Director, Higg Index - Product Tools job in Remote

Full-time position, flexible/remote location based in the US or EU

About the Sustainable Apparel Coalition

The Sustainable Apparel Coalition (SAC) is an industry-wide group of more than 250 leading apparel, footwear, and textile, brands, retailers, suppliers, service providers, trade associations, nonprofits, NGOs, and academic institutions working to reduce the environmental and social impacts of products around the world.

Through multi-stakeholder engagement, the SAC seeks to lead the industry toward a shared vision of sustainability built upon a common approach for measuring and evaluating apparel, footwear, and textile product sustainability performance delivered by the Higg Index that spotlights priorities for action and opportunities for technological innovation.

The SAC was incorporated as a 501(c)6 nonprofit organization and launched the groundbreaking Higg Index suite of tools in 2011.

The Opportunity

The Higg Index is a suite of tools that enables brands, retailers, and facilities of all sizes — at every stage in their sustainability journey — to measure and score a company or product’s social or environmental sustainability performance.

The Director of the Higg Index, Product Tools is responsible for driving the success and value of the Higg Product Tools, which include the Higg MSI, MSI Contributor, and Higg Product Module. As the industry evolves rapidly toward true product-level sustainability assessment and performance, this leadership role will provide critical insight and management across many stakeholder groups in the advancement of this important Higg module suite.

Key Responsibilities

• Lead Higg Product Tool development and maintenance by managing content, data, methodology improvements, and technology enhancements to make sure the tools are meeting members needs.
• Facilitate an ongoing, robust member and external expert conversation to ensure scoring frameworks represent the leading approach for materials and product assessment and is relevant to and adopted by SAC members.
• Lead the Product Strategic Council and Member Experts to collect feedback and achieve alignment on the direction of Higg Product Tools.
• Work with SAC members to understand Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) integration needs, communicate requirements with Higg Co, and ensure follow-through of a quality product.
• Work with external organizations proposing new product assessment methodologies (land use, biodiversity, microfibers, etc.) and stakeholders to determine viability of proposed approaches.
• Scale high quality data collection from the industry to serve as the quantitative underpinning of the Higg Index
• Ensure maintenance of data quality and data updates
• Manage the data submission and review process with the MSI Gatekeeper and Higg Co Data Manager and Director of Analytics.
• Determine what data needs to be solicited, from where, and how. Manage the process for acquiring that data.
• Work cross functionally to determine how data from other Higg tools (e.g. Higg FEM and Higg BRM) can serve as data sources for the Higg Product Tools.
• Work cross-functionally with various staff and working groups to ensure the visibility into Higg Index work and Higg Product Tools receive recognition to influence change globally.
• Work with Policy Working Group to ensure Higg PM methodology is considered as much as possible for the Global Apparel and Footwear Product Environmental Footprint Category Rules (PEFCR) methodology.
• Update the Higg PM as necessary, dependent on final PEFCR methodology.
• Manage the Sr. Manager, Higg Product Tools
• This is a full-time role, reporting directly to the VP, Higg Index, starting as soon as possible.

Qualifications, Experiences, and Attributes

The ideal candidate has the following qualifications, experiences, and attributes:

• Has expert knowledge of and experience with life cycle assessment and related standards
• Familiarity with Higg MSI and Higg Product Module preferred
• Has the ability to think analytically about technical environmental assessment methodologies
• Has the ability to think creatively about new methods of environmental assessment
• Is comfortable presenting on complex topics simply to a wide variety of audiences
• Has a strong attention to detail and high level of accuracy
• Has excellent interpersonal, oral and written communication skills with experience working with people from a variety of cultures and backgrounds
• Is highly organized and able to manage various projects at one time
• Is comfortable managing contractors and facilitating SAC members to complete projects within time and budget
• Has experience in managing technology-related projects preferred
• Has experience managing a team
• Is based in the US or EU and able to work remotely
• Has a Bachelor’s degree, with a Master’s degree preferred in an environmental or an apparel/footwear or industry-related field
• Has at least 10 years of experience working in product sustainability

SAC offers a competitive salary and benefits, commensurate with experience. SAC's team members are globally located, and as such, the SAC staff sometimes works early or late hours.

To Apply

SAC has retained Schaffer&Combs, a certified B Corporation, to support this high-priority search. In order to apply, please submit a resume and thoughtful cover letter via this posting. All candidates will receive an email invitation to complete a short self-assessment within a few business days of submitting their applications. Your responses in the self-assessment will help us learn more about you, and support a more robust conversation with our team, should we advance your candidacy.

Please refrain from contacting SAC directly. All inquiries should be directed to Schaffer&Combs at SAC@schaffercombs.com. We will be accepting applications on a rolling basis.