Ethics & Sustainability Specialist – Raw Material Sourcing (Food)

****What’s the role about? ****

It’s a time of ambition and growth in Ethics & Sustainability at the John Lewis Partnership and to support this we’re excited to be recruiting for an Ethics & Sustainability Specialist role on a Fixed Term Contract until February 17th 2023.

We are looking for candidates to be able to start from May 23rd 2022.

This role is focused on sourcing raw materials fairly and sustainably in our food supply chains, so that they do good in the communities and landscapes from which we source. The successful candidate will help to deliver the Partnership’s strategy for Ethics & Sustainability (E&S) in support of the wider Partnership business strategy. This will involve working as part of the agriculture and responsible sourcing team to support the delivery of raw materials sourcing objectives, working closely with, and reporting to the Food Raw Materials Manager.

Within this, you will lead on some key focus areas. These may include palm oil, cocoa, Fairtrade, or other areas, according to business’s requirements and your prior knowledge and experience.

In this role, you’ll leverage your expertise and the latest insights to ensure that the Partnership’s raw materials sourcing risks and opportunities are well understood, and will co-develop strategies and execute work plans to manage them, delivering market-leading standards. To do this, you will engage and enable our suppliers and multiple teams across the Partnership to deliver on our objectives, and will be responsible in your focus areas for managing due diligence, data collection and analysis, assurance and reporting processes. You’ll also work collaboratively with a range of external stakeholders such as NGOs and industry groups, to help address sourcing challenges where collective action is required to achieve the Partnership’s goals. You will work closely with colleagues in the wider E&S team and the Partnerships’ communications teams, to ensure that our customers and key stakeholders both inside and outside the business are appropriately engaged, informed and empowered with knowledge about our sourcing activities and standards – enhancing and differentiating the Partnership’s position as a market leader in Ethics & Sustainability, and publicly representing the Partnership if required on areas of expertise.

** **What will you be doing? **** *

Conduct research and use expertise and professional networks to acquire and synthesise the latest insights on raw materials and global best practice in responsible sourcing.

Use this to ensure that the Partnership has a clear understanding of near-term risks and opportunities, and that is well positioned to respond to those coming up on the horizon

Work with the Raw Material Sourcing Manager for food to help define strategy, objectives, targets, and develop work plans for the sourcing of key commodities and raw materials. These may include palm oil, cocoa, or other areas, according to business’s requirements and your prior knowledge and experience. Support on the execution of the raw materials work plans, and lead in some specific areas and initiatives.

Develop sourcing policies, guidance tools and documents, webpages, and provide training and briefings for commercial partners and suppliers, to ensure responsibilities are understood and to enable delivery against the Partnership’s objectives

Work with the Raw Materials Manager to engage Partnership teams and Leadership. Support and participate in the Partnership’s governance processes for developing and establishing new strategies, targets, business processes, and policies for raw material sourcing

Deliver reporting and assurance against raw material sourcing targets. Resolve specific challenges or non-conformances with suppliers regarding raw materials.

Be responsible for managing robust data collection processes for key raw materials. Working with consultants and suppliers to ensure that reporting systems and processes are rigorous, efficient, and deliver the insight needed for the business. Develop ways to enhance the Partnerships raw material data collection, reporting and due diligence processes.

Extract data from internal databases and then use standard analytical tools (e.g. Excel) to clean, combine, and analyse data as necessary to deliver inputs into raw material reporting processes, or for other pieces of ad-hoc analysis to support business decisions and communications, and to empower commercial teams

Use raw materials reporting data to disclose our sourcing standards and progress via the Partnership’s public reporting, websites, and to external stakeholders through their specific reporting processes, such as the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil’s Annual Communication of Progress.

Develop internal and external communications materials as required, including presentations, briefing packs, website content, letters and meeting papers. Deliver the organisation of stakeholder events ensuring they meet the standards expected of the Partnership.

Represent the Partnership in industry and other multi-stakeholder forums focussed around addressing issues around specific commodities, and where collective action is needed to enable sustainable sourcing (e.g. Retail Cocoa Coalition).

**_What You’ll Have _**

Relevant degree level qualification or equivalent experience in a professional context

Able to apply analytical thinking and creativity to understand new challenges, acquire and apply new knowledge and skills, and deliver practical solutions

Excellent organisational and project management skills, with attention to detail, including ability to prioritise and manage workload in a dynamic environment

Evidence of managing the delivery of successful strategic projects, working across business functions or coordinating with a range of stakeholders to deliver an objective

Excellent IT and data management, with ability to use tools like Excel (or similar) for analysis of data to generate insight, inform decision making, and create resources

Experience liaising and networking with a wide range of stakeholders in a business environment, or similar, to acquire, build, and share technical expertise

Good written and verbal communicator with strong listening and consensus building skills; able to build and maintain collaborative working relationships, and use expertise to support, teach, and influence others

Strong team player, with ability to work independently (in a supportive environment)

Entrepreneurial mindset with a strong sense of ownership – identifies a problems/opportunities and takes the initiative to make things better

Relevant experience in one or more areas, addressing Ethics & Sustainability challenges

A demonstrable commitment to integrity and diligence to achieve impact

****What else can you bring? ****

Postgraduate level qualification in a relevant field

Experience working on business policy development and compliance

Experience of working on raw materials sourcing in supply chains, including certification standards, regulation, audits, due diligence, assurance, traceability tools, and reporting.

Advanced data analysis skills (e.g. ability to write VBA or similar) and experience using data visualisation tools. Experience with using and exporting data from databases.

Multi-disciplinary understanding of food/agricultural value chains and related sustainability and ethical issues across the value chain and across multiple commodities

**_Please Note _** * The application form consists of a CV upload followed by online testing and application questions. Please ensure you refresh the page each time you complete a task to ensure you complete everything that you need to in time

As a business we encourage flexible working. We have a number of different ways to work flexibly, so at your interview feel free to talk about what flexibility means to you. There are no guarantees, however, examples of how our Partners already work flexibly include part-time, job share, home working and compressed hours.