Project Manager, Social Environmental Responsibility
Article, Canada

Hey, we’re Article. We’re a digital-first furniture brand that’s engineering remarkably better furniture experiences. We don’t have brick and mortar stores, so we’re able to deliver better value on beautiful, modern furniture. Recently named one of Canada’s fastest growing companies, we’re on the hunt for talented, enthusiastic team members to join us at our headquarters in beautiful Vancouver, British Columbia.

We’re looking for a Project Manager, Social amp; Environmental Responsibility (SER) to provide leadership and framework to enable a positive impact both today and in the future for Article through our product and manufacturing approach.

You will bring experience, industry knowledge, leadership and best practices to lead and create the Social and Environmental multi year roadmap.

You will engage with all levels of cross functional partners including, Product, Supply Chain and Marketing among others, as well as vendor facing partners.

With a deep understanding of the Article brand, the North American Furniture market and manufacturing best practices, you will build and execute process implementation and framework for both the internal teams and vendors, sharing your expertise that will have continuing long-term benefits.

SER is a multi year journey, beginning with discovery and driving towards the full installation and continuous improvement of our guiding principles.

The Project Manager, Social amp; Environmental Responsibility is an essential contribution to the Article team.

Project outline:

Social Responsibility:

Develop Article’s social compliance and impact programs to ensure our products are made in conditions that meet and exceed our Humanity Principles requirements; empower vendors to contribute to positive societal and business impact; maintaining policy, programs and processes for effective implementation; engage with internal cross functional partners and vendor partners to deliver enrolment and training.

Environmental Sustainability:

Understanding the full environmental impact of the manufacturers and their processes.

Build a framework to assess and recommend priorities based on the issues and opportunities, and taking steps to understand where the biggest impacts and opportunities are.

Partnering closely with the Raw Material (RM) team, they will also trace where and how key materials are developed and manufactured to improve visibility deeper into our supply chain.

Key Deliverables in the first six months:

1. Develop a position for Article and build a framework and multi-year plan of measurable supplier practices and priorities ensuring no child, forced, or bonded labor, fair working conditions, legal compliance and animal welfare all while operating and executing in a fair and relentless manner.
2. Develop a position for Article and a framework around environmental responsibilities and align on opportunities for community contribution which are connected to our business and where we bring an advantage in execution.

Responsibilities and daily tasks include:

Management Responsibility

• Hiring for and evolving Article’s SER resource needs, including role recommendations, onboarding and training of new team members in the Article Way

Leading

• Lead the strategy, framework and roadmap creation for positive SER impact and value to Article, our vendors and our community in collaboration with internal cross functional team leaders.
• Discover, research and identify core issues, reactively and proactively.
• Make recommendations for measurable systems that enable reporting capability to support decision making. Example; scorecards and dashboards.
• Build business cases and recommendations, with budgets for initiatives, tools and systems for senior leadership alignment, that support the integration of SER into all functions.
• Offer expertise, both practical and technical, to accelerate positive progress across impact areas identified.

Partner

• Collaborate with cross-functional team members and key stakeholders to ensure full transparency, enrolment and awareness throughout the discovery phase.
• Develop partnerships as appropriate that represent Articles interests at external meetings and conferences, to accelerate shared progress to achieve the right path forward.

Requirements

• 8+ years of experience in a sustainability leadership role linked to product and supply chain within progressive consumer facing business, furniture preferred.
• Demonstrated understanding of current environmental and social issues, that link back to industry risk, impact and opportunity.
• Exceptional people skills, and team leadership skills.
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Job Rewards and Benefits