Principal Consultant

About you…

We are excited to be recruiting for a Principal Consultant or Senior Consultant to work across a variety of projects within our highly-regarded Commodity Supply Chains Business Unit. Are you able to bring previous consultancy experience and exceptional technical understanding to deliver high quality, impactful work? In this role you will be joining a team of ambitious and committed colleagues, and you will relish the opportunity to work with global clients to drive progress on sustainability.

Your focus for the role will be on projects relating to global supply chains for forest-risk commodities, particularly oil palm, soy, cocoa, cattle and timber/paper. We work with a wide range of companies, particularly in the consumer goods sector, as well as with public sector and non-profit organisations. Our ambition is to drive systemic change - grounded in deep understanding of the issues, drawing on a range of datasets and identifying ambitious yet pragmatic solutions. These areas are rapidly evolving, so you will have the ability and desire to learn quickly, transfer existing knowledge to new situations, and think creatively. You will ideally be a multi-skilled professional with broad technical understanding and the ability to confidently lead client engagement, manage projects, and motivate and support team members to deliver high value, impactful work.

The important stuff (essential requirements)

• Technical expertise relevant to Commodity Supply Chains Business Unit: understanding of FMCG supply chains, food systems, deforestation and corporate policy / regulatory landscape for commodity supply chains;
• Understanding of consultancy work: how consultancy businesses operate and well-developed consulting skills;
• Passion for finding solutions to complex sustainability problems;
• Ability to acquire and digest complex qualitative and quantitative information from multiple sources to distil clear strategic insights;
• Great team working skills with evidence of working collaboratively on projects, mentoring and supporting more junior team members;
• Excellent stakeholder / relationship management skills, with the ability to work effectively with people from different cultures and backgrounds;
• Commercial mindset and experience in developing high quality proposals that deliver value for our clients;
• Clear and engaging writing style, excellent verbal communication and the ability to present complex information in a client-friendly way;
• Organised and systematic approach to managing a busy workload.

Other stuff (desirable skills)

• Academic background to degree or Master’s level in a relevant subject area
• Experience of line management and/or mentoring, and an enthusiasm for continuous development of self and others;
• Data collection, cleaning and management skills. Experience of data analytics, visualisation and practical business intelligence software apps (e.g., intermediate to advanced MS Excel, MS PowerBI, Tableau, Qlik, ETL tools);
• Understanding of sustainability issues from a global perspective, and experience of working in key forest-risk commodity producer countries;
• Relevant foreign language skills (e.g. Portuguese, Bahasa, French)

Above all else, we are looking for a great new member for our team. We are aware of the general conceptions that women will only apply for roles if they meet almost 100% of the criteria, where the threshold might feel lower to their male counterparts, so if you are considering applying for the role, but you are doubting your suitability and don’t feel you tick all the boxes, we encourage you to please apply anyway.

We are committed to offering equal opportunities and to creating a workplace where a diverse mix of talented people want to come, stay and deliver their best work. We encourage applications from applicants of all backgrounds, and from those who represent any diversity of gender expression, sexual orientation, religion, ethnicity, national origin, age, disability and all other characteristics. We want to play our part in increasing diversity within the sustainability sector, recognising that there is some way to go. We take our role in contributing to change in this area very seriously.

3Keel also offers…

• A friendly team of individuals from many walks of life, all constantly striving for excellence and committed to making a difference in sustainability - and having fun along the way
• Genuine work-life flexibility for people at different life stages, with a well-established hybrid working culture
• Competitive salary depending on experience (based on 37.5 hours working week)
• Part time working will be considered
• 30 days paid annual leave per annum, increasing with number of years at business.
• Pension scheme with 5% company contribution and personal investment/savings platform
• Bonus scheme, discretionary from 3Keel owners based on company performance.
• Unpaid sabbatical leave, subject to qualifying criteria
• Employee NHS Cash Top Up health insurance scheme
• Employee assistance and mental health support programmes
• Life cover
• Access to office space in various different locations in Oxford, Bristol and London
• Three days of paid volunteering time per year for each staff member
• Generous maternity, paternity and sick pay/leave
• Annual training budget per employee
• 5 days for study per year
• Portion of annual profits donated to charity annually
• Salary sacrifice schemes for bikes (cycle to work scheme) electric vehicles and other tech

About us…

3Keel is a market-leading, specialist sustainability consultancy. We have grown organically since our founding in 2013, becoming a high impact team. The business is structured to address key sustainability issues, and we focus on innovations and coalition-building to develop approaches that challenge the status quo. We work with many of the global leading businesses on sustainability, and 3Keel is recognised by the FT as one of the UK’s leading Managing Consultancies for Sustainability. 3Keel has been a B-Corp since 2020.

Case studies with more about some of our past work can be found here:

The Commodity Supply Chains Business Unit…

The Commodity Supply Chains business unit at 3Keel comprises two teams and is home to more than 20 consultants and analysts within the business.

The thematic focus area for this particular business unit at 3Keel is on key forest-risk and other commodity supply chains. Business unit staff carry out a wide range of different projects to help clients understand the sustainability risks associated with their global sourcing of commodities, develop strategies to improve sustainability and track and communicate their progress. The Commodity Supply Chains business unit also facilitates a number of coalitions aiming to drive wider progress across the sector, for soy, oil palm, cocoa and seafood.

The approximate annual revenue for this area of the business is expected to be over £2m for this financial year, which has grown substantially over the past five years and with plans for further steady growth.

Examples of success stories or area of major impact for this business unit are available from the 3Keel website:

Our values…

Friendly: join the friendliest consulting team there is - 3Keelers are warm, welcoming and genuinely open to diverse perspectives, different ideas and new ways of doing things Joining our sociable team not only means you’ll be starting in a satisfying role - you will also be making new friends and having plenty of fun along the way

We are committed to offering equal opportunities and to creating a workplace where a diverse mix of talented people want to come, stay and deliver their best work. We encourage applications from applicants of all backgrounds, and from those who represent any diversity of gender expression, sexual orientation, religion, ethnicity, national origin, age, disability and all other characteristics. We want to play our part in increasing diversity within the sustainability sector, recognising that there is some way to go. We take our role in contributing to change in this area very seriously.

Curious: 3Keel is a place to ask questions and seek answers. We embrace a growth mindset and love to learn from one another and our clients. We have recently set up ‘3Keel Learns for our staff - a series of external speakers and lectures to help everyone learn something new.

Practical: we take a practical approach to our work - but we also apply the same to work and life too. We understand people have a life outside of work and while we all want to get the job done well, we also understand the need to find balance. Our staff are supported at all stages of life, from early career starters to parents with young kids, to staff with ageing relatives: with flexible working arrangements, part time options available in many roles, and a range of policies which mean you aren’t penalised when ‘life happens’.

Ambitious: 3Keel is an award-winning consultancy and a B Corp - we know about ambition and we encourage our staff to channel theirs towards making a real difference within the sustainability field. We continually strive for the highest standards - whether it is with our client-facing work, or with how we run the company itself.

Data privacy...

Please note that any personal data submitted to 3Keel Group Ltd as part of the job application process will be processed in accordance with the GDPR and related UK data protection legislation, for more information regarding our privacy statement please see here