About Swoop

Swoop is a global community of adventure travel enthusiasts that has helped over 10,000 people
to experience the extraordinary landscapes and wildlife of Antarctica, Patagonia and the Arctic.
Since our foundation in 2010 our success has been based on our specialist knowledge of our regions, our ambition to shape the travel industry for the better, our growing commitment to doing the right thing for people and planet, and most of all our connectedness as a global team. We have a clear responsibility to be stewards of our destinations and a duty to collaborate with our customers, operators and industry partners to reduce the negative impacts of travel and maximise the positives.

About the Role

So we are hiring a permanent and full-time Head of Impact and Sustainability to co-define and lead our sustainability programme, support our teams in their engagements with customers and operators, and work with the CEO to shape our vision and plans for 2030 and engage our external stakeholders.
This is an opportunity to step up and really shape ends-of-the-earth adventure travel experiences to be a net positive for climate, conservation and communities, and hopefully influencing the mainstream travel industry. You won’t need to have worked within travel before but you will need to be at a point in your career where you’re ready for a wide-ranging and
influential role, spanning strategy to delivery.
You’ll work directly with the Founder and CEO to co-define the vision and strategy, and collaborate with a team of managers who are passionate about doing the right thing but in need of your expertise and guidance. You’ll be engaging with Argentinian estancia owners, Chilean wildlife guides and global expedition cruise leaders about their sustainability plans and vision, and forging alliances with other travel companies from around the world. If you’re able to inform, inspire and influence this diverse group of stakeholders then this will be a great opportunity for you to play your part in making adventure travel a force for good.

Key Responsibilities

● Embed sustainability into the day-to-day actions and interactions of Swoop;

○ Lead internal communications of our sustainability achievements and priorities and
engage Swoopers re the challenges
○ Influence and support Managers and Directors and as a member of the
Management Team
○ Design and deliver training to give Swoopers competence and confidence in
questions of climate, biodiversity and social justice

● Input and support to the SLT and Strategy Team:

○ Defining: Annual Budget, 12m plan, and 3yr plan
○ Provide Sustainability update, input and insight to CEO and non-exec advisor in
advance of quarterly Board reviews
○ Collaborate with the CEO in crafting the 2030 vision, including a realistic plan to
halve Co2e emissions per customer per day

● Enable our customer facing teams (sales, customer service, marketing) to engage
travellers throughout the lifecycle; in collaboration with the respective managers

● Work with our product and partnership teams to understand our partner policies and vision,
and ensure that Swoop is promoting their good work and supporting them with their challenges

● Co-lead, with the CEO, our communication and engagement with external stakeholders
and third party organisations, including

○ the publication of our annual Impact Report
○ and protect Swoop’s brand, credibility and reputation by ensuring that our words,
deeds, investments and partnerships meet with the very latest science, norms and expectations

● Project manage those I&S specific projects where the majority of resource lies within your control (eg the implementation of carbon tracking in our CRM)
● Own the measurement and reporting of all quant and qual I&S metrics, especially Co2e
● Manage the investment of Swoop’s I&S investment fund into NGOs, Conservation Trusts
and community projects; with appropriate due diligence and follow up reviews
● Own our BCorp annual review, collaborate with directors and managers on policy change and project
manage the initiatives required to continually improve our score
Employment Details
● This is a full time position, working 37.5 hours per week according to our flexible
working policy
● The company’s main office is in Bristol and ideally you’d be engaging the team there
face-to-face twice a week and able to connect with others in the Bristol and broader
sustainability community
● 25 days of paid holiday will be awarded each year, in addition to your birthday.
● Salary depending on experience, plus a bonus scheme of up to £1,800 p.a. subject to
company performance
● Requirement to travel to our destinations every 1-2 years to engage partners, local
Swoopers and conservation/NGO projects
● Reporting to Founder and CEO; with mentorship from our non-exec advisor who has
decades of experience in purpose led business

About You

We believe the ideal candidate will have some of the following experience and capabilities:
5-10 years experience defining and managing sustainability initiatives ideally with:
success in reducing scope 1, 2 and 3 emissions
a responsibility for sustainability training within the company
significant engagement with senior leadership team
● Creation of customer-facing communications, probably in collaboration with marketing/communication teams
● Appreciation of the psychology of behaviour change and consumer influence, and hopefully some case studies with proven positive change
● Impact measuring, tracking and reporting, probably including the writing and publication of an Impact Report
● Project management across multiple teams, ideally including some software/systems
work; maybe even a major ‘change management’ programme
● Experience engaging external stakeholders, building alliances and perhaps resolving
some contentious issues
● Up to date knowledge of sustainability issues, climate science and an ability to train/teach/share relevant information with the wider team and community
● An active participant in sustainability forums, communities, events, networks
● Conducted sustainability due diligence on projects/investments
● Experience with third party assessments/accreditations eg B Corp

You’re likely to be someone who:

● Who enjoys the life outdoors, the natural world and the diverse people and extraordinary
places that travel affords us
● Thrives in a role that is diverse and varied and can prioritise when too many
opportunities present themselves
● Communicates with great clarity; verbally and in writing
● Is open-minded and can see both sides of every coin; and is okay wrestling with complex issues that can’t be resolved quickly
● Thinks strategically and can think and plan on short, medium and long term horizons
● Gets a buzz out of influencing other people
● Has a deep curiosity (and great attention to detail) for the more technical aspects of sustainability)

Applications and Interview Process

Please send your CV and covering letter, plus a response to the question “how can we justify the
existence of long haul adventure travel in 2023” to hr@swoop-adventures.com
Interviews will take place in mid-July and August, and we expect to make an offer before 4th
September.

Supporting you to be yourself

Swoop is committed to creating a diverse environment and is proud to be an
equal-opportunity employer all over the world. All qualified applicants will receive
consideration for employment without regard to race, colour, religion, gender, gender
identity or expression, sexual orientation, national origin, disability, age, or veteran status.
We support Swoopers to be themselves because only then will we get the best out of each
other.