Principal Consultant – LCA & CBAM

Principal Consultant – LCA & CBAM

Department: Circ. & Value Chain Trans. : Advisory

Employment Type: Permanent - Full Time

Location: Flexible

Description

We are looking for an exceptional Principal Consultant with deep expertise in Life Cycle Assessment and the EU Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism, as well as a track record of strategic service-line leadership and commercial growth. (Note: We are welcoming applicants based in the UK and EMEA for this role.) 

This is a senior, client-facing role combining technical leadership, project delivery, business development and strategic growth. You will lead complex LCA and CBAM engagements, act as Anthesis’s lead consultant for CBAM work, and help clients understand and respond to the rapidly evolving commercial and regulatory landscape. Just as importantly, you will help grow our business.

This role is suited to an entrepreneurial sustainability innovator who can move comfortably between detailed technical analysis, senior client conversations and strategic business-building.

Why this role exists: LCA and product carbon footprinting are becoming increasingly important to corporate decision-making, regulatory compliance, product strategy and value-chain decarbonisation. 

At the same time, EU CBAM is moving from a reporting obligation into a material financial and operational issue, while other countries look to implement similar poligies. Importers and suppliers need to understand their exposure, improve the quality of their emissions data, engage complex supply chains and make decisions about sourcing, product design, pricing and investment. 

Anthesis has established technical capabilities, client relationships and delivery experience in both areas. We are now looking for a senior consultant who can lead high-quality delivery while helping us turn these capabilities into a stronger, more scalable and commercially successful offering. 

Key Responsibilities

• Lead CBAM projects and technical delivery: Lead Anthesis’s CBAM service, maintaining a detailed and continuously updated understanding of the regulation, its implementation and its implications for importers and non-EU suppliers. 
• Lead complex CBAM engagements, including exposure assessments, embedded-emissions calculations, supplier data collection, emissions reporting, cost modelling, implementation planning and strategic advice. 
• Translate regulatory developments into clear, practical guidance for clients, helping them understand not only their compliance obligations but the wider commercial, procurement and supply-chain implications. 
• Maintain a forward-looking perspective on likely regulatory developments, implementation challenges, market responses and emerging client needs. 
• Lead LCA and product-footprinting engagements: Lead the technical design of a broad range of LCA, product carbon footprinting and related analytical projects, providing project leadership throughout. 
• Select appropriate methodologies, system boundaries, data sources, assumptions and modelling approaches, ensuring that outputs are technically robust, transparent and appropriate for the client’s intended use. 
• Oversee modelling in SimaPro, review technical work completed by other team members and maintain consistently high standards of quality. 
• Apply LCA findings to real-world business decisions, including product strategy, eco-design, procurement, supply-chain decarbonisation, regulatory compliance and commercial positioning. 
• Create trusted client partnerships Build a strong understanding of clients’ operations, commercial pressures, value chains and strategic priorities. 
• Turn complex technical and regulatory issues into clear, decision-useful insights for both technical and non-technical audiences. 
• Act as a trusted senior adviser, confidently leading client meetings, workshops and executive-level presentations.
• Develop strong, long-term client relationships and proactively identify opportunities to extend Anthesis’s support. 
• Win high-quality work Lead business-development conversations across LCA and CBAM, from initial opportunity identification through to proposal development, presentation and contract award. 
• Diagnose what the client actually needs rather than simply responding to the initial request. 
• Develop clear, differentiated and commercially compelling proposals, bringing together the right technical scope, delivery model, team and pricing approach. 
• Work with colleagues across sectors, regions and business lines to identify opportunities, develop integrated propositions and convert existing relationships into new work. 
• Drive strategic and commercial growth Lead the development and execution of the go-to-market plan for Anthesis’s CBAM offering, with additional responsibility for supporting growth across the wider LCA portfolio. 
• Assess market trends, regulatory developments, competitor activity and client feedback to identify priority markets, client segments and service opportunities. 
• Develop practical growth initiatives, including targeted campaigns, client propositions, thought-leadership activity, partnerships, events and sales-enablement materials. 
• Help evolve Anthesis’s CBAM offer beyond individual advisory projects towards scalable programmes, managed services, digital tools and recurring client relationships. 
• Track pipeline, sales performance and market response, adapting the growth plan based on evidence and results. 
• The strategic component should remain prominent: the role needs someone who can spot market opportunities, develop the offering and successfully commercialise it, rather than focusing exclusively on project delivery.
• Lead projects, teams and quality Provide strong project leadership across complex, multidisciplinary engagements, ensuring that scope, budget, timelines, risks and client expectations are actively managed. 
• Lead project teams with clarity and confidence, delegating effectively while remaining accountable for overall quality and delivery. 
• Coach and support consultants, helping strengthen technical capability, commercial confidence and client-management skills across the wider team. 
• Contribute to the development of consistent methodologies, templates, quality controls and efficient delivery approaches. 
• Communicate with impact Turn detailed regulatory and technical analysis into compelling stories with clear commercial relevance. 
• Produce concise, persuasive reports, presentations, proposals and thought-leadership materials. 
• Represent Anthesis in webinars, conferences, client events and other external forums. 
• Communicate with sufficient technical authority to engage LCA specialists and regulatory experts, while making the implications understandable and actionable for procurement, finance, sustainability and executive audiences. 

Skills, Knowledge & Expertise

Non-negotiable: 

• Strong practical knowledge of the EU CBAM Regulation, including its technical requirements, business implications, implementation challenges and likely future development. 
• Extensive professional experience conducting and leading a broad range of Life Cycle Assessments and product carbon footprints. 
• Excellent practical understanding of LCA standards, methodologies, data quality, modelling choices and interpretation. 
• Advanced experience using SimaPro. 
• Demonstrable experience leading complex consulting projects and multidisciplinary project teams. 
• Excellent client-management skills, including experience advising senior stakeholders and managing challenging client situations. 
• Strong business-development capability, with a track record of understanding client needs, developing compelling proposals and converting opportunities into work. 
• Strong strategic and commercial judgement, including experience developing propositions, go-to-market plans, campaigns or other structured growth initiatives. 
• Ability to translate robust technical analysis into clear recommendations and commercially relevant stories that drive action. 
• Excellent written and verbal English. 

Strong preferences: 

• Experience delivering CBAM work for both EU importers and non-EU producers or suppliers. 
• Experience with supplier engagement, primary-data collection and product or installation-level emissions calculations. 
• Experience developing or scaling new consulting propositions or service lines. 
• Familiarity with digital LCA, carbon-accounting or supply-chain data tools. 
• Experience working in a professional-services or sustainability-consulting environment, with an understanding of project profitability, utilisation, pipeline management and revenue growth. 
• Relevant postgraduate qualification in LCA, environmental science, engineering, sustainability, carbon management or a related discipline. 
• An additional European language.