The ESG landscape continues to evolve. And with it, the emergence of new sustainability professions. In our quest to understand the evolving requirements, we sat down with Marina, one of our dedicated ESG Consultants at Envoria. With a passion for sustainability and a knack for navigating complex data, Marina shares her journey into the ESG world, the skills essential for her role, and the dynamic nature of her daily work. From discussing the importance of regulatory compliance to revealing the inner workings of software implementation, Marina provides a comprehensive look at what it takes to thrive in this rapidly developing field. Join us now as we delve into the insights and experiences that define her role at Envoria.
Marina, could you briefly introduce yourself? Who are you and what do you do at Envoria?
With pleasure! I'm Marina, 29 years old, an outdoor enthusiast, and an ESG consultant for the Customer Success Team at Envoria. Here, I manage comprehensive customer projects, from software implementation to ESG consulting, and work closely with our various teams on further software development and compliance with regulatory requirements.
What inspired you to work as an ESG Consultant and how did you come to Envoria?
I believe that reliable sustainability reporting is of great importance for both internal and external stakeholders. From investors to customers and decision-makers such as the supervisory board – it's all about transparency, credibility and security on the capital market. Among other things, companies face the technical challenge of collecting, analyzing, structuring and consolidating their ESG data, some of which is scattered around the world and available in a wide variety of forms.
Envoria's software offers a very comprehensive yet flexible all-in-one solution. It is designed to help streamline the data collection process and enable effective ESG reporting. That sounds a bit theoretical at first. However, if we think one step further, centralizing data sets enables companies to understand and quantify the impact between society, the environment and financial performance. I therefore find it particularly exciting that, as an ESG Consultant, I can actively contribute to an important future-oriented topic.
I am always impressed by how intuitively the entire software is structured. Many of the configurations are based on a no-code approach, which means that even less tech-savvy users can find their way around the software and make configurations at the touch of a button.
I also had a kind of intrinsic motivation to finally switch to a small, young and dynamic corporate environment, having previously gained my first full-time professional experience in companies with more complex structures.
Describe a typical working day at Envoria, if there is one. What are your main tasks and responsibilities?
Due to the close cooperation with customers from all sectors and industries and different company sizes, no two days are the same for us. The project scope also varies: while we set up the software on the customer's premises for implementation projects, we provide support in carrying out the materiality analysis as part of consulting projects or in imparting specialist knowledge about sustainability reporting.
Due to the project business, one of our main tasks is to provide comprehensive customer support, regardless of whether it is an implementation project or a consulting project. We train customers in the use of the software, translate customer-specific requirements into technical implementation and provide advice on content-related issues.
Considerations relating to the further development of the software and features are also an important part of our day-to-day work. Here, we work closely with our internal IT department and jointly determine which new possibilities could bring added value to the customer.
What skills and qualifications do you think are particularly important for your job at Envoria?
We have a diverse range of academic backgrounds in our team – engineers, political scientists, business economists and other qualifications. So there is not THE qualification that you necessarily need. I would rather say that we are always on the lookout for new colleagues with a genuine interest in sustainability and technology, who enjoy working in a team and who take pleasure in constantly learning new basics themselves. I notice again and again how much the personality of everyone in our company takes center stage. The best example of this is certainly our application process: lean and very focused on getting to know the applicant.
What role do sustainability regulations play in your daily work?
One and sometimes the most important promise we make to our customers is certainly that of examination security. Our aim is to help companies meet their reporting obligations efficiently and in full. Conversely, this means that we have to deal with legal requirements and regulations on a daily basis.
How do you manage to stay up to date and expand your knowledge in a rapidly evolving field like ESG?
It is indeed often challenging to deal with the content of regulatory updates and the like in addition to the day-to-day business, which revolves heavily around technical implementation. At Envoria, we have introduced a very cool and helpful format at this point: the so-called topic teams. Within these topic teams, we are organized according to the major topics of ESRS, emissions and EU taxonomy and LkSG. The teams have the task of continuously dealing with the relevant material so that news is ultimately presented and discussed in a regular exchange and the transfer of knowledge within the team gains in quality.
And last but not least: Do you have a tip for all applicants who would like to work in the ESG team at Envoria
Be authentic and use the entire application process to get rid of your questions. Please do not hesitate to stray from the “standard application questions”: we are happy to hear from anyone who is interested in what the ideal Friday evening job with us looks like.
Specialist knowledge and specific professional experience are certainly important criteria – but by no means exclusion criteria.