Director of Higg Transparency job in Remote

Full-time position, flexible/remote location based in the 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 SAC is building upon these tools to develop a transparency framework and standard that will enhance the way consumers can expect to see consistent, relevant, data-based and verified sustainability claims on products.

The Director of Higg Transparency will be responsible for driving the success and value of the Higg Transparency framework and standard.

This role will be at the crossroads of the technical Higg tool development, the brand and retailers’ push for more consistent and meaningful consumer claims, the public authorities’ initiatives to regulate risks of greenwashing, and the consumers’ expressed need for more transparency regarding the environmental and social impacts of their purchasing decisions.

The SAC has the opportunity to define what the future of on-product sustainability claims looks like, and this role will be in the driver’s seat, ensuring that Higg Transparency is recognized as the most credible, scalable and effective transparency standard throughout the industry.

Key Responsibilities

• Convening and facilitating a multi-faceted and nuanced conversation across SAC members and stakeholders
• Creating alignment around a set of shared principles, criteria, and ultimately requirements for use of the Higg tools in public communications
• Developing and iterating the Higg Standard documentation
• Creating the conditions for achieving scale in the use of the Higg Standard
• 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 a deep understanding of the corporate sustainability landscape of the Apparel sector, particularly with regards to consumer claims, sustainability-related product attributes, sourcing and manufacturing practices, existing sustainability frameworks and initiatives, and relevant regulatory requirements.
• Has the ability to create an ambitious vision of what is possible, and to chart a credible pathway to getting there through tactical steps
• Has stakeholder management skills, the ability to convene, facilitate a diverse group of stakeholders with varying levels of sophistication, different agendas, and ability execute on the plan
• Has experience with sustainability metrics and scoring frameworks, ability to work with technical teams that are developing Life Cycle Assessment tools, Facility management system and performance evaluation tools
• Has experience working with brand marketing teams on consumer facing product claims, labelling, campaigns or other communications
• Has the ability to manage individuals both formally and informally
• Is a strong project manager and has the ability to coordinate a cross-functional task team to deliver results in a timely manner
• Has the ability to work in a fast-paced, multi-cultural environment
• Has 10-15 years of experience performing the same or very similar functions and duties as are required for the role, with an emphasis on consumer product labeling, stakeholder engagement, and product management.
• Has at least 5 years of experience in the apparel industry, ideally working for a brand, in a relevant sustainability capacity
• Is based in the EU and able to work remotely

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.