Location Delhi
Job-type Permanent
Salary Competitive Package
Reference BBBH9135_1617870244

A high-impact, global retailer is partnering with Acre to appoint an India Country Manager for the company's Sustainable Cotton Programme. This role takes responsibility for the company's Sustainable Cotton programme in India. This growing programme currently supports nearly 100,000 farmers, helping them to grow cotton more sustainably, whilst equipping them with broader skills to impact their livelihoods; this new role has been created due to the rapid growth in the programme.

Reporting into the overall Ethical Trade Country Manager for India, with a dotted line to the Sustainable Cotton Programme Manager based in the UK, this role is equally integrated within both the global team, led by the UK, and the wider India Ethical Trade and Environmental Sustainability Team. This is an exciting and inspiring opportunity to deliver a flagship sustainability project that reaches across both social and environment issues and is embedded in the operation and governance of global supply chains.

This role offers a rare and exciting opportunity to work on a large-scale, high-profile, multi-country programme that supports both social and environmental sustainability outcomes within the complex and dynamic environment of global supply chains.

You will be responsible for:

  • Overseeing due diligence of the sustainable cotton supply chain

  • Building relationships with existing and new programme partners

  • Representing the retailer and the programme externally in India, promoting the work that the company has been doing, whilst helping other organisaitons to learn from it

  • Overseeing and supporting implementation of the traceability of the sustainable cotton supply chain

  • Supporting the development of programme innovations to deepen the positive impact of the programme on farmers

  • Support development of a comprehensive Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning (MEL) framework for the Programme

  • Managing an expert local team

The successful candidate will be a flexible, solutions oriented leader, capable of building excitement amongst stakeholders. This programme is one of the most ambitious and advanced in the industry; consequently, the role commands a great deal of attention and scrutiny.

You will have:

  • A strong track record in ethical trade or environmental sustainability

  • Experience working with agricultural commodities; an understanding of the complexities of agricultural supply chains

  • Excellent cross-cultural communication and engagement skills, able to engender trust and foster collaboration between partners, farmers and regional sites across India

  • Previous demonstrable success of creating and managing partnerships

  • Proven experience managing complex projects

  • Ability to travel frequently within India

This is an exciting opportunity to directly impact to the livelihoods of thousands of farmers and workers across India. If you are passionate about building a sustainable future in the apparel industry, please get in touch at tom.townsend@acre.com.

Please note, there is a preference for this role to be based in New Delhi or Bangalore, but the company is open to candidates based in other parts of India.