Head of Responsible Business

Head of Responsible Business

Team: Culture & Sustainability

Location: We have a blended work to your diary approach where we flex where, when and how we work with attendance at our hubs when required.

Reporting to: Group Culture and Sustainability Director

Direct reports: Responsible Business Executive

The Responsible Business Lead plays a key role in shaping, managing and delivering our responsible business agenda, and ensuring our B Corp accreditation is not only maintained but improved, and embedded across the Ampa group, as well as assisting to grow our business to be one of the most successful legal groups in the UK Top 30.

Role Purpose

To lead the delivery of the responsible business agenda, pushing ourselves to be brave with our actions and embedding into all aspects of our business that which is meaningful and authentic. The responsible business agenda is focused on:

• People (gender, race, diversity & inclusion & inclusion groups including wellbeing)
• Communities (responsible business champions, fundraising, volunteering, pro-bono, Ampa Foundation & social mobility)
• Environment (carbon measurement & reporting with Net Zero Heroes, climate transition plan including with suppliers & carbon removals/offsets)
• Force for good (embedding and improving B Corp accreditation, maintaining required ESG standards, raising profile of impactful client work and educating Ampa people).

Key Accountabilities

• Ensure progress is made against our Responsible Business goals and plan and lead the reporting against this framework for our annual impact report.
• Drive the development and implementation of our responsible business goals to ensure they remain a clear and consistent priority in everything we do.
• Accountable for our Group Impact Report, reporting on all responsible business initiatives and activity to ensure we provide an accurate & honest reflection of our performance over the last 12 months and our future actions.
• Ensure we are adhering to and communicating the progress of our external pledges (Change the Race Ratio, Social Mobility Pledge, Disability Confident, Women in Law Pledge and the Climate Pledge).
• Work closely with Director Culture & Sustainability to provide support and pro-bono advice regarding responsible business activity, engagement and B Corp to clients and external networks, sharing learning and experience.
• Lead our B Keepers, office hub Responsible Business Champions, Inclusion Groups, EDI Advocates and Net Zero Heroes to ensure we are driving activity, operational improvements & engagement internally & externally.
• Collaborate with Ampa Group Services Leads & teams to ensure Responsible Business action and impact is understood and action being taken in their areas including People team, Operations, BD/Marketing, Finance, Procurement & IT.
• Coach, develop and inspire the Responsible Business team to build in capability & expertise.
• People
• Support & drive activity that provides an inclusive, diverse, equitable, and supportive environment and culture for all our people to succeed.
• Embed & grow our inclusion group network and EDI Advocates team by ensuring active participation, engagement and education.
• Ensure we are adhering to and communicating pay gap reporting annually.

Communities

• Work with our people to support our local communities, providing impactful volunteering opportunities and developing long-term relationships in each region with local charities that our Hubs can support.
• Work with our hub responsible business champions to co-ordinate volunteering and fundraising opportunities. Responsible for managing any spend within area of focus for partnerships or related activities.
• Proactively drive Ampa’s social mobility action plan and lead on the Social Mobility Employer Index annually, working with the People team to ensure progress.
• Environment
• Ensure carbon reporting is completely in as accurate and time a manner as possible.
• Lead the delivery of Ampa’s Climate Transition Plan and ensure our group is taking action to achieve net zero, including setting science-based targets with the SBTi.
• Lead appropriate assessments and action planning to address carbon balancing and our group impact to biodiversity.

Force for Good

• Responsible for B Corp re-certification process every 3 years, working with internal stakeholders to ensure Ampa’s commitments are met, and score increases.
• Be a proactive participant of the B Corp community to share best practice and learn from others.
• Responsible for ensuring Responsible Business (RB) & B Corp is known & understood across our group; devising and leading on the engagement & education plan.
• Ensure all group ESG reporting requirements are met on time & in-line with our RB & B Corp commitments.
• Support the actions required to integrate social and environmental performance into Ampa’s culture and decision-making.
• Help surface and amplify examples of client work that have a positive social and environmental impact to showcase Ampa’s capacity to be a force for good.

Key Skills

• An excellent understanding of the responsible business agenda (equality, diversity, inclusion, community, wellbeing, charity, environment, B Corp accreditation) related trends, as well as a strong understanding of regulation and legislation.
• Grit; determination to see things through, overcoming blockers to deliver great results.
• Excellent influencer, able to navigate organisational challenges to ensure delivery.
• Exceptional at driving team performance and building their reputation across the group.
• Thrives in an agile environment – able to make things happen.
• Grasps concepts quickly.
• Excellent level of empathy and emotional intelligence is critical.
• Strong stakeholder engagement and interpersonal skills with an ethical and transparent approach to working.
• Excellent written and presenting skills.
• Experience of coaching and educating individuals at all levels in an organisation. Proven ability in planning, organising, project management and delivery; able to prioritise multiple work-streams and meet key deadlines.

Benefits, Agile Working and Additional information

We embrace agile working and offer a blended approach to where and how we work.

We appreciate that people have different needs and preferences and we're keen to be flexible, after all, we value what you do, not where you do it.

We have the following hubs across the UK: Birmingham, Bristol, Leicester, Lincoln, London, Milton Keynes, Nottingham, Solihull, Stratford upon Avon, Sheffield and in the South; Crawley, East Grinstead, Lewes, Brighton, Eastbourne, Seaford, Peacehaven, Storrington, Chichester & Southampton as well as our Scotland office located in Edinburgh.

Additional information

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Please be aware, for some vacancies, where we receive high numbers of applications we may need to bring the close date forward.

Due to the nature of the work undertaken, confirmation of employment will be subject to a variety of checks which will be carried out once an offer of employment is accepted. Details of the checks can be found here.

Equal opportunities

Ampa Group is a committed equal opportunities employer. We seek to attract, develop and retain talented people from a diverse range of backgrounds and cultures. We value and respect individuality and encourage a culture within our business where people can be themselves and be valued for their strengths and experiences. Everyone who either applies to or works for the firm is treated equally, regardless of their gender, age, ethnic origin, nationality, marital status, sexual orientation or religious beliefs.