ESG Assurance Director Risk Advisory

Ideas | People | Trust

We’re BDO. An accountancy and business advisory firm, providing the advice and solutions businesses need to navigate today’s changing world.

Our clients are Britain’s economic engine – ambitious, entrepreneurially-spirited and high‑growth businesses that fuel the economy - and the owners and management teams that lead them.

We’ll broaden your horizons

Manage risk for our clients to make them stronger for the future.

Our growing Digital and Risk Advisory Services (DRAS) team deliver internal audit, advisory and third-party assurance engagements to a wide range of clients. ESG is a key element of our offering to our clients with a focused DRAS ESG team, working with the central ESG and Sustainability Hub; helping our clients stay up to date with the evolving reporting and regulatory landscape. It is also important to us as a firm, BDO globally committed to being Net Zero by 2050 or sooner and our “Unifying Culture” priorities are Be Yourself, Wellbeing and Citizenship, all of which address important ‘S’ agendas.

We’ll help you succeed

This role is all about leading a growing team delivering ESG assurance and advice to a wide range of clients operating across a range of sectors and supporting our clients in preparing to meet upcoming reporting and assurance requirements. It is an opportunity for an experienced leader with strong ESG, assurance and consulting skills to direct them towards supporting our clients in achieving their ESG objectives and developing our existing service offering to meet future reporting and regulatory requirements. Building on your existing knowledge of ESG, we will invest in developing your understanding of what it really means for our client’s businesses so that you can develop our existing assurance and advisory service offering so that it is meaningful to our clients and fulfilling to you.

The types of work will include leading a wide variety of ESG & Sustainability focused projects, supporting our clients preparing for the evolving reporting and regulatory agendas, responding to increasing and changing stakeholder expectations, adding credibility through their reporting and embedding sustainability considerations within their wider business strategy. The work you will lead will be a mixture of advisory, forward-looking projects as well as independent assurance assessments of varying subject matter including complex criteria and requirements.

This will involve directing multiple concurrent projects with teams of varying sizes, supporting clients at varying stages of their sustainability journey. The work will involve ensuring clients reporting under reporting directives such as CSRD, ISSB, GHG Protocol, financing agreements and other industry specific reporting is subject to independent assurance in line with quality requirements.

Your role will encompass, but not be limited to, ownership of Third Party Assurance engagements conducted in accordance with ISAE 3000 and ISAE3410 (and ISSA 5000 going forward) but also providing advisory support to clients implementing and improving their ESG arrangements.

You will be responsible for the successful delivery of projects and supporting the overall growth of our ESG team and delivery capabilities and have the opportunity to work with a wide variety of clients. You will play an important role in developing and maintaining deep client relationships, building relationships across BDO to identify and secure new projects that help our existing BDO clients and team succeed. You will have the opportunity to further develop specialist sub sector, technical and regulatory knowledge and lead both business and team development.

To be successful in this role you will need will have the following skills and experience:

• Extensive assurance and advisory experience
• Strong knowledge of the UK regulatory environment (with specific focus on ESG & sustainability), as well as the relevant global reporting initiatives in effect or being rolled out across the coming years and their impact on clients, being able to define and communicate what best practice is
• Experience in leading work under recognised assurance standards (ISAE 3000, 3410 as minimum) and the ability to review varying subject matter & criteria to determine appropriate assurance approach
• Experience of and the ability to develop methodologies and assurance approaches to align with best practice and industry standards in a fast paced, evolving environment
• Have undertaken & successfully led complex and large ESG assurance and advisory assignments and have extensive experience of best practice review methodologies and techniques including assignment planning and risk assessments
• Strong communication skills (verbal and written), ability to influence, lead, engage, and manage stakeholders, both internally and externally

You’ll be able to be yourself; we’ll recognise and value you for who you are and celebrate and reward your contributions to the business. We’re committed to agile working, and we offer everyone the opportunity to work in ways that suit them, their teams, and the task in hand.

At BDO, we’ll help you achieve your personal goals and career ambitions, and we have programmes, resources, and frameworks that provide clarity and structure around career development.

We’re in it together

Mutual support and respect is one of BDO’s core values and we’re proud of our distinctive, people-centred culture. From informal success conversations to formal mentoring and coaching, we’ll support you at every stage in your career, whatever your personal and professional needs.

We can provide the best support for our clients and people when we’re working side by side. Our agile working framework helps us stay connected, bringing teams together where and when it counts so they can share ideas and help one another. At BDO, you’ll always have access to the people and resources you need to do your best work.

We know that collaboration is the key to creating value for our clients and satisfying experiences at work, so we’ve invested in state-of-the-art collaboration spaces in our offices. BDO’s people represent a wealth of knowledge and expertise, and we’ll encourage you to build your network, work alongside others, and share your skills and experiences. With a range of multidisciplinary events and dedicated resources, you’ll never stop learning at BDO.

We’re looking forward to the future

At BDO, we help entrepreneurial businesses to succeed, fuelling the UK economy.

Our success is powered by our people, which is why we’re always finding new ways to invest in them. Across 17 UK locations, we are 6,500 unique minds coming together to help our clients reach their ambitions.

We’ve got a clear purpose, and we’re confident in our future, because we’re adapting and evolving to build on our strengths, ensuring we continue to find the right combination of global reach, integrity and expertise. We shape the future together with openness and clarity, because we believe in empowering people to think creatively about how we can do things better.

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