the performance of your team and work together to accomplish tasks as a team.
  • Provide guidance and direction to subordinates, including setting performance objectives and monitoring performance.
  • Identify the developmental needs of others and coach, mentor, or otherwise help others to improve their knowledge or skills.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in business, sustainability, science, environmental studies, or related area is required.
• Minimum of 5+ years of experience in a sustainability role is required.
• Bilingual in Japanese is required.
• Must be able to work independently and develop and build teams – Encourage and build mutual trust, respect, and cooperation among team members.
• Need to be able to arrange and travel internationally and domestically by oneself.
• Excellent communication skills whether by telephone, in written form, e-mail, or in person; being influential.
• Negotiation skills – Settle differences and disputes to achieve best possible outcome.
• Creative thinking – Develop or create new ideas.
• Critical thinking – Analyze information/situation for assessment and evaluate results to choose the best solution and solve problems.
• Develop objectives and strategies – Establish long-range objectives and specifying the strategies and actions to achieve them.
• Organize, plan, and prioritize work — Schedule events, programs, and activities and develop specific goals and plans to prioritize, organize, and accomplish work.
• Estimate the quantifiable characteristics of events — Determining time, costs, resources, or materials needed to perform a work activity.
• Evaluate information to determine compliance with standards — Using relevant information and individual judgment to determine whether events or processes comply with laws, regulations, or standards.
• Update and use relevant knowledge — Keeping up-to-date and apply new knowledge to the job.
• Proficiency in MS Office (Outlook, Word, Excel, PowerPoint), Skype, be able to set up conference calls, etc.