Company Profile
Proforest is a non-profit organisation with a global presence. Our head office is in the UK with regional offices in Malaysia, Ghana and Brazil. Proforest has established itself as a leader in the development and implementation of sustainable production and sourcing of natural resources, including timber and a range of agricultural commodities (eg. palm oil, soy, sugar etc), helping companies, governments, non-governmental and civil society organisations to achieve sustainable use of the world’s natural resources.
Proforest provides practical support to producers, processors, purchasers and investors to help them meet their sustainability commitments. We work at every stage of the supply chain, from production and processing, through to purchasing and investment. Our experience covers the management of forests, oil palm, soy, sugarcane, rubber, beef and cotton at a range of scales that includes smallholders, communities and forest-dependent people through to multinational businesses.
Proforest is made up of a non-profit (charitable) arm which focuses on long-term support for small producers and wider capacity building, particularly in developing countries and a consultancy arm which provides direct support and services to the private sector companies.
Proforest Programmes and Consultancy Services
Proforest’s programmes create the enabling environment and build the capacity required for the private sector, working with governments and civil society, to deliver agriculture and forest commodities sustainably at scale. Proforest has provided consultancy services to help companies meet their environmental and social commitments – from zero deforestation to protecting workers’ rights – for over 18 years. But large-scale impact can only be achieved if localised efforts to improve agricultural and forestry practices are supported by wider changes needed to make sustainable practices the norm.
Our programmes support this broader transformational change. We build the enabling environment and address key barriers to better practices among the private sector, governments and civil society. We foster awareness of the issues, build capacity and promote local leadership of sustainability initiatives.
Our consultancy services provide practical support to producers, processors, purchasers and investors to help them work in environmentally and socially responsible ways. As demand for sustainably sourced commodities increases, producers, processors, purchasers and investors in natural resources all need to demonstrate that they are meeting commitments to environmental and social responsibility. This is a complex task in a challenging commercial environment. We work at every stage of the supply chain, from production and processing, through to purchasing and investment.
Job Description
Data at Proforest
Proforest is increasingly working with data across the organisation on a global scale. Having supported the development of the Universal Palm Oil Mill List, we are increasingly working across larger data sets, across commodities, collecting, cleaning, managing and analysing data from multiple sources.
We collect or amalgamate data for our clients to report back on supply chain risks, gaps and levels of traceability. A growing number of companies are committing to report publicly on their commodity supply chains, and what they are doing to decouple the production and sourcing of commodities from environmental harm and human rights abuses. We support companies on setting KPIs, establishing the data and metrics required to report back on individual commitments and global goals. In our grant-funded work we collect qualitative and quantitative data to demonstrate impact within long-term programmes.
Working with our global teams, the Head of Data will be a strategic lead: supporting our technical work, bringing best practice and innovation to our data and visualisation, and focusing on what we need to do to deliver for clients and other key stakeholders.
Responsibilities
Data and Analytics vision and strategy
Strategic role to enable project staff to deliver efficiently and effectively
Alignment of all data across Proforest, internal and external, to ensure the right investment in new technologies or skills
Manage the demands for new data services, including third party platforms and in-house development work with regions, project teams & programmes to understand data requirements
Agree standardised data structures that fulfil client and programme team needs
Client consultancy
Liaise with data leads in each region to agree project outputs with teams and clientsaround data collection, security, analyses and visualisation
Translate an understanding of current and future clients needs for data management and visualisation into requirements and implementation
Engage with client leads to ensure efficient delivery of data outputs and look for opportunities to create synergies with client data systems (and future plans around data)
Tech Stack
Support the database migration from Heroku to Azure
Manage development of data services or applications that can be developed on Azure
Liaise with global IT to ensure alignment on governance and development on data collection, storage and security
Own analytics and visualisation tools – e.g. Power BI, ArcGIS and Smartsheet
Team development and capacity building
Oversee the data and visualisation global community of practice, a knowledge sharing group for anyone working with data that comes together monthly
Line manage the database administrator
Identify and support training requirements, including upskilling new staff to a base level in Excel and Power BI
Support collaboration across regions, clients and programme teams
Benefits
Full-time role, based in one of our regional offices (Oxford, UK; Amsterdam, NL; Accra, Ghana; Brasilia, Brazil; Cali, Colombia; Kuala Lumpur, Malysia).
$50,000 – $75,000 depending on location and experience
Required Skills or Experience
These are the key elements you will need to demonstrate to be successful in this role:
Experience of data within responsible sourcing and production environment, including risk assessments, traceability data and sustainability reporting.
Hands-on understanding and ability to work with data, alongside the ability to take a strategic lead to future-proof our data strategy and services, work with global leadership team to guage needs across the organisation and provide consultancy input to project or programme work.
Successful track record of managing multiple data sets, establishing best practice (for people, platforms and processes) in the collection, cleaning, security, management and analysis of data.
Ability to lead change, including new technology platforms or applications, working with our IT and Technical Operations teams, as well as collaboration with non-technical data users
Fluency in English is important to work across all of our operating regions, while Indonesian Bahasa, Portuguese or Spanish, would be beneficial.
Skills and Experience
Strategic understanding of building a data practice in a global (distributed) organization.
Data governance, including client confidentiality and security, to ensure and promote a strong data culture.
Data analysis and modelling, to be able to turn client briefs into documented data requirements to provide the insights and intelligence needed, using common visualization and analyses tools.
Database management experience, ideally SQL (Heroku) and Azure, to manage a database migration and develop requirements for database development.
Strong Smartsheet, Excel, and Power BI skills. Some knowledge of programming language is advantageous (preferably Python).
Decentralized team coordination and networking (as this position will lead by example and will work with other Group colleagues).
How To Apply
Please send a cover letter outlining any relevant experience and why you would be a good fit for the role at Proforest, with your CV to africa@proforest.net
Application Deadline: 16th January 2022
Early application encouraged.
We may close applications early if suitable candidates are identified during initial screening calls
Note
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Application email or URL: africa@proforest.net