Chief Executive The Green Estate CIC

Who we are

The Green Estate CIC is a pioneering social enterprise combining commercial nature-based solutions with community, environmental and place-based regeneration. Its commercial activity includes the award-winning Pictorial Meadows wildflower turf, seeds, soils and substrates, alongside landscaping and environmental services including green infrastructure, rain gardens and sustainable urban drainage.

Its work is already making an impact well beyond Sheffield, with nature-based solutions delivered through high-profile projects including the Tower of London and Rotherham’s River of Flowers. At the same time, the organisation uses the income generated through its commercial activity to support community engagement, volunteering, learning, green skills and access to high-quality green spaces in its home of Sheffield’s Manor & Castle.

The Green Estate CIC also stewards Sheffield Manor Lodge, bringing together significant cultural heritage with environmental, educational, visitor and community activity. Its distinctive model connects commercial success with social and environmental impact, and the ambition now is to build on this strong foundation, grow its reach and influence, and demonstrate at greater scale how nature-based solutions can create greener, healthier and more resilient places.

As Chief Executive, you will lead the organisation into its next phase of growth, impact and influence. With a turnover of around £3.5 million and an ambitious three-year plan already in place, the foundations are strong. Your challenge is not to reinvent The Green Estate CIC, but to build on its momentum, growing a sustainable and diverse income base, strengthening the organisation’s leadership and culture, and turning its distinctive model into an even greater force for positive change.

You will bring together the commercial, environmental, community and heritage dimensions of The Green Estate CIC, helping colleagues to see how their different expertise contributes to a shared purpose. You will also have the opportunity to unlock the potential of Sheffield Manor Lodge and the wider site, developing compelling partnerships, securing investment and funding, and raising the organisation’s profile locally, regionally and nationally.

The opportunity extends well beyond Sheffield. The Green Estate CIC is already recognised as a national demonstrator of what nature-based solutions can achieve, and there is significant potential to influence how cities respond to climate change, biodiversity loss and the need for more resilient places. You will build the relationships and advocacy needed to ensure the organisation has a strong voice in these conversations.

This is a role for someone who wants to combine strategic leadership with tangible impact. Someone who can see the commercial opportunity in nature-based solutions, while never losing sight of the communities and purpose that sit at the heart of the organisation.

Importantly, you will lead a passionate, highly skilled and distinctive team at a time of real momentum and opportunity. The next CEO will help shape the future of The Green Estate CIC, bringing people together, building confidence and capability, and ensuring the organisation is ready to grow without losing what makes it special.

You will be a strategic and systems thinker who can see the connections across a diverse organisation and bring people together around a common purpose. The Green Estate CIC has many different areas of expertise and ways of working, and the next CEO will need the emotional intelligence, curiosity and humility to listen, learn and build trust before bringing their own influence to bear.

You will be an outstanding relationship builder and ambassador. With the ability to operate confidently across communities, business, local and national government, funders, environmental organisations and other partners, you will open doors, build influence and ensure that The Green Estate CIC is recognised as a leading demonstrator of place-based urban resilience – through nature-based solutions, climate resilience, place-making and social enterprise.

We are particularly interested in people who bring some understanding of environmental sustainability, nature recovery, green infrastructure, regeneration, heritage or place-based work. Experience of the landscape or horticultural sectors would be valuable, but it is not essential if you can demonstrate the ability to understand complex and unfamiliar environments quickly and lead credible, commercially successful organisations.

Above all, you will share The Green Estate CIC’s ambition and values. You will care about people and place, believe in the potential of nature-based solutions to create positive change, and be motivated by the opportunity to turn commercial success into meaningful impact.

You will be a calm, resilient, collaborative and entrepreneurial leader; someone who can provide strategic direction while rolling up their sleeves when needed; who can challenge and make difficult decisions while bringing people with them; and who can build a high-performing, inclusive leadership culture in which talented people are trusted to do their best work.