Head of Sustainability & Thought Leadership, EVP

Reports to: EVP, Global Head of Client Impact

Department/ Division: Client Impact

Location: Boston preferable; Open to major EMEA locations

Across the globe, institutional investors rely on State Street to help them manage risk, respond to challenges through solutions, and drive performance and profitability. We keep our clients at the heart of everything we do, and smart, engaged professionals are essential to our success.

Our commitment to maintain an environment where every employee feels valued and able to meet their full potential infuses our company values. It’s also part of our commitment to inclusion, development and engagement, and corporate social responsibility. You’ll have tools to help balance your professional and personal life, paid volunteer days, and access to employee networks that help you stay connected to what matters to you. Join us.

Position Overview

The Head of Sustainability and Thought Leadership is responsible for leading and executing Sustainability priorities and in bringing a ‘One State Street’ approach to strategic thought leadership, in support of our purpose to help create better outcomes for the world’s investors and the people they serve. This role will interface with some of our most sophisticated clients, including chief investment officers, on matter related to Sustainability as well as adjacent topics including how State Street can support their operating model objectives. This role will have accountability for ensuring a cohesive and relevant State Street Thought Leadership agenda with leadership of the editorial board, informing and defining our global thought leadership priorities and agenda, which will include alignment with SSGA, SSA, marketing and Corporate.

The Head of Sustainability & Thought Leadership will also be instrumental in developing a new model capitalizing on the success in the Middle East to provide training to our clients on the fundamentals of our business, with an ambition to develop this into a commercial opportunity and expand into new regions. This senior leadership position is a member of the Client Impact Leadership team and requires a strong understanding of and fluency with the financial services industry and the ability to understand changing market dynamics and translate them into actionable strategy. Success for this role will be measured by client loyalty, improved client sentiment around State Street Thought Leadership and marketing campaign success as measured by revenue growth and brand awareness.

Responsibilities & Tasks Include

Thought Leadership

• Strong partnership with SSA and SSGA in leading the editorial board which will bring the best of each organizations thought leadership together to collectively prioritize how and when we best position key topics in the interest of our clients and the industry
• Develop a targeted and personalized strategic approach to Thought Leadership with our clients across Investment Services
• In close cooperation with marketing, develop thought leadership to fuel our revenue focused campaigns across all regions and build our brand awareness
• Bring One State Street view to clients with the aim of driving thematic content that further differentiates and establishes our reputation in the market in areas of strategic importance
• Serve as primary contact for thought leadership communication with senior team and business partners, providing regular updates and soliciting involvement as appropriate
• Develop and implement content strategies that elevate our brand and engages our audiences in our differentiated message
• Leverage research and stakeholder perspectives to strengthen partnerships and develop content in line with reputational aspirations
• Enable executive platform themes with differentiated research and white papers and help determine the themes our executives’ present at tier 1 events
• Engage in joint research with academic and industry partners
• Showcase industry experts with targeted interviews and roundtables
• Set and deliver outcome-based Thought Leadership key results and measure and track against key KPIs
• Lead a thought leadership and content development team dedicated to generating content and manage resources to deliver a robust presence in an efficient and timely manner
• Review thought leadership content from inception to publication
• Represent investment thought leadership content in various forums as warranted- in person delivery, as well as written - client advisory boards, client events, social media and other
  
  
  

Sustainability

• Strategy:
• Advise senior leaders with respect to our longer term Sustainability product and program strategies; advise and oversee the recommendations on products and services
• Ensure State Street is fully leveraging the Sustainability capabilities of all its business with SSGA taking the leading role as a fiduciary and research excellence from State Street Associates (SSA)
• Oversee team who maintains strong governance of Sustainability priorities and partners with risk, compliance and finance on regulatory requirements in order to meet stakeholder expectations
• Provide expert input to State Street’s international businesses as they consider regulatory and client developments
  
  

• Product:
• Partner with the Product organization to coordinate and encourage the development of relevant profitable products in the Sustainability area for our clients
  
  

