IOAS is seeking an Assistant Executive Director to join its team.
The IOAS is a mission driven non-profit organisation incorporated in North Dakota, USA with staff based in the USA, Argentina, Armenia, Brazil, Germany, Spain, Slovenia and the United Kingdom. We work in the field of assessment of bodies engaged in inspection and certification of organic and sustainable agriculture and related fields. Our work in oversight of conformity assessment assists in the development of various private and regulatory schemes by enhancing fairness for producers and building trust in ‘eco-labels’ by consumers.
We work with an increasing number of scheme owners (COSMOS, Canadian Food Inspection Agency, European Commission, Global GAP, GOTS, IFOAM, NATRUE, Textile Exchange) and the accreditation and assessment services we provide cover organic agriculture, sustainable agriculture, organic textiles, organic and natural cosmetics, recycled products, animal welfare claims, fair trade, social compliance and food safety.
The day-to-day work of the IOAS (including assessment visits) is performed by 13 staff with support from a number of contracted assessors and technical experts. For more information about our work, please visit www.ioas.org
We are looking to appoint an exceptional individual with in-depth knowledge and experience of conformity assessment, preferably in the food safety and/or organic sector, as Assistant Executive Director.
THE POSITION
1. The Assistant Executive Director (AED) is appointed by and reports to the Executive Directors.
2. Duties: The AED will support both the Executive Director (Business) and the Executive Director (Operations) over the 9 portfolios of IOAS activity: Business Development, External Representation, Finance, Human Resources, IT, Legal & Company, Programme Management, Projects and Quality Management. As a general guide the work will be split 50:50 between the ‘Business’ and ‘Operations’ aspects of IOAS work.
3. The AED may be required to perform/assist at on-site visits of certification organisations to gain a good understanding of the assessment work that the IOAS conducts. Other travel obligations include periodic training sessions, participation in trade shows and liaison with existing and new potential IOAS business partners. Travel commitment is estimated at around 50 days per year with any single period of travel unlikely to be more than 2 weeks.
4. The position is full time.
REQUIREMENTS The successful applicant is likely to have a degree level qualification in agriculture or food related topics and/or have management experience including financial management in a mission driven non-profit organisation. Specific experience in the organic and sustainability sector and in some aspect of conformity assessment (inspection, certification, and accreditation) is essential. Experience with food safety conformity assessment is highly desirable. A track record of working internationally in different cultural environments would be an asset.
Applicants must be able to work on their own as well as part of a team, enjoy seeking out new opportunities and have good inter personal skills. Fluency in spoken and written English is essential and at least one other language highly desirable as is a willingness to travel. Unless the successful applicant wishes to work in our North Dakota office, they are expected to work from their own office, which will require good communication links and good internet speeds and comfort with remote working.
Preference will be given to applicants based in the USA. Successful applicants based in the USA will be hired as full employees with benefits. Persons from outside the USA will be selfemployed under contract. Self-employed persons will be expected to provide their own office equipment although expenses will cover all consumables. The salary will be fixed in the home currency and will be commensurate with experience but expected to be in the range of US$50 – 60,000 per annum.
Anticipated starting date: April to May, 2018.
If interested please submit a letter of application with a curriculum vitae citing 3 referees to Susan Hepper at hepper@ioas.org at the latest by January 31, 2018. If you want more information or wish to discuss the position in more detail you may send an email to the IOAS Executive Director (Business), Ken Commins at commins@ioas.org
