Officer Certification Performance and Relations (m-f-d)

The Mission

FSC works to take care of our forests and those who rely on them: by protecting plant and animal species, Indigenous Peoples’ rights, forest workers’ safety, and much more. We achieve this through FSC certification, ensuring forests around the world are responsibly managed. For more information on FSC, visit our website at www.fsc.org.

To effectively meet the challenge of protecting the world’s forests, we are committed to ensuring we have the world’s most skilled people working with us. This commitment extends to everyone that works in FSC around the world: from those that lead the design of policies and standards, to those that roll out those same policies and standards on the ground, and to those that provide us with backbone to do our work.

We are looking for an engaged Officer Certification Performance and Relations who brings solid expertise and a passion for FSC’s mission, to work with us in a multinational environment.

The Scope

Third-party certification is a cornerstone of FSC’s assurance system. Today, FSC has licensing agreements in place with over 40 independent Certification Bodies (CBs) which audit conformance with FSC standards in the field of forest management and supply chain management for some 50’000 certificate holders in more than 100 countries.

FSC has recently set up the function of Certification Performance and Relations to manage the relationships with these Certification Bodies in a systematic and coordinated manner to further strengthen the performance, integrity and credibility of its overall assurance system.

About the role

The Officer will support activities of the PSU Certification Performance and Relations team by coordinating communications and relations to Certification Bodies (CBs) and contributing to internal alignment within FSC International related to CB matters. The position offers the opportunity to support the further development of a new area of work for FSC of high importance for its assurance system and credibility.

Main Roles and Responsibilities

• To support and structure the day-to-day operational interactions, beyond normative requirements, with Certification Bodies making sure that inquirers’ requests and concerns are addressed in a timely and efficient manner.
• To perform communication and outreach related activities like supporting annual meetings, news items and coordinate mailboxes and other communication channels to streamline crosscut communication within FSC International, Network Partners, Certification Bodies as well as Certificate Holders.
• To coordinate closely with all relevant units within FSC International,  to ensure internal alignment on CB matters and on projects and initiatives that involve CBs, ensuring a concerted and coordinated approach.
• To provide administrative support e.g. the development of contracts and agreements with CBs and external service providers or minuting meeting decision points.
• To document and share learnings from inquirers internally with an aim to finetune FSC approaches and standards ensuring overall system integrity improvement, including providing input to ongoing revision processes.
• To participate in FSC internal competence and accreditation programs.
• Any other task as assigned by formal supervisor and project work as assigned according to special organizational needs.

Qualification, Experience and Skills

• Education and Training:
  • A University degree or equivalent training or experience in a relevant field, for example, Forestry, Natural Resource Management, Business Administration, Relationship Management or similar.

• Working Experience, Style and Skills:
  • At least 2 years of professional experience in one or more of the following: project management (including support functions), certification, communication solutions, quality management systems.  
  • Outspoken time management skills; ability to perform well while handling simultaneously a number of functions.
  • Ability to establish and maintain effective communication with peers and external stakeholders.
  • Service and solution-oriented attitude to work and professional relationships.
  • Project management experience; proven ability to plan and organize work.
  • A very strong sense for diligence and accuracy.
  • Strong analytical and problem-solving skills.
  • Ability to facilitate interactive discussions.
  • Administrative skills.

• Computer Skills: Good skills in the use of/experience with:
  • Standard software packages (MS Office).
  • Tableau, PowerBI or similar software for data analysis and visualization.
  • Customer Relations Management systems.

• Language and Communication Skills:
  • Fluency in English, spoken and written.
  • Fluency in Spanish, spoken and written, is a plus.
  • Fluency in French, spoken and written, is a plus.
  • Exemplary verbal and written conduct and communication skills
  • Strong presentation skills.
  • Strong, assertive, at the same time friendly and professional attitude.

• Others:
  • Experience in working in a multi-cultural, multi-lingual, global team.
  • Commitment to FSC’s mission and values.
  • Demonstrated cultural awareness and sensitivity to the diversity of values, views and approaches to issues relevant to the FSC program by stakeholders around the world.
  • Familiarity at the general level with the scope of FSC’s certification program.
  • Ability to represent FSC through her / his work with exemplary personal and professional authority and conduct.

Terms and Conditions

• Location: Bonn, Germany.
• Working Hours: minimum 32 hours per week.
• Duration of Employment: Temporary contract - 2 years (extension possible, subject to satisfactory performance).
• Starting Date: As soon as possible.
• Travel: Sporadic travel is required.

How to Apply

• Please apply via our website by submitting your CV in English.
• Please do not send any photos of yourself.
• The deadline for applications is 02 October 2023.

We will confirm receipt of your application. However, only candidates shortlisted for an interview will be further contacted and will receive notice of the outcome of the selection process. Should you not receive a confirmation of receipt please check your spam filter and if you cannot find it there contact us at recruitment@fsc.org

For FSC, inclusiveness and diversity are important values. As such, we welcome and encourage applications from all backgrounds and are entirely committed to consider all qualified applicants regardless of race, gender, sexual orientation, religion, ethnicity, age and disability.  

Please be informed, that by applying for this position you automatically accept our Data Protection Information on processing your personal data.

We are looking forward to your application!