Chief People Officer (m-f-d)

The Mission

FSC works to take care of our planet’s 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 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 back-bone to do our work.

About the position

We are seeking an engaged Chief People Officer (CPO) who brings solid expertise and a passion for FSC’s mission, to cocreate and ensure a diverse and successful work environment. The CPO will lead our human resources’ function and drive the development of our people strategy. The successful candidate will possess strong leadership skills, have a long-term vision and a proven track record of developing and implementing successful HR initiatives, including those for an international team.

With a focus on building and maintaining a people-oriented and high-performing environment through people leadership, staff development, and HR operations, we want our organization to reach a next level with regards to collaboration, upskilling, and inclusion. Together with an experienced and inspirational CPO, our leadership seeks to ensure that our people have what they need to succeed in their jobs and to foster both their belonging to our organization and commitment to our organization’s mission.

Main Roles and Responsibilities

• Ensure that FSC recruits the right and the best talent through an effective recruiting strategy.
• Lead employee communication efforts as an efficient way to increase engagement within the organization and accelerate FSC on its global path towards inclusion and belonging.
• Foster and drive individual career development and upskilling through extensive internal talent scouting and development and the redesign and enhancement of the current learning and development programs, incl. senior leadership training.
• Support staff members and leadership of all units in acting as a trusted counsellor to team structure changes or individual career path changes.
• Redesign, oversee and in specific cases develop new key HR processes such as Workplace Management, Performance Management Process, Compensation Strategy, Retention Strategy and Succession Planning Process.
• Design our long-term hybrid work model, ensure compliance with employment law and act as direct link to the Joint Works Council that operates under German Law within the organization.
• Bring all functions (~10 staff members, including 2 team leads) within HR together into one cohesive unit that supports our mission.
• Manage the annual budget for HR and set HR-related policies that align with the vision of FSC.

Qualification, Experience and Skills

Education and Training:

• Degree in Human Resources, organizational psychology, business management, economics and similar.

Working Experience, Style, and Skills:

• At least 10 years of experience in Human Resources, 5 years in a leadership role within that department.
• At least 3 years of experience in both working in and fostering a diverse, multi-cultural, international environment.
• Ability and intercultural skills to build trusting relationships with all stakeholders in the organization with empathy.
• Strong verbal and written communication skills that are effective, yet sensitive to our cultural diversity within the organization.
• Readiness to take contested positions, aptitude to hold difficult conversations, and strong ability to deal with conflict.
• Clear understanding and experience in current working model trends including but not limited to hybrid work models.
• Problem-solving and unbiased approach to achieve mutually beneficial resolutions.
• Understanding of German labor law regulations and Works Constitution Act are a plus.
• Consulting and/or NGO experience is a plus.

Leadership:

• Proven track record in leadership and direct supervision of teams.
• Effective cross-collaborator who liaises across the organization to ensure consistent messaging and consolidated analysis of relevant matters.
• Lead-by-example approach to the own team and other stakeholders in the organization.

Languages:

• Fluency in English (spoken and written).
• Fluency in German (spoken and written) preferred.
• Spanish and/or French is a plus.

Others:

• Commitment to FSC’s mission and values.
• Ability to represent FSC through his/her work with exemplary personal and professional authority and conduct.

Terms and Conditions

• Location: Bonn, Germany.
• Working Hours: Full time - 40 hours per week.
• Duration of Employment: Temporary contract - 2 years (extension possible).
• 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 10 April 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.

If you have specific questions about this role that were not answered in this job advertisement, you can reach Ms. Rebecca Giesecke at 0228 367 66-58 (please leave a message when to best reach you if we are unable to take your call directly).

We are looking forward to your application!