SENIOR SUSTAINABILITY CONSULTANT – MANCHESTER, EDINBURGH OR BRISTOL OFFICE

Ready to take a leading role in delivering high-profile, design-led projects within a flexible, equitable and employee-owned business? At Max Fordham, you'll combine technical excellence with real influence, helping clients navigate complex sustainability challenges while shaping the future of our environmental assessment services. 

We are looking for a Senior Sustainability Consultant to strengthen and grow our team, supporting project delivery, client relationships and service development. This role is ideally based in our Manchester, Edinburgh or Bristol offices, although we would consider London or Cambridge for the right candidate.

ABOUT THE ROLE 

Based in either our Manchester, Edinburgh or Bristol offices, you will manage a range of projects, with support from junior consultants, while working closely with our Certification Manager and other experienced colleagues to review and strengthen our technical standards, templates and delivery approach. 

Most of the assessments you lead will be BREEAM, BREEAM International and WELL, with opportunities to work across BREEAM Domestic, Fitwel and BREEAM Infrastructure, as well as bespoke assessments against client-specific frameworks. You will also act as lead sustainability consultant on projects, coordinating sustainability input across different disciplines. From time to time, there will be opportunities to deliver complementary services that support certification, including sustainability strategies, planning advice and design team workshops on topics such as climate change adaptation, the Net Zero Carbon Building Standard and ESG. You will work closely with our wider sustainability specialists in materials, wellbeing, net zero carbon, building performance and strategic advice.

You will take responsibility for optimising the team’s technical delivery processes, developing opportunities to grow the service and, over time, helping to build the team. Supported by our Certification Manager, you will play an important role in supervising, mentoring, training and onboarding junior team members, helping to maintain a high standard of work across the group. We see this as a valuable role for someone who enjoys sharing experience, shaping good practice and contributing to team quality.

ABOUT YOU

You will bring confidence, sound judgement and substantial professional experience, providing trusted advice while taking a thoughtful and practical approach to improving how work is delivered.

You will have strong technical knowledge of environmental assessments, excellent written and verbal communication skills, strong organisational ability, and a genuine commitment to delivering sustainable outcomes on your projects while contributing to the development of the wider group and practice. 

You will enjoy building lasting relationships with clients, collaborators and colleagues, and will bring strong knowledge of sustainability assessment schemes.

You will have a strong understanding of how sustainable outcomes can be achieved across different project types, alongside a broad awareness of sustainability issues within the built environment. You will be able to apply sound judgement and critical thinking to identify the best approach for each project, while confidently advocating for sustainability within project teams.

Essential experience:

• At least 6 years of experience as a sustainability assessor in the built environment
• Qualified BREEAM Assessor experienced in positively guiding multiple building and assessment types through to delivery
• Experienced WELL AP
• Knowledge of other environmental assessment methods such as BREEAM Domestic Refurbishment, Fitwel, LEED, Living Building Challenge etc.
• Experience leading and coordinating sustainability advice on projects
• Experience of supervising others
• Experience of managing multiple projects
• Experience of the whole construction process

Additional desirable experience:

• Experience of managing project profitability
• Able to prepare bids and fee proposals
• Experience of workshop facilitation
• Chartered Environmentalist
• Qualified BREEAM Advisory Professional
• Qualified Fitwel Ambassador
• Qualified HQM Assessor
• Qualified LEED AP
• Knowledge of UK Net Zero Carbon Building Standard
• Setting and delivering sustainability strategies for new projects or portfolios
• Experience in Life Cycle Carbon Analysis
• Experience in developing Circular Economy Strategies
• Experience of developing bespoke sustainability frameworks

WHY JOIN US?

At Max Fordham we are working with the built environment to deliver a sustainable future and a thriving planet. Our UK’s leading, award-winning MEP engineering practice is owned by the people who work here and committed to leading the industry in tackling the challenges posed by the climate and biodiversity crises. 

Shared responsibility to look after each other, to care for our communities, and to create a sustainable world is our embedded belief and we pride ourselves on providing an open, inclusive and supportive environment for our employees and partners.

WHAT WE OFFER

• Excellent growth opportunities for your personal and career development in a knowledge driven environment
• Mentored support towards professional accreditation
• An annual professional institution subscription
• Interesting and technically challenging projects
• An inclusive culture and cooperative environment
• Opportunities for involvement in business-running activities
• Flexible working arrangements
• Competitive pay and employee bonus
• Future opportunities for Partnership
• Six weeks holiday (including Bank holidays)
• Max Fordham Pension Scheme
• Other benefits include generous paid parental leave, sick pay, and treatment pay.

SALARY – £43,000 - £60,000, dependent on experience

CLOSING DATE – 22^nd August 2026 at 22:00 (GMT) 

HOW TO APPLY

This position is available for an immediate start. 

If you are interested in working with us, we are keen to hear from you. In addition to providing your CV, please apply with a conversational letter that tells us why you would like to work for us, and setting out how you meet each of the essential experience criteria, as well as any additional experience. Please include details of three projects you have worked on, setting out your role and responsibilities as well as the timeframes for which you held those responsibilities.

To support our fair and anonymised recruitment process, please ensure that your cover letter does not include any personal identification details.

Please note that all applicants must have an existing and valid right to work in the UK. As a consequence of the changes made to the Skilled Worker route by the UK Government, we are unable to sponsor Skilled Worker visas for this position.

To apply, please click the 'Apply for this job' button and follow the application process. 

If you have any additional queries, please contact Meerra Aswin or Lavinia Tutuianu at careers@maxfordham.com.