Role summary

This is an exciting new role working across the themes of human rights, decent work, equity and producer empowerment, and how sustainability systems can advance on these topics to support workers and small producers in international supply chains. This role is a great opportunity for someone with a passion for and knowledge on the above topics, practical experience in delivering related projects and a good understanding of sustainability standards and supply chain mechanisms.

The Manager will play a key role in managing and implementing activities across a range of ISEAL projects that all have objectives linked to protecting and advancing human rights and decent work and strengthening empowerment, equity and voice in supply chains. Working closely with the senior project leads, the role will have responsibilities for planning, coordinating and delivering a range of project activities involving research, dialogues and events, and the development of guidance or insight for ISEAL Community members. As these are relatively new areas of work for ISEAL, a key part of this role will be in understanding concepts and developing clear and meaningful activities to advance action within the Community, working with external experts as needed. 

The ideal candidate will have a strong working knowledge of the above topics and the ability to develop the conceptual background and then help turn this into practical deliverables and project plans. We are looking for someone with strong research and writing skills, as well as good convening and facilitation experience to successfully engage ISEAL members and external partners in a journey of learning, innovation and improvement. With experience in grant funded project delivery and strong analytical skills, the preferred profile will have the ability to extract lessons, synthesise and communicate complex information clearly in different formats and to different audiences. Experience in working with external partners such as NGOs, companies or policy-makers will be an added benefit to this role. 
The role requires a team player who can work smoothly across ISEAL teams in a fast-paced and multicultural international organisation. Previous experience working in or with sustainability standards or similar systems and in the sectors and supply chains where our members work will be a clear advantage.

The key responsibilities we will entrust you with:

Project delivery, management and coordination

• Support senior managers with designing and planning projects related to human rights, decent work, producer empowerment, and equity
• Lead on project management and implementation to make sure activities progress in a timely, coordinated 
• manner, resulting in high quality outputs and experiences for participants
• Supervise contributions of assistants, coordinators, and other staff to project activities
• Ensure that project activities are agile and able to change course and adapt to real-world challenges in implementation
• Contribute to project reporting including tracking data for project KPIs and writing donor reports on activities undertaken, working closely with partnerships manager
• Take a lead on project communications, including writing blogs for ISEAL community and external audiences, public speaking and keeping ISEAL
• Platform pages and resources updated. Coordinate closely with Communications team on communications and messaging strategies and plans.
• Keep other ISEAL projects and colleagues informed about project work, identify and build synergies with other workstreams, and ensure alignment and coordination of efforts and activities

Research, analysis, synthesis, and writing 

• Carry out background research through stakeholder interviews, peer learning workshops and meetings, and literature and document review, synthesizing key points and lessons in an accessible way
• Produce technical documents, guidance notes, white papers, and simplified communications and tools to deliver key insights, guidance, and messages to different audiences
• Support ISEAL’s Innovations Fund by serving as a technical programme resource for projects related to own area of work and helping to consolidate and synthesize lessons learned across grants

Convening, event organisation, and relationship building

• Develop and deliver webinars and peer learning sessions (virtually and in person), managing event preparation, facilitation and post event follow up 
• Design and implement collaborative learning journeys with ISEAL members, exploring challenges and building collective understanding of solutions
• Support multi-stakeholder collaborations on specific issues or challenges (e.g. living wage)
• Develop and manage relationships with ISEAL member staff and key external stakeholders and partners 

General

• Represent ISEAL at external events and in stakeholder relationships
• Line manage direct reports, providing guidance and direction and encouraging growth and development 
• Manage work of other staff on own projects, working closely with their respective line managers to coordinate workload
• Additional responsibilities as assigned by supervisor
• Essential experience, knowledge and attributes
• Educated to degree level in a relevant subject and/or equivalent professional experience in related field (International Development, Human Rights,
• Sociology, Anthropology, Human Geography, Economics etc.)
• Extensive experience in working with topics of human rights, decent work, equity, empowerment, particularly in context of how markets and supply chains work, and what roles key actors play 
• Familiarity with small-scale producers, workers and SMEs, including exposure to issues of gender and indigenous rights
• Track record in developing and delivering workshops, webinars and peer group meetings
• Proven project coordination/management skills, ideally in a grant funded environment, including donor reporting, working across multiple projects and communicating/liaising with different project leads
• Strong analytical skills and ability to synthesise information clearly
• Strong interpersonal skills with track record of building and maintaining strong relationships with stakeholders, members, or partner organisations
• Excellent written and spoken English and confidence in communications with peers and external partners
• Ability to communicate and work effectively with cross-functional teams in a fully remote, international environment, including regular international time-zone calls
• Experience supervising and managing others in projects and/or as line reports
• Proficient IT skills, familiarity with virtual meeting tools (e.g. Teams, Zoom, etc.) 

Additionally desirable

• Familiarity with sustainability standards or similar systems and/or work of ISEAL Community Members
• Experience in working directly with rightholders, indigenous communities or producers at local level and in the global south 
• Partnerships and networks in the business and human rights, equity space 

About ISEAL

ISEAL supports ambitious sustainability systems and their partners to tackle the world’s most pressing sustainability challenges – from the climate emergency and biodiversity crisis to human rights and persistent poverty. ISEAL Community Members include many of the most respected sustainability schemes worldwide and are active across a diverse range of sectors. Read more about us on our website iseal(.)org. 

ISEAL´s culture and how we will help you thrive

Our values are Connection, Empowerment, Inspiration, Wellbeing, Effective Working and Creativity.

These are traits we value in each other and in the organisation overall and we instil these in all our processes and interactions. 

The issues we work on are of a global nature and our team reflects this, with individuals from many different backgrounds and nationalities. We know this diversity adds to the high quality of work we deliver as an organisation and through our commitment to diversity and inclusion we want to add strengths and perspectives in our team with each recruitment. Diversity for us includes race and gender identity, age, disability status, sexual orientation, religion and many other areas forming part of someone´s identity. We are proud to be an equal opportunities employer.

As an organisation, we also support our people in their personal and professional development, with specific budgets and processes enabling individuals to take advantage of growth and development opportunities.

We offer 25 days of annual leave, to which we will add a day a year after 2 years (to a maximum of 30 days), as well as an extra five days as a one off once you have been with us for a full five years.

We recognise individuals’ preferences when it comes to where and when to work through a hybrid working model with a minimum of 4 days per month in the London office as well as the opportunity to apply for flexible working arrangements to suit individual´s needs.

Other relevant information

Term: This is an initial contract of one year with the possibility of extension

Salary: £52,000-58,000 p.a. depending on experience (full time, 37.5 hours per week)

Location: London is the preferred location. Applicants will need to provide evidence that they are entitled to work in the UK. An ability and willingness to work in a hybrid work environment is required. For exceptional candidates, we may consider alternative locations, particularly in Belgium or Netherlands, or cross border workers in these locations. 

International travel: The post holder will be required to undertake some international travel

How to apply

Please use this link to apply: https://wkf.ms/3tNN6wE

Specific enquiries about this role and the application process can be sent to the recruitment@isealalliance.org. 

Deadline for applications is 29 January 2024, 5pm GMT.

Please note that we will only contact shortlisted applicants.