Environmental Sustainability Analyst — San Francisco, CA
Organization: Sustainable Apparel Coalition
Job Title: Environmental Sustainability Analyst
Location: San Francisco, CA
Hours and Compensation: The SAC’s Members are global organizations, and as such, SAC staff has shifted hours on certain days of the week to accommodate different time zones. This typically requires the staff to be available in the early mornings, starting at 7am. Commensurate with experience. The SAC offers a competitive benefits package, including health (medical, dental, vision), paid time off, and a matched retirement plan.
Application Deadline: October 26, 2012
Position Dates: start by November 15, 2012
Posted On: Oct. 23, 2012
Organization Overview
The Sustainable Apparel Coalition (SAC) was founded by a group of sustainability leaders from the global apparel and footwear industry who recognize that addressing our industry’s current social and environmental challenges are both a business imperative and an opportunity.
Through multi-stakeholder engagement, the SAC seeks to lead the industry toward a shared vision of sustainability built upon a common approach for measuring and evaluating apparel and footwear product sustainability performance (the Higg Index) that will spotlight priorities for action and opportunities for technological innovation.
The objective of the Higg Index is to measure the full lifecycle environmental and social performance of all apparel and footwear products, and support supply chain decision-making and behavior change improvements in those performance areas. Ultimately, the Index must drive business value throughout the supply chain by presenting opportunities for innovation, and by catalyzing sustainability education and collaboration.
Learn more about the SAC and the Higg Index at http://www.apparelcoalition.org/
Description
The SAC is seeking a technical Environmental Sustainability Analyst to support in continued improvement of the Higg Index, in particular the Materials Sustainability Index (MSI) and the life cycle assessment (LCA) based metrics that will be integrated into future versions of the Higg Index.
The position is entrepreneurial and the Environmental Sustainability Analyst will have the opportunity to provide measurable impact in supporting SAC’s continued effort in improving the Higg Index 1.0’s groundbreaking work.
The successful candidate should have a BS in Environmental Science or Engineering, Materials Science, Chemical Engineering, or a related technical degree, and up to 5 years work experience in environmental sustainability and LCA. The candidate must have strong math skills and the ability to apply systems thinking. Experience in product environmental analysis, LCA and LCA data management and environmental sustainability software tools are required.
The successful candidate will work under the direction of the Environmental Sustainability Manager, though with a great deal of autonomy. As such, the candidate will have a high degree of maturity, personal integrity and be extremely self-motivated. The candidate must have good verbal and written communication skills, including the ability to present complex information so that it is understandable to a non-technical audience.
SAC’s accomplishments are greatly rooted in the staff’s ability to collaborate internally and with SAC members, subject matter experts and external stakeholders. This position is highly collaborative and the successful candidate should have an exceptional ability to listen and foster collaborative innovation with stakeholders with diverse interests.
Responsibilities
Materials Sustainability Index (MSI) (average 50% of time, higher initially):
- Support the development of the MSI governance process, which involves creation of an LCA data review protocol, data submission form, and an assessment of bias methodology.
- Support the requirements definition, testing and release of the Federated Wiki, the MSI data platform, to SAC and its members.
- Support MSI review cycles and management of standardized datasets, which require data submission, review, approval and update into the Federated Wiki.
- Manage the MSI Federated Wiki community: answer (or find answers to) questions; respond and elevate comments to appropriate parties for answering; account setup and support; manage multiple users contributing at the same time; content assistance and data import/export support.
- Work closely with the Environmental Sustainability Manager to assist the Materials Working Group in carrying out work plans, including technical research and recommendations, and assisting in Working Group teleconferences (agendas, notes, follow-ups).
Metrics (30%):
- Support planning and conducting a pilot that will test SAC’s new product category rules and environmental product declarations.
- Review, assess and benchmark LCA and data collection software tools to support the pilot.
- Conduct technical research to support the development of a framework and scoring system that integrate LCA-based metrics into the Higg Index.
- Work closely with the Environmental Sustainability Manager to assist the Metrics Working Group in carrying out work plans, including assisting in Working Group teleconferences (agendas, notes, follow-ups).
Higg Index Evolution (average 10% of time, lower initially)
- Support on-going work to improve the Higg Index and its framework for measuring the environmental and social/labor impacts of products, supply chains, and organizations. Specific enhancement projects include: supporting a consensus-driven process to standardize Higg Index section weightings, development of Higg Index equivalencies of various certifications, and others to be defined and prioritized.
Systems (average 10% of time, lower initially)
- Work closely with the Environmental Sustainability Manager to assist the Systems Working Group in selecting technology and partners to develop and implement SAC’s web-based Higg Index tools and data platform.
Qualifications
- Bachelors degree, preferably advanced degree in Environmental Science or Engineering, Materials Science, Chemical Engineering, or a related technical degree
- Strong math skills and ability to apply systems thinking
- Minimum 1-2 years work experience in environmental sustainability, LCA and LCA software tools. Software/database design experience is a plus
- Strong working knowledge and hands-on experience with LCA methodologies, ISO 140ff standards and conducting detailed and screening LCAs
- Solid knowledge of methods, perspectives and applications of LCA, including Product Category Rules and Environmental Product Declarations
- Preferred but not required: experience in the textile, apparel, or footwear industries and/or a focus on materials environmental assessment
- General knowledge of the fields of sustainable product design, industrial ecology, chemical and industrial processes, human health effects and environmental sciences
- Familiar with environmental and sustainability policy and regulatory standards and guidelines
- Ability to translate technical analysis into business insights and recommendations, and to work with diverse teams and individuals
- Unwavering commitment to having a positive impact on the world; passion, integrity and positive attitude
- Strong verbal, written, analytical and interpersonal skills
- Ability to listen, enroll others, and foster collaborative innovation with diverse stakeholders
- Able to work hands-on with minimal supervision and take a problem/task from “dirty data” to required final deliverables
- Strong research and organization skills
- Ability to organize and prioritize work to meet deadlines
- Strong multi-tasking abilities and time management
- Ability to use sound judgment to make independent decisions on issues
- Ability to complete projects while being flexible with changing priorities
- Must be detail-oriented
How to Apply
To apply, please submit a resume and cover letter to http://sac.theresumator.com/apply/B1XBx4/Environmental-Sustainability-Analyst.html
Applications are due by Friday October 26, 2012 though applicants are encouraged to apply early as phone interviews will begin immediately on an on-going basis. In person interviews will take place in San Francisco the week of November 5, 2012.s
