ED, Sustainability Solutions Group - Deputy Head and Commercial Lead - SMBC

Job Responsibilities

Business Development:

Pitch and originate sustainable finance opportunities to corporate customers across sectors and geographies in Asia Pacific
Ensure deal alignment with market leading industry practices, internal policies, thresholds
Proactively collaborate with internal relationship managers, product teams, senior management including investee bank partners to advance SMBC's position in the sustainable finance market
Shape and advance the bank's sustainable finance/ solution product offering together with adjacent product teams and in line with customer appetite
Collaborate closely with relationship managers across geographies to develop targeted and customer-centric sustainability solutions
Proactive in arranging client meetings, workshops, travel to pursue opportunities

Strategic and Operational Management:

Supervise the team's data management, tracking and submission of the team's commercial progress and regular management reporting
Provide technical contribution to process improvements in the bank's evolving ESG policies, risk management and disclosures
Supervise the team's data management, commercial progress and management reporting
Collaborate smoothly with related departments globally and in 1st, 2nd, 3rd Line of Defense roles

Thought Leadership:

Drive the marketing strategy for the team for strategic events and forums in the region
Represent SMBC through speaking at and participating in external marketing events
Form partnerships with strategic industry players, represent the bank to contribute to industry sustainability workstreams in the region.
Write publications, enable the team to contribute to publications on thematic sustainability and sustainable finance topics.

People Management:

Design, guide and train junior members to support development of targeted and thematically advanced pitch materials
Drive the technical sustainability capabilities of the team through direct experience (e.g. specific sectoral strategies, nature-based finance, social finance, sustainable technologies)
Manage the career development key members in the team through regular feedback, guidance and coaching to help maintain and advance a high performing team
Support managing the goal setting and annual performance review process for key members in the team

Job Requirements:

Experienced sustainable finance leader with over 15years of experience across financial services, origination, sales and sustainability, of which at least 5 years experience in a multinational work environment
Experience in strategizing and delivering commercial outcomes
Deep practical knowledge of sustainable finance market standards and taxonomies
Proven financial product knowledge, sales and relationship management skills
Confident, articulate and structured communicator both in small and large group settings
Highly technical and meticulous presentation development capabilities
High attention to detail and skilled in managing data and proficient in Microsoft Excel
Comfortable navigating, extracting and challenging 3rd party ESG and financial data tools
Experience leveraging multiple news and data sources to shape strategies and client solutions
Versed in prevailing climate pathways, scenarios, industry frameworks and ESG models
Requires strong technical judgement to support team navigate deal opportunities in a quickly evolving landscape, mitigating greenwashing and reputational risks
Experienced people and performance manager, embodies team spirit and collaboration, a culture carrier who inspires and motivates colleagues
Flexible and open to adapting new approaches and strategies
Willing to understand and quickly adapt to internal bank level policies and systems
Highly self-aware and capable of managing workload and deliverables with minimal supervision
Organised and structured in managing competing priorities with sound judgement
Proactive in soliciting feedback and shaping improvements at a personal and team level
Ideally, possesses academic and/or research experience in sustainability/ sustainable finance
Experience managing multiple projects across different jurisdictions with diverse stakeholders simultaneously
Culturally aware and works well in diverse work environments, experience in Japanese work environment desired