Operations Specialist, Factory Support Services

As an Operations Specialist, Factory Support Services (FSS) at Fair Trade USA, your role is to help increase our positive impact on factory workers. You will be working with staff at headquarters in Oakland and a global field team to support our certified and applicant factories in the program, which includes development and implementation of systems and tools to further scale the AHG program. Engagement with field consultants and factory partners will primarily take place over the phone or via email, with approximately 10% of time traveling annually to origin.

Specific duties include:

Provide direct support for FSS Senior Director and global field team on key work streams and initiatives on an ongoing basis:

• Work closely with FSS and cross-functional teams (Partnership Management, Certification, Data, Impact, Standards) on program implementation projects as needed, including co-creating training materials, collection of field team and factory performance metrics and impact project information.
• Provide operational support to select region(s) – ensure the field team has the resources necessary to:
• Execute their day to day job requirements successfully by ensuring the field team meets their OKR’s on time using developed tools and processes
• Invoice accurately for services rendered
• Have a regular and appropriate cadence of meetings and communication touchpoints with HQ staff
• Assist in coordinating and overseeing relevant in-country brand partner engagement
• Understand and complete HQ requests in a timely and efficient manner
• Support to innovate and implement regionally specific best in class services
• Provide inputs on opportunities and challenges with specific factories in the program and problem solve effectively and efficiently
• As needed, conduct research projects on various topics related to the apparel, footwear and home goods sectors (examples include: deep dives into specific challenges in the sector, new country expansion, risk analysis etc.) and provide summarizations and recommendations based on the findings to the team as needed and manage consultants doing the same

Program information management:

• Oversee at a HQ level the ongoing development and “maintenance” of the systems, tools, processes that support the effective implementation of the Factory Services Program
• Conduct training and coaching of field team members to support rollout of new tools, processes
• Create and/or project manage the creation of tools and systems to make the program run most efficiently and effectively
• Manage, synthesize and aggregate data into high-level summaries that can be shared with Fair Trade USA corporate brand partners (i.e. factory performance updates etc.)
• Use data to analyze trends and look for opportunities – also to oversee the effectiveness of program implementation, working in partnership with the AHG Data Manager
• Work with AHG and Tech teams to build, roll out and maintain Compliance Performance Management System
• Support the onboarding process for new factory partners, including receiving and processing applications, contracts, and developing and providing supporting materials
• Ensure all field teams are trained properly on FTUSA systems such as Salesforce, Box, Slack, etc. and utilizing all available systems appropriately
• Process field consultant invoices after Senior Director approval and track expenditures vs. budget
• Intimately understand the apparel and home goods sector and the context Fair Trade’s AHG program operates in. This means knowing the labor laws, social compliance challenges, etc. in region(s) of responsibility

Requirements:

• A Bachelor’s degree
• Four years work experience in a related field (social compliance, international development, workers’ rights, etc.) An organized, systems thinker
• Mission driven
• Great attention to detail is a MUST. This role requires ability to collect, collate, and analyze data, both quantitative and qualitative.
• Strong oral and written communication skills
• Must be able to prioritize work effectively, problem solve, and handle detail-oriented projects in a systematic and highly organized manner
• Entrepreneurial spirit. Takes initiative to problem-solve and provide innovative ideas and program improvements.
• Confident individual contributor but excels at collaboration and working as a team player with your peers and external constituents to deliver results.
• Be outcome-oriented and know how to get things done. Ability to think quickly: learn, adapt, and work autonomously, as well with teams.
• Prior experience working with Salesforce is desirable
• Strong Knowledge in all Microsoft Office applications, especially Excel and PowerPoint
• Some travel (~10%) is required

To Apply:

Please visit the Fair Trade careers website.