Lead - Pacts & Field Building (Plastics Initiative) Cowes, Isle of Wight or remote UK based Hybrid In this newly created role you will lead a key pillar of the Ellen MacArthur Foundation’s Plastics Initiative: Pacts & Field Building, working with a wide range of leading organisations around the world to create a future free of plastic waste and pollution. You will lead, in partnership with WRAP and together with your team, the Plastics Pacts network of national and regional initiatives each bringing together businesses, government, and other stakeholders to implement solutions towards a circular economy for plastics. There are now 12 Plastics Pacts, across all continents, bringing together in total over 900 organisations. The programme is at an exciting junction as it is transitioning from Phase 1 (2018-2025) and in the process of setting direction. In addition, you will lead Field Building for the Foundation’s Plastics Initiative. Recognising that no single organisation can solve an issue as complex as plastics waste and pollution by itself, you will lead efforts to enhance the joint impact of the overall field of organisations tackling the issue. Focusing initially on scaling packaging reuse, you will work to build alignment, facilitate knowledge exchange, and joint strategizing, planning, and driving action across the global field of organisations working on the topic. This is an exciting opportunity to shape this agenda, as it is the first time “field building” is such an explicit and intentional agenda within the Foundation’s plastics initiative. Working with mission-aligned colleagues in an ever-changing and stimulating environment, this role will suit someone who is an excellent bridge-builder able to find common ground with a wide range of stakeholders and has a good grasp of plastic packaging circularity. Specific role responsibilities include: Strategy development: Develop the strategy and approach for Field Building and evolve it for Pacts. Understand the landscape, wider context, and trends to set direction. As the first ever Foundation’s Plastics Initiative Lead with an explicit Field Building mandate, this role will entail significant shaping and exploring new terrain. Stakeholder Engagement: Build, manage, and activate relationships with a wide range of stakeholders around the world including other NGOs, companies, academia, philanthropic funders, and policymakers. Strengthen and develop the Foundation’s reach and influence. International travel will be required for this role. Team Leadership: Build, motivate and develop a team of around 2-3 to be a thriving, high-performing team in an ever-changing external environment. Actively contribute to the initiative’s overall strategic direction and thriving of the wider plastics team, as a member of the EMF Plastics Initiative’s leadership team. Programme delivery: Lead the team to deliver, at quality and pace, the Pacts & Field Building strategy. Working with internal teams and external partners to facilitate collaboration, activate other organisations, and deliver industry leading perspectives. Representing the Foundation externally : Represent the Foundation at key events, with partners and with the media to consistently promote circular economy solutions and their relevance for key stakeholders. Your profile: 10 years’ relevant experience in roles involving engaging a diverse range of stakeholders, including business, NGOs, and governments. Strong empathy and proven ability to interact and influence effectively with individuals across geographies and cultures. Significant experience in plastic packaging and associated circular economy opportunities and challenges, ideally across a range of geographies including in the Global South. Strong interpersonal and oral and written communication skills. The ability to interact effectively at all levels of an organisation, including at senior levels, to inspire and engage. Fluency in additional languages beyond English is a plus. Proven ability to develop and motivate teams in an ever-changing external environment, with teams spread across different locations including remote. Entrepreneurial mindset and comfortable with ambiguity. Enjoys building something new and is energised by operating in an ever-changing external environment. Strategic thinking and analytical skills. Experience structuring complex problems and comfortable applying a hypothesis-based approach to solving them. Experience charting a course forward in an uncertain environment, based on analysis of scarce data, trends and discussions with a broad spectrum of stakeholders. Experience managing programmes and workload to deliver successful outcomes and meet time-critical milestones, including project planning and effective prioritisation to deliver on an outcome basis. Apply by clicking the green icon where you will be asked to upload a CV and covering letter. Desired starting date: ASAP Closing date: 20th September 2024. Please note that we receive a large volume of applications for our roles, and we may take the role offline if we have a strong shortlist before this date Salary package : circa £65,000 per annum plus generous holiday allowance (25 days plus UK Bank Holidays plus discretionary organisational extra days leave) generous parental leave; enhanced pension options or private health scheme after 6 months; wellbeing programme. Location: Our headquarters are based in Cowes, Isle of Wight. A remote UK location will be considered for this role. Application process Initial Zoom meeting with our Talent team and prospective Line manager to start the process (we will send you the outline of the interview, so you know what to expect). A work-related assignment to complete at home or as part of the interview process so we know you will be comfortable with the type of work you would do here. Interview with our People Team, Team Lead and prospective Line manager here in our offices on the beautiful Isle of Wight, even if the role isn’t based here- we think it’s important you see where we started and meet the team For some of our candidates we recognise this may not always be possible. For more senior roles we will conduct a presentation interview too. What we do The Ellen MacArthur Foundation develops and promotes the idea of a circular economy. We work with, and inspire, business, academia, policymakers, and institutions to mobilise systems solutions at scale, globally. Our mission is to accelerate the transition to a circular economy. Our vision is a new economic system that delivers better outcomes for people and the environment. Business models, products, and materials are designed to increase use and reuse, replicating the balance of the natural world, where nothing becomes waste, and everything has value. A circular economy, increasingly built on renewable energy and materials, is distributed, diverse, and inclusive. Our commitment to you We are keen to receive applications from people from underrepresented backgrounds, including (but not limited to) those of colour, people with disabilities, people who identify as LGBTQIA, and people from other marginalised groups. It is important to us that our recruitment approach makes the opportunity as accessible as possible and ensures a diverse range of people are able to demonstrate their potential. We would be happy to provide any further support that you may require - please get in touch so that we can work together. If you would like further information on our diversity and inclusion policy or any further assistance, please contact us at [email protected] .