About ISEAL
ISEAL Alliance is seeking to fill the position of Senior Manager, Innovations. ISEAL is the global membership association for many of the leading sustainability standards and certification schemes worldwide. We are internationally recognized for our role in driving consensus about credible practices for sustainability standards, reflected in our Credibility Principles and Codes of Good Practice.
This is an exciting time in the world of sustainability standards. Standards organisations are adapting rapidly to meet evolving expectations from businesses and governments. They are incorporating new strategies and working to unleash the power of data in their operations. ISEAL is actively supporting standards organisations in this journey, with a new Innovations Fund and communities of practice that catalyse members and partners to test and replicate new approaches.
Role summary
The Senior Manager, Innovations will work closely with ISEAL’s leadership to deliver on two of ISEAL’s strategic priorities– providing expertise on credible practices and systems and working to catalyse and share learning around systems’ improvement and innovation.
The role will work on a diverse range of projects in ISEAL’s portfolio, taking on a variety of roles including technical lead, technical advisor, or project/grant manager. Examples of the types of projects include defining credible practices for standards that promote continual improvement or are applied at a landscape level, and identifying and supporting innovative strategies for rapidly scaling the reach and impact of sustainability standards. The Senior Manager will play a leading role in ISEAL’s innovations work stream - incubating ambitious projects and synthesizing and communicating the learning emerging from Innovations Fund grants.
The Senior Manager will be looked to internally and in the wider standards community for guidance and expertise on standards system design and development. This might involve contributing to ISEAL’s Code compliance, Code revision, and membership criteria review processes and leading technical conversations as part of ISEAL’s communities of practice and public events.
The position works closely with the Director of Policy and Outreach and the Director of Innovations, and directly manages a team of three.
Key Responsibilities
Technical expertise and innovation
- Lead delivery on selected innovations and credibility-related projects
- Apply technical knowledge about standards systems to delivery of projects; consultation processes; guidance or Code development; technical conversations with members and external stakeholders; training, services and compliance reviews; and responses to technical queries
- Communicate project insights clearly and concisely to a variety of audiences, whether through practical written guidance, generalist blogs, virtual meetings, or in person
- Share learning from ISEAL’s Innovation Fund grants, and work with ISEAL staff and members to cultivate and support Innovation Fund proposals
- Deliver or co-deliver training on relevant technical topics
Project management, planning and strategy
- Manage projects and grants including planning, coordination and oversight of activities and delivery timelines; effective reporting and outcome monitoring; budget management; preparation of contracts and terms of reference; and management of relationships with project partners and stakeholders
- Contribute to development of ISEAL’s strategy and work plans related to innovations and credibility
- Participate in project and grant proposal development and annual planning and reporting processes
Leadership and people management
- Manage performance of direct reports and provide constructive and supportive feedback to aid in the professional development of staff
- Provide general leadership in ISEAL office, act as role model for ISEAL´s values and foster desired people management culture at ISEAL in own team and beyond
Experience, Knowledge and Attributes
- Postgraduate degree in a relevant subject or an equivalent combination of relevant experience and/or education and training
- Extensive knowledge of at least one component of a standards system (e.g. standard-setting, assurance, traceability, claims, etc), broad experience across a range of technical subjects, and a demonstrable capacity to pick up new technical topics and deepen own knowledge on these areas
- Excellent writing skills (encompassing guidance papers, reports, blogs, etc) with a proven ability to convey complex concepts and ideas in an accessible way for a range of audiences
- Substantial work experience with sustainability standards systems or related organisations
- Proven ability to take independent action, delegate assignments, assume responsibility and provide effective line management and team leadership
- Strong facilitation, consultation and convening skills and experience
- Demonstrable project management and delivery experience, including preparing and managing budgets, and management and oversight of internal and external resources.
- Familiarity with grant-funded project management
- Experience, confidence, and judgement to operate and deliver projects with a high degree of autonomy
- A proven ability to lead diverse stakeholder groups to a shared understanding and to foster common ground, and experience working on innovations processes and/or the management and use of data a plus
Other relevant information
Salary:
commensurate with experience
Working Hours:
Based on a full time equivalent of 37.5 hours per week.
Location:
London. Applicants need to provide evidence that they are entitled to work in the UK. For exceptional candidates, ISEAL may provide assistance with visa applications
International Travel:
Post holder will be required to undertake regular intra-European and international travel
Annual Leave:
25 days / year (including office closure between Christmas and New Year)
