Sustainability Director

At NRG, we’re bringing the power of energy to people and organizations by putting customers at the center of everything we do. We generate electricity and provide energy solutions and natural gas to millions of customers through our diverse portfolio of retail brands. A Fortune 500 company, operating in the United States and Canada, NRG delivers innovative solutions while advocating for competitive energy markets and customer choice, working towards a sustainable energy future. More information is available at www.nrg.com. Connect with NRG on Facebook, LinkedIn and follow us on Twitter @nrgenergy.

Summary:

Support the development and implementation of company-wide sustainability strategy and program for NRG. Advance external sustainability solutions and standards for new and existing NRG customers. Lead cross-enterprise projects, working across businesses and departments, to ensure sustainability initiatives enhance NRG’s performance and lead to shareholder and stakeholder value, meet NRG’s sustainability goals, and support the NRG brand and company image.

Essential Duties / Responsibilities:

• Participate as an active member of the Sustainability Team to develop and implement an integrated sustainability strategy and program, with associated goals designed to drive business results, reduce risk and ensure continuity, and enhance brand value
• Help further embed sustainability into retail products and services for NRG’s home and business customers
• Evaluate strategies, technologies, partnerships, and business models to achieve company greenhouse gas emission reduction targets
• Engage with diverse group of external stakeholders including investors, rating agencies, sustainability standards bodies, and industry and academic groups on company sustainability program
• Help build partnerships with climate-tech innovation ecosystem
• Support ongoing reporting including NRG’s annual Sustainability Report, various ESG reports, questionnaires, and industry surveys, and engage with key ESG ratings and rankings organizations
• Partner with senior leadership and Investor Relations to ensure they are apprised of external sustainability trends and internal priorities and strategies
• Work collaboratively across the company (e.g., with the retail businesses, plant operations, engineering, environmental, legal, supply chain, marketing, finance, etc.) to develop, refine, and implement an integrated and coordinated sustainability plan on an ongoing basis
• Build sustainability metrics into short and long-range business planning, capital planning, and operations planning
• Collaborate with key internal stakeholders to develop internal and external communication strategies to publicize the company’s sustainability efforts and promote broad awareness of initiatives including the annual Sustainability Report
• Collaborate with Corporate Communications and Marketing to ensure NRG is represented in sustainability networks and related industry events
• Serve as an internal leader and subject matter expert on sustainability, monitoring emerging trends, programs and issues, and communicating and educating others on relevant topics
• Provide guidance on company responses to questions or statements of position on sustainability-related matters including potential policy positions
• Identify and prioritize areas for institutional sustainability efforts and recommend strategies for proactively addressing relevant environmental, social, and governance risks and opportunities in the short, medium, and long term

Education:

Bachelor’s degree from an accredited university required; graduate degree strongly preferred

Experience:

Candidate will have 9-15 years of total work experience following their terminal university degree. Of this experience, the ideal candidate will have spent at least 7 years working within corporate sustainability groups for large companies and have directly related experience in consulting, corporate and/or business unit strategy, and/or business unit sustainability.

Additional Knowledge, Skills, and Competencies:

Industry:

• Exposure to retail energy, wholesale power generation, and sustainability within the consumer services industry strongly preferred

Sustainability:

• Deep and broad network within sustainability, environmental, and other related communities required
• Strong knowledge of ESG landscape including the various voluntary reporting frameworks and associated carbon accounting protocols required
• Knowledge of energy industry decarbonization pathways and associated technologies strongly preferred
• Knowledge of sustainable product and service offerings in the retail energy industry strongly preferred
• Experience with external speaking engagements and comfort delivering internal presentations to senior management required

Problem-Solving and Analytical Skills:

• Leverages abstract, strategic, and creative thinking skills to develop work products with minimal oversight or direction – requires spanning spectrum from bigger picture thinking to highly detail-oriented execution
• Intellectually curious, open to new ideas, hypothesis-driven, and fact-based
• Very comfortable working with ambiguity (e.g. imperfect data, loosely defined concepts, ideas, or goals) and translating these into more tangible outputs
• Multi-disciplinary, systems thinker who is able to connect the dots and recognize patterns across seemingly disparate macro and micro-level data, trends, and events both inside and outside sustainability domains

Communication:

• Excellent written and oral communication skills, including ability to independently structure, develop, and deliver presentations
• Able to distill complex ideas and approaches to their essence and present them in a simplified, yet compelling manner as appropriate for the audience
• Able to communicate effectively with a wide variety of internal and external stakeholders

Team and Project Management:

• Demonstrated ability to work collaboratively with all groups across an organization, at all levels
• Able to manage multiple tasks and assess priorities effectively
• Strong team and project management skills to develop implementation plans and drive execution where appropriate
• Good people manager, developer, coach, and mentor to junior staff across the organization

Relationship-Building and Interpersonal Skills

• Able to build strong working relationships internally and externally
• Good executive presence

Change Management

• Adept at understanding NRG culture, organization, and financial constraints and working within these to articulate the case for change as appropriate
• Able to engage, align, and mobilize internal and external stakeholders to build consensus as appropriate

Personal Characteristics

Leadership and Initiative

• Entrepreneurial drive – able to identify and pursue ways to continue building NRG’s leadership position in sustainability
• Takes the initiative to suggest and implement ongoing improvements in own and others’ work as appropriate
• Viewed as an inspirational leader by others (creates “followership” among others)
• Anticipates issues and proactively works to address them

Motivation and Commitment

• Self-starter
• Motivated by the desire to have an impact
• Highly committed to exceeding expectations and to continuous improvement
• High energy level
• Strong personal work ethic
• Very attentive to detail

Flexibility / Agility / Resourcefulness

• Willing and able to take on various types of work
• Ability to adapt to different management, communication, and delivery styles for different situations as needed
• Nimble; quick on one’s feet; able to pivot quickly when needed

Personal Resilience

• Willing and able to “put a stake in the ground” to defend well-founded positions, even if they are counter to conventional wisdom
• Willing and able to take measured risks
• Thrives / succeeds in fast-paced, dynamic business and external environments

While work-authorized candidates based anywhere in the U.S. are welcome to apply, Houston, TX is the strongly preferred location. Princeton, NJ would be an acceptable alternative. Hybrid working arrangements (combination of office and remote) are offered.

To Apply

Please visit the NRG careers website.