Sustainability/Non-financial reporting specialist

Job Title: Sustainability/Non-financial reporting specialist

Location(s): Berlin or Heidelberg

About Springer Nature Group

Springer Nature opens the doors to discovery for researchers, educators, clinicians and other professionals. Every day, around the globe, our imprints, books, journals, platforms and technology solutions reach millions of people. For over 180 years our brands and imprints have been a trusted source of knowledge to these communities and today, more than ever, we see it as our responsibility to ensure that fundamental knowledge can be found, verified, understood and used by our communities – enabling them to improve outcomes, make progress, and benefit the generations that follow. Visit group.springernature.com and follow @SpringerNature / @SpringerNatureGroup

About the Role

As part of Springer Nature’s established Sustainable Business team, the non-financial reporting specialist will work with colleagues both within the team and across the wider business to collate, assess, assure and report key ESG information to be used in annual and ad hoc corporate reporting, including for benchmarks such as Ecovadis and CDP. The successful candidate will have experience in regulatory financial or non-financial reporting within the German context and ideally within a global/listed environment. 

This role can be in our Berlin or Heidelberg offices on a hybrid working model.

Role Responsibilities:

• A key role in a small team that will produce the ESG (Environmental, Social and Governance)-related reporting for Springer Nature group, to meet regulatory compliance needs and investor or customer-focused ESG disclosures. 
• Collating, reviewing and assuring various non-financial data, to meet fixed deadlines, liaising with internal providers of both quantitative and qualitative data. 
• Ensuring data accuracy, consistency, and completeness. Supporting audits of ESG data, liaising with auditors, preparing internal colleagues for meetings and following up to maintain a smooth overall process.
• Keeping up-to-date with changing regulatory requirements to enable the company to anticipate and adapt in the context of a German listed-company environment and in view of European regulatory changes. 
• Building strong relationships with internal stakeholders, gaining a good understanding of relevant Springer Nature systems and adapting planning/timelines around other constraints to build overall smooth processes. 

Experience, Skills & Qualifications:

• Minimum 2-3 years in sustainability reporting, preparing information for regulatory and / or investor-focused ESG (Environmental, Social, Governance) requests from a range of stakeholders, or compliance. Alternatively, candidates with a strong background in financial reporting and an interest in developing in the non-financial / ESG reporting area would also be considered.
• Candidates should be familiar with and interested in learning more about the key material topics within the sectors in which Springer Nature operates (research, health and education publishing), including environmental, social, governance and publishing specific topics. 
• Fluent in German and English in order to ensure alignment between German and English non-financial reporting disclosures is essential. 
• Knowledge of the German corporate governance code, the corporate sustainability reporting directive framework (and ESRS), EU Taxonomy or other regulatory and voluntary ESG frameworks is highly desirable. 
• Proven ability to analyze complex data sets and exceptional attention to detail required to ensure complete, accurate and consistent reporting. Willingness to challenge gaps, inconsistencies or errors and work with contributors to resolve. 
• Excellent collaboration and communication skills for working with internal and external stakeholders and cross-functional teams. 
• Positive and can-do attitude when faced with challenges in collating and verifying data. 
• Proficiency in Excel, Power Point essential. Knowledge or and ability to quickly pick up and make efficient use of other tools such as Google Big Query, SAP, HFM or other similar tools an advantage.
• Ability to manage work with competing priorities. An understanding of quarterly and year-end reporting processes and deadlines, and how to manage these with internal stakeholders to meet fixed deadlines. 
• Act as a primary contact for internal and external stakeholders, including auditors, and take actions to enable a smooth audit process. 
• The successful candidate will also work with the wider team over time to improve and streamline reporting processes, which may include some involvement with software tools. 

At Springer Nature, we value the diversity of our teams and work to build an inclusive culture, where people are treated fairly and can bring their differences to work and thrive. We empower our colleagues and value their diverse perspectives as we strive to attract, nurture and develop the very best talent. Springer Nature was awarded Diversity Team of the Year at the 2022 British Diversity Awards. Find out more about our DEI work here https://group.springernature.com/gp/group/taking-responsibility/diversity-equity-inclusion  

If you have any access needs related to disability, neurodivergence or a chronic condition, please contact us so we can make all necessary accommodation.

For more information about career opportunities in Springer Nature please visit https://springernature.wd3.myworkdayjobs.com/SpringerNatureCareers

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