Head of Climate Change Strategy

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Founded in the Queensland outback in 1920, Qantas has grown to be Australia’s largest regional, domestic, and international airline. Qantas has a range of subsidiary businesses that support the overall operations of the Group. The Qantas Group’s main business is the transportation of customers and freight using two complementary airline brands — Qantas and Jetstar — operating regional, domestic, and international services.

Job Description

  • Drive Qantas Group’s climate and nature strategies to meet ambitious 2030 and 2050 decarbonisation targets
  • Lead development and delivery of climate-related risks and opportunities (CRROs) disclosures for ASRS compliance, transforming regulatory requirements into strategic business insights through deep partnerships with Finance, Risk, Strategy, and Operations
  • Partner across all sustainability pillars - SAF, carbon markets, and sustainable operations - to ensure coordinated strategy development and execution towards our sustainability goals
  • Permanent role based at our Mascot Campus, Sydney

At Qantas, innovation has always been at the heart of what we do, and now it is driving our transition to a more sustainable future. Our Group Sustainability team plays a central role in this transformation — developing the strategy, partnerships, and investments needed to reach our climate goals and strengthen the long-term resilience of the business.

Lead the future of climate strategy at Qantas Group. As Head of Climate Change Strategy, you'll drive our climate and nature strategies to meet ambitious 2030 and 2050 decarbonisation targets, operating at the intersection of strategy, policy, finance, and operations. This role requires navigating complex trade-offs between regulatory compliance, commercial viability, stakeholder expectations, and emerging opportunities in sustainable aviation fuel and fleet efficiency.

Reporting to the Executive Manager Climate Strategy, Finance and Reporting, you'll lead mandatory climate disclosures (ASRS) and investor engagement, translating complex climate risks and opportunities into clear strategic implications for our business model, network planning, and fleet strategy. With responsibility for driving commercial innovation around climate opportunities and managing relationships with institutional investors and key industry stakeholders, this is a unique opportunity to shape how Australia's flagship airline navigates the climate transition - combining strategic foresight, financial rigour, and stakeholder influence to deliver both environmental and commercial outcomes.

You’ll Have

  • 15+ years’ experience in corporate sustainability strategy and reporting within large, complex organisations or in top-tier strategy consulting (e.g. McKinsey, BCG, Bain, Kearney etc).
  • Tertiary qualifications in Business, Environmental Science, or Sustainability (or a related discipline).
  • Proven ability to manage and influence sustainable outcomes across diverse business units and stakeholders.
  • Deep technical knowledge of sustainability and climate policy, including government and industry regulations and legislation.
  • Experience developing and implementing complex policies, guidelines, and systems to achieve sustainability objectives.
  • Strong leadership and project management skills, with experience leading cross-functional teams and delivering at executive level.
  • Exceptional analytical and reporting capability, including designing effective tracking and monitoring frameworks.
  • Outstanding communication, influencing, and relationship management skills, with a track record of building consensus and delivering business cases to senior leadership.

Why Qantas?

You’ll join a team where creativity and passion are encouraged. Our people come together to allow us to dream big and deliver successfully.

There are many different opportunities across our team, which means you’ll be able to grow both personally and professionally at Qantas. Your development is a priority for us – so that you can maintain the high standards our customers have come to expect and can continue to develop over time. You’ll be supported from day 1 with on the job training and coaching as well as our formal training opportunities. While you may start in this role, we’ve got a great track record of supporting our people to take their career in so many different directions, the destinations are endless.

The Qantas employee benefits program offers amazing benefits that extend well beyond travel.

  • We love to travel: Enjoy heavily discounted air travel within Australia and across the globe, both for you and your family and friends, as well as exclusive deals on accommodation and holidays.
  • We have flexible leave options: Make use of leave and flexible working opportunities including 18 weeks paid parental leave (plus superannuation payments on all paid and unpaid parental leave until your child turns 1) and additional purchased leave options for eligible employees.
  • We’ll give you access to thousands of rewards: Through our partnerships we can offer you discounts across shopping, food and wine, insurance, health and wellbeing, leisure and entertainment. You can also take advantage of our salary packaging program including motor vehicles, eligible portable electronic devices and professional memberships.
  • We’ll support your wellbeing: Whether it’s learning to better support your own and others’ mental health, our interactive wellbeing app or your very own tailored nutrition plan.

Qantas is an equal opportunity employer committed to providing a working environment that embraces and values diversity and inclusion. We encourage Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander, and people of all backgrounds to apply. If you have any support or access requirements, we encourage you to advise us at time of application. Your personal information will be kept confidential in compliance with relevant privacy legislation.

Be a part of something special and play your part in the Qantas story – get in touch today.

Applications close Wednesday 19 November 2025.

Please note: applications will only be considered for candidates who have the right to work in Australia / New Zealand without restriction or sponsorship.

Qualifications

Critical Success Factors 1. Strategically managing $400M Climate Fund portfolio to deliver $50M annual compliance requirements whilst navigating severely constrained CORSIA-eligible credit supply, volatile pricing, and heightened integrity scrutiny - requiring sophisticated market intelligence, counterparty risk management, and portfolio optimisation. 2. Delivering $5M FY26 climate customer revenue through commercial innovation and product development, requiring deep cross-functional partnership with Commercial, Digital, Sales and Loyalty teams whilst managing customer scepticism, greenwashing risks, and competitive dynamics in an emerging market. 3. Developing viable decarbonisation pathway and capital allocation strategy to achieve 2030 targets (25% emissions reduction, 10% SAF) whilst balancing $50M+ annual compliance costs, limited capital availability, technology uncertainty (SAF supply, aircraft efficiency), stakeholder expectations (Climate Action 100+, Board, customers) and commercial viability in a hard-to- abate sector with limited proven solutions. Years of Experience 15 + years in corporate sustainability strategy and reporting Tertiary Qualification Business / Environmental / Sustainability tertiary qualifications Key Essential Skills Demonstrated experience in sustainability and demonstrated capability to manage and influence sustainable outcomes across a large and complex organization. Sustainability and climate policy technical skills and working knowledge of government and industry sustainability policies and legislation. Experience effectively developing and implementing complex policies and guidelines. A strong communicator with experience in managing the development and implementation of sustainability strategy, policy, systems, and procedures. Proven project management and experience at an executive level within a large and complex aviation/transport organization. Demonstrated experience leading cross functional project teams. Strong analytical and reporting skills and the ability to develop effective tracking and monitoring systems. Proven influencing and relationship management skills across multiple internal stakeholder groups. Ability to develop and deliver business cases to senior management. A thought leader in sustainability best practice