Senior Program Manager, Responsible Sourcing

Position Title:                      Senior Program Manager

Business Unit:                     Programs

Reports To:                          Head of Outsourcing

Location:                              New York, NY

About this role:

The Senior Program Manager/Outsourced Program Lead will act as the key point of contact for one of our clients.  This role is responsible for managing the client's responsible sourcing program on their behalf and will be the primary relationship contact for LRQA.  They will be one of six dedicated people who will manage the social responsibility risk monitoring process reporting directly to the Program Management lead and to the Client for whose program LRQA has management responsibility.  The Outsourced Program Lead  will work closely with our Client and Delivery teams to ensure that LRQA provides the services detailed in the contract with the client, meeting SOW obligations.

Key job responsibilities:

Manage the clients' program from assessment planning to factory on-boarding, supplier communications to escalations to the client when issues merit, and delivering dynamic reporting to support the client’s ESG reporting needs.

The primary responsibilities include the following:

Strategic. Input, oversight and relationship building

• Establish a strong relationship with the key contact at the client.
• Develop credibility through building an extensive understanding of the clients Corporate Responsibility program.
• Provide objective advice on best ways of handling issues and act as strategic thought partner for key human rights and compliance topics. Knowledge/expertise in responsible recruitment will be critical.
• Conduct and share annual risk-tiering based on learnings from the personnel, systems, processes and tools that LRQA staff have deployed for numerous clients
• Lead an annual or bi-annual Program Review covering key topics such as supplier performance and segmentation recommendations, recommendations for program improvements, regional highlights/trends, SLA Performance (LRQA) against SOW and Service Provider
• Helps set annual goals for the program

Support the program on-boarding process to move the client from concept to implementation. Onboarding responsibilities include, but are not limited to:

• Lead the hiring/building of a team in key locations for Client’s globally

• Review and develop a detailed understanding of all documentation specific to the client program. Identify and implement workflow efficiencies that meet the client requirements with reduced resources.

• Project management, such as developing and managing to a project plan, regular meetings with client overseeing various areas of onboarding cycle

• Document client internal processes and communications required

• Coordinate client internal communications working with key contacts

• Support through the transition period, including incorporations of learnings into current processes

• Detail handover acceptance from on-boarding to long term implementation team

• Clearly identify the specific individuals within LRQA that will support the account and create clear ways of working for each.

• Establish performance measurement for the account that aligns with and measure performance of the team

• Leveraging LRQA and client systems, establish the reporting structure and cadence for the client

• Develop a detailed internal tracking and reporting structure that helps position LRQA as best we can to be more proactive in anticipating issues than having to be reactive and respond to them.

• Define the key areas of performance and measures.

Manage and Oversee Day to Day Operations

• Operationalize segmentation and advisory findings

  • Develop and implement management systems for oversight
  • Assessment planning
  • Intervention planning

• Oversight of outsourced team, ensure execution based on agreed approach and program objectives

• Planning, communicating and continuously monitoring execution of the risk monitoring plan (audits and non-audit interventions.

• New supplier program placement and onboarding, deactivation for exited suppliers

• Pre- and Post-assessment communications with suppliers, addressing questions and supporting successful execution of services

• Act as expert on specific client requirements and manage program internally/externally, including providing clear guidance for dedicated staff and suppliers, responding to inquiries, regularly calibrating teams, and maintaining updated systems and documents;

• Interacting and working closely with client (Willingness to communicate during non-traditional working hours.)

• Ensure systems and trackers up to date, accurate and available to Client on a regular , including but not limited to oversight of the team’s quality assurance monitoring of audit firms etc.

• Participate in regular internal trainings and discussions related to emerging trends or questions from clients, including solutions on which LRQA has been partnering with clients. Topics may include for example, recruitment fee remediation, due diligence investigations, effective grievance mechanisms, regional trends/disruptions etc.

• Promote cross team collaboration to encourage best practice sharing, identify efficiencies etc.

Preferred Qualifications

• Excellent written and verbal English;
• 4- year college degree;
• 8+ years experience, with 3+ experience as Team Lead Role in the Ethical Sourcing/Labor Compliance arena either for a brand/retailer or service provider;
• High level of integrity and honesty;
• Understanding of the limitations of most brand compliance programs in order to help add additional value through alternative scheme application and recommendations preferred;
• Knowledge/expertise in human rights and particularly responsible recruitment.
• Creative and entrepreneurial minded;
• Ability to work independently;
• Extreme attention to detail
• Ability to handle sensitive and confidential information
• Strength in writing and communication – individuals who make the complex simple, who can relate concepts with visuals and a minimum number of words.
• Proven effectiveness at strategic relationship building across internal and external stakeholders – we seek a team player with strong interpersonal communication and presentation skills
• Pro-active, self-starter with the ability to organize, prioritize and execute multiple projects across multiple stakeholders simultaneously, in a deadline-driven environment.
• Innovative, entrepreneurial and strategic thinker that can propose solutions/troubleshoot as needed
• A passion for social responsibility and belief in making a difference.
• Strong working knowledge of MS Word, PowerPoint and Excel

Equal Opportunity Employer

ELEVATE is committed to creating a diverse and inclusive workplace and is proud to be an Equal Opportunity Employer. All qualified applicants will be considered without regard to race, color, religion, gender, gender identity, sexual orientation, national origin, genetics, disability, age, veteran status, or any other status protected by local law. Personal data provided by applicants will be treated as confidential information and will be used exclusively for employment purposes only.  Only short-listed candidates will be notified.  Applicants who are not invited for an interview may consider their applications filed for future reference.

To learn more about career opportunities at ELEVATE, please visit our Careers Page here: https://www.elevatelimited.com/careers/