• Communication & Content:
• Curate Sustainability partnerships to optimize the standing of State Street as an Sustainability leader amongst its stakeholders including clients and investors
• Engage with clients, media, and other external stakeholders; operate as State Street’s most senior, Sustainability spokesperson; chair Sustainability Board of Advisors
• Partner to influence relevant and critical Thought Leadership across State Street globally, including SSA, Product and Global Marketing
• Deliver value to asset owners by delivering insight and consulting on the application and reporting of Sustainability in complex portfolios
  
  

• Client Coverage:
• Build relationships with Chief Investment Officers at State Street’s Investment Services clients leveraging relevant thought leadership topics and solutions to enable commercial positioning of relevant State Street products/platforms
• Institutionalize how to engage programmatically and in a differentiated way with our CIO clients to deepen relationships, improve client NPS, and operate as a point of escalation
  
  

• Legal Entity Regulatory Compliance:
• Provide co-ordination and assistance to the legal entity leaders in their Sustainability regulatory compliance work, in order to maximize effectiveness of data management and subject matter expertise
  
  

• Reporting:
• Manage the collection and dissemination of information about State Street’s Sustainability position, including periodic, mandatory, and voluntary disclosures such as the Sustainability annual report, CSRD (Europe), and RFP responses, in partnership with Finance who will lead Regulatory reporting requirements
• Draft sustainability reporting efforts for business messaging, themes and vision of future
  

Client Training

• Design a scalable client training program that provides an end to end view of State Street’s capabilities globally
• Evaluate the opportunity for a global STT “institute”
• Partner with Sales and Relationship Management teams to set client training strategy in alignment with commercial outcomes
• Ensure client experience is at forefront of training program by providing a seamless training experience
  
  
  

Job Requirements

• 20+ years relevant communications and / or thought leadership experience, preferably in a financial services organization
• Significant knowledge of sustainability and other Sustainability matters that are material for large financial services businesses
• Strong track record of connecting the dots to inform a larger strategy while maintaining an execution oriented mindset
• Strong skills needed to influence and gain stakeholder buy-in
• Strong content development and research background
• Experience in Corporate Social Responsibility / climate risk management, preferably in the financial services industry
• Familiarity with the latest trends in financial content creation, storytelling and user engagement
• Experience working in a large, complex organization with multiple legal entity structures and business lines
• Ability to manage projects across multiple stakeholders, timelines, and key deliverables
• Excellent analytical skills and strong verbal and written communication skills
• Demonstrated track record of achievement with respect to driving sustainable and scalable change
  
  
  

Are you the right candidate? Yes!

We truly believe in the power that comes from the diverse backgrounds and experiences our employees bring with them. Although each vacancy details what we are looking for, we don’t necessarily need you to fulfil all of them when applying. If you like change and innovation, seek to see the bigger picture, make data driven decisions and are a good team player, you could be a great fit.

About State Street

What we do. State Street is one of the largest custodian banks, asset managers and asset intelligence companies in the world. From technology to product innovation, we’re making our mark on the financial services industry. For more than two centuries, we’ve been helping our clients safeguard and steward the investments of millions of people. We provide investment servicing, data & analytics, investment research & trading and investment management to institutional clients.

Work, Live and Grow. We make all efforts to create a great work environment. Our benefits packages are competitive and comprehensive. Details vary by location, but you may expect generous medical care, insurance and savings plans, among other perks. You’ll have access to flexible Work Programs to help you match your needs. And our wealth of development programs and educational support will help you reach your full potential.

Inclusion, Diversity and Social Responsibility. We truly believe our employees’ diverse backgrounds, experiences and perspectives are a powerful contributor to creating an inclusive environment where everyone can thrive and reach their maximum potential while adding value to both our organization and our clients. We warmly welcome candidates of diverse origin, background, ability, age, sexual orientation, gender identity and personality. Another fundamental value at State Street is active engagement with our communities around the world, both as a partner and a leader. You will have tools to help balance your professional and personal life, paid volunteer days, matching gift programs and access to employee networks that help you stay connected to what matters to you.

State Street is an equal opportunity and affirmative action employer.

Salary Range

$300,000 - $412,500 Annual

The range quoted above applies to the role in the primary location specified. If the candidate would ultimately work outside of the primary location above, the applicable range could differ.

Job ID: R-753341