Chief Sustainability Officer

Role and purpose:

At Iarnród Éireann, we are committed to delivering high-quality, sustainable mobility as the foundation of a modern public transport network. Alongside expanding our services, we are actively working to decarbonise our operations and strengthen our network against the impacts of climate change.

We take pride in fostering strong working conditions and meaningful career development opportunities for our employees, while also ensuring that our supply chain upholds high social standards.

Sustainability is embedded across all areas of our business—from train operations and infrastructure development to maintenance and shared services. It is not just a priority, but a core value that underpins our entire organisation.

As expectations grow, we continue to enhance our sustainability practices, meeting increasing reporting, disclosure, and legal requirements across a wide range of environmental, social, and governance areas.


As a result, Iarnród Eireann is seeking to recruit a Chief Sustainability Officer to provide corporate leadership and management of sustainability action and reporting.

Responsibilities

  • Accountable for progressing Iarnród Éireann’s sustainability agenda and strategy;
  • Responsible for corporate sustainability reporting, including CSRD EU Taxonomy, SEAI and NewEra;
  • Establish, and deliver upon, sustainability performance metrics using relevant benchmarks and industry practice;
  • Act as focal point for external agencies and other key stakeholders in respect to sustainability matters;
  • Develop corporate knowledge across Iarnród Éireann for management of environmental, social and governance matters;
  • Lead the IÉ Sustainability core team in implementation of the Sustainability Strategy;
  • Work with Iarnród Éireann’s cross-functional business units to identify risks and impacts and realise opportunities to deliver optimised sustainable actions
  • Conduct ongoing research into sustainability and environmental issues, evaluating emerging best practices to ensure continuous improvement and effective updating of organisational systems
  • Monitor the effectiveness of sustainability initiatives while fostering cross-departmental collaboration to develop innovative and impactful solutions to environmental challenges
  • Chair and lead IÉ Environmental Sustainability Committee (ESC).
  • Chair and lead IÉ Economic and Social Sustainability Committee (ESSC);
  • Liaise with senior management team (and their staff);
  • Liaise with colleagues in the CIÉ HC the other subsidiary OpCos;
  • Represent IÉ on CIÉ led sustainability committees and working groups;
  • Communicate effectively with senior stakeholders regarding sustainability action progress;
  • Provide regular and accurate reports relating to sustainability impacts, risk and opportunities;
  • Develop upskilling training programmes to staff to integrate sustainability considerations into everyday work activities; and
  • Undertake tasks, activities or other duties that may be required or assigned appropriately to the grade

*** The above is not an exhaustive list of duties and you will be expected to perform different tasks as necessitated by your changing role within the organisation and the overall business objectives of the organisation. ***


Essential qualifications

  • A minimum of 10 years’ experience in the implementation of sustainability and environmental management across planning, construction, maintenance and operation of railway or other linear transport infrastructure projects;
  • Relevant Level 8 degree (minimum) in engineering or environmental science, with post graduate education in sustainability related discipline;
  • Hold Chartered Engineer affiliation with Engineers Ireland or equivalent professional affiliation with an equivalent organisation to an equivalent level;

Key Requirements

  • Candidate of good character that is competent and capable of undertaking all strategic level duties attached to role; 
  • Proven record in identifying material sustainable ESG issues;
  • Experience of implementation of the corporate sustainability reporting directive (CSRD);
  • Strong command of ESG reporting frameworks and KPIs;
  • Integrated sustainability issues into corporate business model;
  • Experience of development of sustainability and environmental elements of procurement documents and contracts;
  • Detailed knowledge of Irish and EU climate change and sustainability legislation;
  • Experience of stakeholder engagement across corporate business units (e.g. environment, HR, procurement, etc);
  • Ability to communicate and advocate for sustainability with external stakeholders
  • Ability to work on own initiative


A competency-based interview will form part of this selection process. Candidates may be shortlisted on the basis of their application/CV and relevant experience.

If any applicants have special requirements, please advise Shared Services when forwarding your application.

If you are interested in applying for this role, CV and cover letter should be forwarded to:  sharedservicesrecruit@irishrail.ie by 4pm Friday 1st May, 2026 


At Iarnród Éireann Irish Rail we are committed to embedding diversity and inclusion in all that we do.  This starts with how we recruit people. It is important to us that all individuals feel welcome to join our organisation and we take great care to ensure an even playing field for all.

We will strive to provide reasonable accommodation to all candidates where required and requested.
We are an equal opportunities employer and do not discriminate against any employee or applicant for employment because of race, ethnicity, sex, age, religion, sexual orientation, gender identity and/or expression or disability.

Top