KEY RESPONSIBILITIES:

The role of the Senior Specialist, Responsible Sourcing Operations – Advancement encompasses diverse responsibilities, including ensuring factories comply with VF standards, supporting safety and worker rights initiatives, driving environmental sustainability, and contributing to worker and community development efforts. In this capacity, the role collaborates with VF factories, regional offices, cross-functional teams (including the factory compliance team), NGO partners, and various stakeholders to facilitate enhancements across all responsible sourcing domains. This involves tasks such as preparing factories for audits, addressing safety issues, investigating labor concerns, promoting environmental management systems, and participating in community needs assessments. The position plays a crucial role in advancing VF's commitment to comprehensive and sustainable practices across the sourced factory base.

Factory Compliance

• Work with factories to prepare for and meet VF’s compliance standards, which include local and international regulations.
• In partnership with sourcing development; sourcing operations and responsible sourcing assurance teams, support factories to elevate compliance with VF audit standards to improve their audit designations, which includes remediating corrective actions identified during compliance audits.
• Communicate with vendors and factories on existing or new requirements in the Facility Guidelines, provide context, tools, and knowledge for suppliers to prepare ahead of audits.
• Lead the Supplier training programs to introduce & reinforce existing or new requirements in the Facility Guidelines, provide context, tools, and knowledge.
• Conducting social compliance audit (to support responsible sourcing assurance specialist) when needed.
• Coordinate with RSO Manager & Advancement team members in developing & maintaining monthly advancement visits to the factories.

Safety

• Collaborate closely with the VF Safety Team and VF's Safety Program Providers, help in-scope factories in addressing safety concerns. This involves conducting both on-site and remote visits to address issues identified during safety assessments, aiming to enhance working conditions and prevent factory downgrades.
• Aid the VF Safety Team in coordinating both on-site and remote visits from third-party assessment, training, and remediation firms.
• Support VF’s critical life safety program at factory locations by creating awareness and management systems to address key electrical, fire, and safety issues. This may include developing and delivering training to the factory and assisting in the implementation of safety program.
• Coordinate with relevant internal and external stakeholders on factory incident management, e.g., participating in investigations, maintaining system records, and driving factories to implement effective corrective actions.

Worker Rights

• In collaboration with the VF Worker Rights Team and external stakeholders (where applicable), support on incident investigation and remediation of labor issues or allegations, using knowledge of the country’s national legislation and international conventions on workers' rights.
• Identify potential collaboration at factories to pilot and develop Worker Rights programming.​
• Work collaboratively with Better Work at in-scope countries on Compliance and Industrial relations programs.
• Support the company to quickly respond to critical concerns/issues arisen in countries of responsibility.

Environmental

• In collaboration with the VF Environmental Sustainability Team, drive improved environmental sustainability performance at factories by proactively working with factory management to build Environmental Management Systems.
• Where appliable, work with the Environmental Sustainability Team and external stakeholders to promote and advise on participation in energy efficiency programs and renewable energy programs in countries of responsibility.
• Advise the Environmental Sustainability teams’ objectives regarding strategy in the country or region to provide context and localized information, e.g. HIGG implementation, wastewater standard enforcement, energy efficiency projects, etc.

Worker and Community Development (WCD)

• In collaboration with VF’s WCD team, drive factory participation in the basic needs assessment to determine localized, community-specific needs.
• Support the WCD team to identify in-scope factories to achieve strategic goals, based on needs assessment results.
• Support the WCD team and external partners on program implementation at factories, and regularly review performance with factory implementation partners, VF management and workers to ensure the WCD program meets its objectives.  

Key Competencies

• Embodies the highest level of personal and professional integrity and ethics.

• Experience in factory compliance audits with excellent knowledge on labor, Health & Safety, and environment local laws.
• Thorough knowledge of auditing processes and database administration.
• Critical thinking ability.
• Excellent report writing and communication skills in both oral and written English.
• Ability to develop and maintain partnerships with key stakeholders across the business.
• Independent worker, strong problem-solving skill.
• Ability to consider perspectives aside from their own.
• Ability to lead assigned program activities independently without close supervision.

• Has a keen sense of urgency & is able to prioritize and complete the assigned task in a tight schedule.

Qualifications and Experience

• 6+ years Corporate Social responsibility or Social Auditing experience or equivalent combination of relevant work experience and education.
• Post-graduation in labor laws, environmental engineering, safety engineering, chemical engineering, textile engineering will be advantageous.
• Expertise in using Microsoft Office including Word, Excel, Outlook and Web skills.
• Subject Matter Expert In:

• Labor, Health, Safety, and Environmental auditing.

• Laws, Regulations and Industry Standard of the region.
• Laws & Regulation of Labor & Employments.
• Knowledge of human and labor rights.