Standards & Assurance Officer

The Rainforest Alliance is creating a more sustainable world by using social and market forces to protect nature and improve the lives of farmers and forest communities. To achieve our mission, we partner with diverse allies around the world to drive positive change across global supply chains and in many of our most critically important natural landscapes.

Our alliance spans 70 countries and includes farmers and forest communities, companies, governments, civil society, and millions of individuals. Together we work to protect forests  and biodiversity, take action on climate, and promote the rights and improve the livelihoods of rural people.

As an international nonprofit organization with more than 30 years of experience in sustainability transformation, we understand that the social and economic well-being of rural communities is tightly connected to ecosystem health. This knowledge has shaped our rigorous programs to advance sustainable land-use and commodity production.

At the Rainforest Alliance we combat climate change, protect forests and biodiversity, promote human rights, and improve livelihoods. The enormity of the social and environmental challenges we are facing requires working together in a broad alliance. This is why we bring farmers, forest communities, companies, and consumers together to change the way the world produces, sources, and consumes.

Why

To protect nature and improve lives it’s becoming increasingly urgent that we approach the way we use our land and produce food and other products in more sustainable ways. For this to succeed we need to fundamentally change the way that businesses operate and source, and the choices we all make as consumers.

How

Our growing global alliance aims to transform our relationship with our natural resources and each other, to create a better future for people and nature together.

The Rainforest Alliance encourages diversity and inclusion across the global organization. With this commitment to diversity, we are proud to be an equal opportunity employer and do not discriminate on the basis of gender, race, color, ethnicity, religion, sexual orientation, gender identity, ages, disability and any other protected group.

Position summary:

The Standards & Assurance (S&A) Officer will support on operational activities of Standard and Assurance department for Mesoamerica, helping to ensure the credibility and functioning of the assurance system activities. The reporting line is directly to S&A Mesoamerica Manager and occasionally other countries in the region. The S&A Officer mainly supports in the license review process, support on the transition to the 2020 RA Standard and conducts risk analysis on the main production and auditing contexts.

Responsibilities: 

• Gives support, answers questions, gives information and advice - via e-mail and by phone- to the Standards & Assurance team, Certification Partner Support, overseas colleagues and Certification Bodies on the RA standards and the implementation of certification rules;
• Reviews and interprets audit results, as well as licenses, checks credibility cases and compliance, solves problems and/or makes recommendations if required and also handles and interprets certificates;
• Reports the results from the audit result checks and interpretations for the Regional Plans and Certification Bodies monitoring plans;
• Identifies standards or assurance needs and passes this on to the Standards & Assurance Manager in the Region;
• Provide support to the Standards & Assurance Manager in workshops, trainings and/or webinars based on training needs assessments and the training modules to Certification Bodies and occasionally to Certificate Holders and supply chain actors;
• Provide support and participate on Calibration Meetings with other Quality of Implementation colleagues globally and regionally;
• Supports the implementation and execution of the Standards & Assurance LATAM annual plan and activities; and
• Provides input for and supports the development, design and implementation of certification procedures and processes, Standards & Assurance policies and new standards and supervisors its execution and compliance.

Qualifications: 

• Bachelor in Agronomy or Agricultural Engineering;
• Minimum 3 years of experience performing as an auditor, reviewing, interpreting and communicating results, preferably on a sustainability theme relevant to the organization;
• Written and verbal English proficiency;  
• Proficient in Microsoft Excel, Word, and Outlook with experience in accounting software and working knowledge of PowerPoint;
• Outstanding interpersonal and communication skills:
• Ability and willingness to travel at least 20% of the time nationally and internationally. 
• Commitment to the RA mission and values.

Salary: Commensurate with experience.

Job Level: 5A

Deadline: May 23, 2023

Notes: Only candidates authorized to work in Costa Rica will be considered.