Country Partner Manager job in Amsterdam

Title: Country Partner Manager, B Lab Europe
Location: Amsterdam
Reporting to: Chair of Management Board, B Lab Europe
Overview

B Lab's vision

B Lab’s global vision is to capture the power within all businesses to measure their impact with as much rigour as they measure their profits. By certifying companies that meet and commit in their governing articles to continuing to reach the highest standards in social and environmental impact as B Corps, we create a community of leaders who inspire others to follow suit. There are now over 3000 B Corps in over 60 countries and covering 130 sectors, with a combined global revenue equivalent to the GDP of Bulgaria or Costa Rica.

B Lab: Background

B Lab was created in 2006 for the purpose of serving a global movement of people using business as a force for good, so that all companies will compete to be not just best in the world but also best for the world, and as a result society will enjoy a more shared and durable prosperity. The global movement has been on a mission or the last decade to demonstrate that the future of capitalism lies in creating an equitable and inclusive form of prosperity in line with society’s and our planet’s needs.

Inspired by B Lab, B Lab Europe was created in 2014 for the purpose of redefining success in businesses and the economy in Europe. To serve their shared purpose, B Lab authorises B Lab Europe to use its intellectual property to recruit and support companies to measure and manage their impact with the same rigour that they consider their financial returns and to promote shareholder governance and impact management at scale. Many of these companies proceed to achieve and maintain certification as B Corporations and drive the movement for a new form of capitalism through their leadership.

B Lab Europe

Since the B Corp movement was established in Europe in 2014 (and subsequently in the UK in 2015), it has gained remarkable traction with approaching 600 certified B Corps and nearly 20,000 European users of the B Impact Assessment. The European movement is underpinned by a network of different entities – certified B Corps, country partner representatives and the small team of B Lab Europe, which coordinates the strategy, processes and many of the activities of its European country partners. This fully recognises that the partner countries are at different stages of growth and resources.
B Lab Europe team and board is currently based in Amsterdam, and is co-located with seven Standards Analysts and with the Benelux countries’ team. Working as a European region within a global network of B Lab partners, B Lab Europe represents the European country partners in the Global Governance Council and at European and Global Board level. B Lab Europe is established as a not for profit body under Dutch law, with a Supervisory Board and a Management board.
We see an exponential interest in larger more complex companies engaging with the B Corp movement and B Lab is developing services and processes to meet these. We now seek to expand our team to help deliver on the evergrowing interest in the B Corp movement that we are seeing right across the continent.

B Lab Europe Country Partner Manager

B Lab Europe is now creating a new role to provide strategic and operational management of and support to our network of country representatives. The postholder will directly support the Chair of the Management Board in this and help devise and implement the priorities for our movement in Europe. The role is likely to involve some travel, as well as considerable amount of coordination by video and phone across our European partners.
The post holder will join a growing team of B Lab Europe and will also work closely with our Standards Analysts Team and with a range of colleagues in the global B Lab network as well as with our European colleagues in their markets.

The role of Country Partner Manager

1. Support our Country Partners in managing their pipeline of companies to ensure smooth throughflow of companies seeking assessment for certification approval;
2. Liaise closely with the Standards Analysts on the monthly capacity allocation of companies seeking review;
3. Lead Coordinator for our European country partners around key activities, initiatives, campaigns or policy developments related to the B Corp movement in our core markets;
4. Develop and regularly deliver training on our management systems and provide on-boarding for our new Country Partners;
5. Update our Country Partners on relevant policy issues and campaigns, new global developments, building a regular cycle of calls and contact mechanisms;
6. Work with the Chair and Country Partners to ensure the terms of the license agreements between B Lab Europe and country partners reflect well market reality and expectations;
7. Contribute heavily to the development of new products and offerings and the roll – out of existing ones which our Country Partners could use in market; drawing on Global partners’ experience to ensure best practice is exchanged efficiently;
8. Keep track of the progress made within markets through quarterly reporting against the core elements of the license agreement which are reflected in the European strategy that B Lab Europe and Country Partners have co-developed;
9. Help organise Country Partner retreats, gatherings, full cycle of calls and updates, newsletters amongst the partners;
10. Work with the Chair on the development of a communications/ marketing strategy and a fund-raising strategy to support the work of B Lab across the European continent;
11. Support the Chair in preparing presentations, updates, and opportunities to the Directors of the B Lab Europe Supervisory Board meetings, held quarterly;
12. Work with the B Lab Europe team to identify and take up realistic opportunities to build the B Corp movement in new markets.

Person Specification

• Passionate about the role that business can play in creating the future that benefits all people and planet; this is a mission and there is no clear path to achieve this!
• Has already read about and is familiar with/ engaged in and feels aligned to the values of the B Corp movement;
• A strategic thinker with a critical mind, but with an operational practicality in devising systems that bring the strategy to life and that engage key players in that process;
• Highly efficient – as use of time and resources are always limited;
• Has a creative approach to finding solutions to new challenges – there is rarely a script for this work and this is a new role too; a can-do attitude is critical;
• Strongly motivated by the power of relationships within our own network of Country Partners but also to see new opportunities through opening up new partnerships;
• Comfortable with and able to move across a variety of topics in any one day;
• A team player who is collaborative by nature – we are very small, passionate, committed band and we seek a fellow team mate with these same values;
• A quick learner who can apply good judgement with confidence;
• Collaborative in nature, keen to make partnerships;
• Inquisitive and exploratory by nature – what else is happening in this field and how can we learn from this;
• Self-motivated and structured worker – able to keep a framework around the key initiatives and the communication with colleagues across the global B Corp movement.

Skills and experience required

• Experience in managing multiple relationships within an organisation, with clear ability to manage multiple work-strands simultaneously;
• Experience working with global nonprofit organizations, businesses, media organisations, foundations and philanthropists, and/or investors, are all advantageous;
• Experience in developing and implementing a strategy for focusing work;
• Good communicator who creates and maintains energy and confidence amongst our Country Partners for delivering on our joint vision;
• Technically savvy. Highly proficient in Word, Google packages, Excel and Powerpoint, social media. Familiarity with Salesforce or similar CRMs is an advantage;
• Able to summarise findings easily, and analyse patterns in messages and behaviour;
• Good presenter of concepts; able to simplify complex issues;
• Experience on developing new products and services that meet an identified need;
• Linguistic skills – fluent written and oral English is essential and knowledge of any other European languages also an advantage (Spanish especially, to benefit from our Latin American global partners’ learnings).

Contract length: the post will initially be offered on a one year contract, with a 6 month probationary period. The role will be made permanent subject to securing funding. This is a high priority for B Lab Europe.

Travel requirements: the role may require travel to other European countries to liaise with Country Partners.

Salary: €50,000 per annum; 25 days holiday entitlement per annum plus statutory days leave.

We very much look forward to hearing from you if this job opportunity excites you and you have the necessary experience / qualifications and skills to bring to the role. Please send an email with your CV to ela@bcorporation.eu stating Country Partner Manager in the subject title before November 15th 2019.

B Lab is is an equal opportunities employer and is committed to ensuring that our recruitment process is open, fair and not influenced by irrelevant considerations.