Stakeholder Engagement Lead

Location: Sydney, Australia.

This is a remote role, with colleagues based around the world, and WBA’s HQ in NL

Contact type: 18 months fixed term contract.

About WBA

The World Benchmarking Alliance (WBA) is an independent, non-profit organisation that measures how businesses impact people and planet so that together, we can hold companies accountable for contributing to sustainable development. To achieve this, we measure how the 2,000 most influential businesses are impacting people and the planet. Our research is open source, our benchmarks and methodologies serve as a roadmap for companies to understand the changes they need to make to put our planet, society, and the economy on a more sustainable path. We support our Allies, UN agencies, governments, and other stakeholders in the broader corporate accountability ecosystem to understand how they can establish clear consequences for corporate inaction.

WBA is a Teal-inspired organisation, intentionally shaping a distinctive organisational culture—the ‘WBA Way’. Drawing on principles of Teal, Regenerative Leadership, and other inspirational leadership models, we are building a workplace where collaboration, trust, and personal growth are prioritised alongside high performance. We are committed to ongoing cultural evolution and seek candidates who are excited to contribute to an environment where both our results—and our people—continually improve. WBA operates in a VUCA ecosystem (volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous) so we are looking for a team member who can not only adapt effectively, but who can innovate and leverage this context as an opportunity.

Why This Role Matters

You will strengthen and co-lead on the delivery of a dedicated engagement strategy in Australia that started at the beginning of 2025. This is a chance to play a critical role in shaping WBA’s work in Australia over the coming 18 months, focusing on closing the corporate accountability gap through company and stakeholder engagement. You will be part of WBA’s Stakeholder and Policy Team, a global team with expertise in engaging with WBA’s key stakeholders, including financial institutions, civil society organisation, policy makers and multi-lateral organisations.

The Opportunity

• You will identify, build and nurture relationships with key organisations that can close the corporate accountability gap in Australia, including civil society organisations, financial institutions, business platforms, academia and policymakers;

• You will identify and engage with high priority companies that WBA assesses to drive forward improvement in their sustainability performance using WBA’s benchmarks;

• You will represent WBA externally in bilateral meetings and events, for instance at industry forums, conferences, roundtables, and policy dialogues;

• You will analyse trends, risks and opportunities and use these insights to shape the engagement approach with the goal of closing the corporate accountability gap in Australia;

• You will bring insights and learning from your engagement in Australia back into WBA and connect to WBA’s other workstreams.

What You'll Bring

• 8+ years’ relevant experience in the field of sustainability working in campaigning/ advocacy/ engagement type roles;

• Ability to navigate between and among different sustainability themes, including biodiversity and nature, food and agriculture, decarbonisation and energy, finance, etc.

• Confidence and clarity in communicating to WBA’s key stakeholders (companies, financial institutions, policy makers, civil society organisations) including in bilateral meetings and public speaking;

• Strong existing sustainability network with key WBA stakeholders (companies, financial institutions, policy makers, civil society organisations) in Australia;

• Excellent strategic and innovative thinking, and strong project management skills;

• Collaborative, thoughtful, and calm under pressure, you thrive in a fast paced, changing environment.

Reporting to:

Head of Stakeholder and Policy Engagement

Quick Facts:

• Org headcount: 85

• Org Jurisdictional spread: 31 countries

• Number of Direct Reports: 0

• Your Team: Part of the Stakeholder and Policy Engagement Team (15 team members, global presence) within the Engagement and Communication Function

• Working Hours' Time Zone: Mainly Sydney hours, but with some flexibility, including the ability to regularly join several internal monthly and bi-weekly meetings that are GMT AM time zone (this will average about one day a week working in GMT AM time zone)

• Job type: Full time (40 hours per week), fixed term 18-month contract (possibility for renewal depending on project funding)

• Salary Banding: € 75000-95000, AUD 125.730,00 - 159.258,00

Interested?

Send us your resume by clicking the 'apply for this job' and include a short answer to these two questions (not more than 250 words in total) 1) Why is this the perfect role for you now? 2) What would you prioritise in this engagement strategy in order to accelerate corporate accountability and corporate action on sustainability in Australia in the next 18 months?

For any questions regarding the role, please reach out to Nikki Gwilliam Beeharee, n.gwilliam@worldbenchmarkingalliance.org

We encourage you to apply as soon as possible, no later than 1st of March at 23.59 CEST. Virtual online interviews will be held for this role at the end of week starting 9 March. For more information about WBA and our benchmarks, please see our website or follow @SDGBenchmarks.