Company description

Upcycled Food Association is a nonprofit focused on preventing food waste by accelerating the upcycled economy. With hundreds of Members across dozens of countries, UFA is changing the consumer product supply chain to eliminate food waste by design. Through consumer education and networking, UFA is empowering consumers to prevent food waste with the products they buy.

According to Project Drawdown, reducing food waste is the number one solution to global warming. Upcycling food prevents food waste by elevating otherwise wasted food into new, high quality products and ingredients (think of spent brewery grain to make flour, or juice pulp to make crackers). UFA was co-founded by mission-driven upcycled food companies seeking to systematically scale the upcycled industry. Within the first six months of existence, UFA partnered with Harvard Law School, World Wildlife Fund, Natural Resources Defense Council, and others, to officially define “upcycled food” for the first time. UFA continues to grow its Membership and developed the revolutionary Upcycled Certified™ product and ingredient certification which to date has certified close to 150 products and ingredients representing a projected 350,000 tons of food that annually would have otherwise gone to waste.

If UFA is successful, it will grow the upcycled industry to be the prominent sustainable food category globally. Our work is poised to increase the capacity of food upcyclers to prevent more than 9 billion pounds of food waste per year (equivalent to more than 26 billion pounds of CO2 emissions per year) by 2030. This means that our work will account for whole percentage points of major global environmental goals, such as the UN’s Sustainable Development Goal 12.3: to halve food waste by 2030.

Job description

The Head of Programs and Member Services is the leader of the Programs Department, which is made up of Relationship Managers who each focus on a different segment of the upcycled supply chain, providing value through three programs; therefore, the Head of Programs and Member Services is a role for a versatile leader of both people and programs.

The Head of Programs and Member Services will provide strategic direction for three programs: UFA Membership Program is a network of hundreds of businesses around the world with the goal of providing services that help Member businesses grow and succeed. The Investment Program helps bring more financial capital into the upcycled industry by connecting UFA Members to investors. The Upcycled Certified Program is the only product certification program for the upcycled industry.

Within these three programs, participants are segmented based on their place in the supply chain, and each have a point of contact, or Relationship Manager at UFA. The Head of Programs and Member Services will directly oversee four Relationship Managers, and is responsible for the entire Programs Department, which will grow from four to nine people over the course of the first two years.

The Head of Programs and Member Services will be a part of the UFA leadership team, and will help to coordinate between the Business Development, Marketing & Communications, and Administration departments.

Responsibilities

• Provide strategic direction for Membership, Investment, and Upcycled Certified Programs
• Manage a team of Relationship Managers, and provide personnel leadership to the entire Programs Department
• Collaborate with the Innovation Officer to implement long term strategies for each program, including international expansion of the Upcycled Certified program
• Coordinate with the Marketing & Communications Department to align program participants with the marketing and messaging strategies of UFA
• Cooperate with the Business Development team, which will work to grow the number of participants in each program
• Formalize an improved SOP for member onboarding, renewals, and engagement with a service oriented approach
• Work with program staff to create new programs to respond to member needs and interests
• Be in the know on food industry trends, policy advancements, supply chain issues and other topics that affect members and certified brands

Necessary Skills

• Passion about the mission of UFA
• Excellent writing and public speaking skills
• Six years of experience in program and/or personnel management
• Demonstration of leadership across multiple programs
• Ability to create an entrepreneurial environment, with a bias for action and improvement
• Demonstration of contributing to diversity, equity, and inclusion within a team or organization
• Ability to build consensus, communicate effectively to a diverse group of staff and businesses
• Ability to work with the CEO to develop programs that translate the vision of the Board of Directors into reality
• Capacity to build collaborations with strategic partners

Desired Skills and Experience

• Program and/or personnel evaluation
• Experience in sustainability, climate change, or food waste
• Experience in nonprofit, especially association, leadership
• Experience in CPG, food and beverage, or retail industry
• Experience in product certification or verification programs
• Experience in private equity, venture capital, or other investment field

This opportunity is

• For someone who gives feedback with humility, and receives it as a gift
• For someone interested in working to combat the climate crisis
• For someone excited by being a part of a rapidly growing global environmental movement
• One for which women, Black, Indigenous, People of Color, and LGBTQ+ are encouraged to apply
• One for which all ages are encouraged to apply
• One for which no identity variables whatsoever will be used to discriminate

Compensation and Benefits

• $100,000-$110,000 USD annually, overtime exempt
• Unlimited PTO
• Health insurance stipend
• 100% Remote work opportunity
• An energetic, open, positive, communicative, and supportive team
• Exposure to a large network of companies, from CPG startups to legacy food companies
• Ability to scale the single greatest solution to climate change while managing a brand that will reach millions of people

Compensation

this position is: salaried, more than $100,000

Location

job can be done remotely

Application instructions

Deadline

January 31, 2022