We seek a motivated, impact-driven, and pragmatic professional to join the AFi secretariat. The Implementation Manager will be responsible for supporting private companies (i.e., producers/processors, traders, manufacturers, retailers, and financial institutions), industry groups, service providers, other sustainability initiatives, and AFi coalition members to apply the Accountability Framework. The goal of this engagement is to establish and scale up effective policies, practices, guidelines, and systems to address deforestation and ecosystem conversion and ensure full respect for human rights in commodity supply chains. The Implementation Manager will be an integral part of the AFi secretariat and collaborate closely with the AFi’s 25+ coalition members and other high-impact partners.

The ideal candidate will have significant experience working in or otherwise engaging with companies that produce or source agricultural or forestry commodities. They will be knowledgeable about the systems and practices that companies use to address environmental and social risk, such as internal management systems, traceability, procurement mechanisms, supplier engagement, investment at origin, monitoring and verification, and reporting and disclosure. They will also have up-to-date familiarity with broader corporate sustainability mandates and approaches, such as climate and nature targets, business contributions to meeting the SDGs, financial and non-financial disclosure mechanisms related to ESG, and supply chain due diligence regulations.

Responsibilities:

• Contribute to refining the AFi’s strategy for driving widespread application of the Accountability Framework;
• Provide proactive and responsive support to private companies to understand and apply the Accountability Framework;
• Engage and support service providers to integrate the Accountability Framework into their service offerings;
• Collaborate with industry associations and multi-stakeholder initiatives to create consistent market expectations and metrics for soft commodity sectors, aligned with the Accountability Framework;
• Together with AFi coalition members, further develop the AFi’s resources for financial institutions that conduct lending or investing related to forest-risk commodities;
• In collaboration with the AFi Communications Manager and other team members, develop and strengthen the AFi’s package of promotional, explanatory, and instructional resources to further raise awareness and support application of the Framework by its target users;
• Train and support colleagues from AFi coalition member organizations to effectively engage with users to understand and apply the Framework;
• Develop and co-manage the AFi’s approach to collecting user feedback and utilizing this information to improve the AFi’s value to users over time.