The Rainforest Alliance is an international nonprofit organization that works to conserve biodiversity and ensure sustainable livelihoods by transforming land-use practices, business practices and consumer behavior. Based in New York City, with offices throughout the United States and worldwide, the Rainforest Alliance works with people whose livelihoods depend on the land, helping them transform the way they grow food, harvest wood and host travelers.
Under the auspices of the Sustainable Agriculture Network (SAN), an international coalition of leading conservation groups, the Rainforest Alliance's Sustainable Agriculture program works with farmers to ensure compliance with the SAN standards for protecting wildlife, wild lands, workers' rights and local communities. Farms that meet these rigorous environmental, ethical and economic standards are awarded the Rainforest Alliance Certified™ (RAC) seal. The SAN standards are applied by producers of major commodity crops (including bananas, pineapple, coffee, cocoa, tea, citrus and flowers) that profoundly affect the economies, environments, cultures and politics of tropical countries. Today more than 60,000 farms in 26 countries are certified and Rainforest Alliance Certified products are widely available in mainstream markets.
Position Summary
The Manager will be responsible for market development, stakeholder outreach and relationship management for seal using businesses in the UK, Ireland and selected European markets. Primary responsibility will focus on managing existing business relationships and engaging new business in order to increase demand for Rainforest Alliance Certified farm products. The Manager will liaise with the broader Sustainable Value Chains, Sustainable Landscapes and Communications-Marketing teams to coordinate company activities related to RAC seal use, promotional campaigns and events.
Responsibilities
- Engage key businesses in the UK and Ireland to stimulate market demand for certified farm products;
- Manage relationships with key businesses to source and promote RAC products; guide and oversee company strategies in the use of these products, conduct training and workshops for key sales and marketing teams and be the interface with other Rainforest Alliance teams to fulfill the needs of that business relationship;
- Develop and manage SmartSource plans to increase volumes of certified farm goods within agreed timescales;
- Support the preparation of market related fundraising proposals and the negotiation and development of service agreements with companies supporting the work of Rainforest Alliance;
- Serve as a spokesperson for Rainforest Alliance by engaging key opinion leaders and cultivating change agents within the industry;
- Work with the Director, Sustainable Value Chains to define and implement a market demand strategy for Rainforest Alliance in the UK and Irish markets; and
- Other duties as assigned.
Qualifications
- University degree; preferably in Marketing, Communications, Media or Advertising;
- Minimum 7 - 10 years of experience, demonstrating progressive levels of responsibility in business development, sales, marketing, procurement or supply chain management in a food related industry;
- Knowledge of tea, cocoa and coffee retail and food commodity industries a significant advantage;
- A passion for sustainability and the environment; understanding and experience of ethical sourcing and certification programs highly desired;
- Impeccable interpersonal skills and an excellent team player;
- Ability to manage multiple projects at a time and to work with minimum levels of supervision;
- Outstanding organizational skills, attention to detail and ability to juggle multiple priorities in a fast-paced environment;
- Computer literacy and knowledge of Microsoft Office and Internet;
- Excellent written and spoken English, fluent French and German highly desirable
- Willingness to travel up to 25 % of the time.
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