Introduction:

The Rainforest Alliance Data and Technology function leads the design, development, and delivery of Rainforest Alliance ´s data and technology products required to successfully drive impact through our full producer, landscape, and market offerings. Data and Technology are crucial to our current and any new offerings to reach our ambition to exponentially scale our impact.

In this role you will lead end-to-end product development across all programmatic offerings and be accountable for the consolidation and alignment of strategic programmatic direction and implementation.  This role will require deep understanding of producer and market data and technology needs, and the ability to translate these into a set of priorities and roadmap for development and implementation.

We are looking for someone with a passion for delivering customer-centric, and industry-leading products and services that make valuable contributions to our partners whilst contributing to the Rainforest Alliance vision of a world where people and nature thrive in harmony.

Position summary:

We are looking for an intellectually curious, strategically minded Director of Product Development, who has a demonstrated track record in developing teams through effective and strong leadership and empowering employees to design and roll out best-in-class products.  You will have an ambition for excellence and galvanize support internally in order to transform our current products, with a focus on optimal value delivery, scalability and total mission impact contribution.  A confident leader, the Director will ensure the big picture ambitions are aligned and realized, driving decisions in line with our strategy, and standing behind those decisions in potentially challenging conversations.

In this role as manager of managers, you will be responsible for ensuring our teams build an enterprise vision that is customer-centric with agreement across all stakeholders, and uses total value assessment capabilities to make selections and set priorities.  Your team of product managers co-create and land the strategy, vision, and continuous improvement agenda for the full suite of products targeted towards our partners, continually looking to advance the value propositions, making today better, and creating the future.

You will ensure that the overall strategy and vision is translated into a roadmap with concrete objectives, and work across senior internal and external stakeholders to ensure alignment.  You will make sure that changes are implemented and embedded in the broader ecosystem of products, with exceptional attention to organisational change best practice, through dedicated implementation support within the team.

To be successful in this role, you will need to be driven to provide products that meet the needs of our partners, whilst contributing to our mission, having a strong strategic focus, and a deep understanding of their needs and values.  You will need to demonstrate the ability to collaborate with a wide range of stakeholders at leadership level, to support and understand our ambitions and strategies in the different sectors and geographies. You will need strong people management skills and the ability to lead teams through change. We are looking for a candidate who will bring thought leadership, confidence and a willingness to take calculated risks.

Responsibilities:

• Lead end-to-end product development across the programmatic offerings;
• Develop a robust product strategy to enhance the program design and delivery in the most effective and efficient way;
• Work with business stakeholders at all levels and across the entire organisation, to develop and deliver an aligned rolling 3-5 year strategy and ambition for data and technology products;
• Actively look for continuous improvement and innovation opportunities by maintaining excellent knowledge of related industry trends and best-practice, through external connections and using internal expertise;
• Work closely with the Technology Director and Enterprise Architect to define the strategic ambition, refine potential solutions, and ensure it is translated to realistic, resourced and prioritised roadmaps;
• Consult with senior business stakeholders, and represent their views throughout change processes, making sure that the requirements are clearly understood, and deliver maximum value and mission impact contribution;
• Coordinate global roll-outs (internally and externally) ensuring development, communications, marketing materials, trainings, knowledge transfers etc are in place to maximise the likelihood of successful launch and adoption;
• Be a problem solver, identifying underlying challenges and work proactively and collaboratively to solve them; and
• Work closely with the Data and Technology leadership group to ensure accomplishment of organisational objectives.

 

Skills & Qualifications:

• Masters degree in Product Development, Business Administration, or equivalent;
• At least 10 years of related experience in product development and product strategy design;
• Excellent influencing and facilitation skills with a proven track record to convene and reconcile different stakeholder interests and influence towards a common vision/plan;
• Strong awareness of relevant external trends; able to identify innovative opportunities and work collaboratively towards assessment and alignment on potential fit;
• Expertise in systems thinking and organisational change, with experience landing strategic ambitions in the market;
• Proven experience (5 years’) experience as a manager of a senior team;
• In depth knowledge of global commodity supply chains and their sustainability needs and/or experience working with voluntary standards within agriculture/forestry is an advantage;
• Excellent interpersonal skills with ability to interact culturally, linguistically, and diplomatically laterally and vertically;
• Self-motivated, creative and results-oriented, with a passion for creating and taking to market mutually beneficial propositions;
• Fluency in English, both verbal and written, with strong communication skills; and
• Ability to travel a maximum of 20% per year, nationally and internationally.

Job level: 1A

Salary: Commensurate with experience.

Deadline: 24 July 2023

Notes: Only candidates authorized to work in the locations in which we are registered will be considered.

If you have any questions about the job vacancy, please contact the HR department: recruitment@ra.org

Who we are:

The Rainforest Alliance is creating a more sustainable world by using social and market forces to protect nature and improve the lives of farmers and forest communities. To achieve our mission, we partner with diverse allies around the world to drive positive change across global supply chains and in many of our most critically important natural landscapes.

Our alliance spans 70 countries and includes farmers and forest communities, companies, governments, civil society, and millions of individuals. Together we work to protect forests and biodiversity, take action on climate, and promote the rights and improve the livelihoods of rural people.

As an international nonprofit organization with more than 30 years of experience in sustainability transformation, we understand that the social and economic well-being of rural communities is tightly connected to ecosystem health. This knowledge has shaped our rigorous programs to advance sustainable land-use and commodity production.

At the Rainforest Alliance we combat climate change, protect forests and biodiversity, promote human rights, and improve livelihoods. The enormity of the social and environmental challenges we are facing requires working together in a broad alliance. This is why we bring farmers, forest communities, companies, and consumers together to change the way the world produces, sources, and consumes.

Why

To protect nature and improve lives it’s becoming increasingly urgent that we approach the way we use our land and produce food and other products in more sustainable ways. For this to succeed we need to fundamentally change the way that businesses operate and source, and the choices we all make as consumers.

How  

Our growing global alliance aims to transform our relationship with our natural resources and each other, to create a better future for people and nature together.

The Rainforest Alliance encourages diversity and inclusion across the global organization. With this commitment to diversity, we are proud to be an equal opportunity employer and do not discriminate on the basis of gender, race, color, ethnicity, religion, sexual orientation, gender identity, ages, disability and any other protected group.