Associate Director​/Director - Product Sustainability

Associate Director / Director - Product Sustainability

Department: Circ. & Value Chain Trans. :
Circ & Value Chain Trans.

Employment Type: Permanent - Full Time

Location: Canada

Compensation: Associate Director: $125,000 – 153,000 CAD / Director: $148,500 – 188,000 CAD

About Anthesis:

Anthesis is the sustainability activator. Proud to be a B Corp, we seek to make a significant contribution to a world which is more resilient and productive. We do this by working with cities, corporates, investors and other organisations to drive sustainable performance. We develop financially driven sustainability strategies, underpinned by technical expertise and delivered by innovative collaborative teams across the world.

At Anthesis Group, we are truly committed to putting people and our planet at the heart of all we do.

Anthesis is seeking a Product Sustainability Expert with deep experience in materials, chemistry, product design or product development to join our Circularity and Value Chain Transformation team. This role focuses on helping clients design, evaluate, and scale sustainable products, integrating environmental performance into product strategy, business models, and effective design for sustainability.

The ideal candidate brings a strong foundation in sustainable product development, design for sustainability, technical acumen in material science, engineering chemistry or a related field. This individual should have a comprehensive understanding of how product design choices influence emissions, resource use, safety, and regulatory compliance across manufacturing, use, and end‑of‑life. In this role, you will lead client engagement and influence client decisions that embed sustainability into product requirements, design trade‑offs, and commercialization decisions, enabling reductions in product carbon footprint, improved material efficiency, and enhanced circularity.

Clients may include CPG, retail and apparel distributors, manufacturers, Fortune 500 companies, and emerging technology brands. You will join a collaborative, global team passionate about transforming how products are designed, built, used, and recovered for a more sustainable future.

Key Responsibilities:

• Lead and manage multiple product sustainability and eco‑design projects across their lifecycle, ensuring excellent client management with on‑time delivery, within scope, and with measurable environmental and business impact.
• Thoughtfully inform client strategies, with a strong ability to understand the commercial benefits and tradeoffs implied when incorporating design for sustainability.
• Capable of leading discussions with executive teams on business‑critical decisions that lend to these objectives.
• Have excellent project and team management skills, with the ability to delegate tasks, clearly articulate client needs, and oversee the full scope of a project.
• Provide strong technical oversight, quality assurance and support to colleagues and junior team members, and ensure high‑quality, impactful deliverables for a client.
• Advise clients on how to integrate sustainability into product design and development processes, including material selection, design playbooks, product architecture, durability, energy efficiency, and end‑of‑life considerations.
• Translate sustainability goals into product‑level requirements and KPIs, working alongside design, manufacturing, engineering, EHS, procurement, and product management teams.
• Guide the development of sustainable materials strategies, including recycled content, avoiding perfluorinated chemicals (PFAS), low‑carbon materials, hazardous substance reduction, and emerging alternatives.
• Apply knowledge of EHS regulations and standards (e.g., RoHS, REACH, chemical management, product safety) to inform compliant and responsible product design.
• Conduct quantitative modeling and scenario analysis to evaluate design trade‑offs, such as material substitution, energy efficiency improvements, or product lifetime extension.
• Implement and optimize digital tools and data frameworks to manage product sustainability data across design, manufacturing, and supplier…