Consultant, Supplier Engagement

Role title

Consultant, Supplier Engagement (Contract role) Can be located in Colombia, Mexico or Central America

Grade

TBD

Reports to (title)

Regional Director, Advisory

Version date

October 2024

Business Background

Who are LRQA?

LRQA stands for dedication to clients, market firsts, and deep expertise in risk management. We’ve grown to become a leading global assurance provider, bringing together outstanding expertise in certification, customized assurance, cybersecurity, inspection and training.

While we’re proud of our heritage, it’s who we are today that really matters, because that’s what shapes who we and our clients can become tomorrow. By staying true to our shared values and combining decades of collective experience, we support our clients in building a safer and more sustainable future.

What do we do?

We help our clients negotiate a rapidly changing world, by working with them to manage and mitigate the risks they face. We serve a wide variety of industries, with a core focus on Food & Beverage, Consumer Goods, Transportation & Mobility, Technology & Telco, Construction & Manufacturing, Energy and Renewables and Chemical & Processing.

Our products and services range from independent third-party auditing to certification and training; we also offer consultancy services, real-time assurance technology and data-driven supply chain transformation programs. Our innovative end-to-end solutions help our clients shape their own future, rather than letting it shape them.

LRQA currently operates across 51 countries, has more than 2,500 colleagues, generates around £350m in revenue, and supports more than 60,000 clients across a diverse range of sectors and markets.

The next chapter for LRQA

As the preferred assurance partner for our clients, we are relentless in helping them respond to the era of Assurance 4.0.

Our decades of sector expertise in assuring assets and management systems, ensuring product integrity, responsible sourcing, navigating the energy transition and achieving net zero, and strengthening cybersecurity maturity will help them to anticipate, mitigate and manage risk wherever they operate, freeing them to focus on growth.

With solid expertise and heritage in our sector, coupled with well-timed accelerated investment and a leadership team that is fully committed to delivering our vision, LRQA’s next chapter is set to be an exciting, transformational period of growth. We’re well placed to build on everything we’ve done and further our ambitions for the future. At such an exciting time key talent is critical, and this role is a great opportunity to be part of our next chapter.

Role purpose:

As a Supplier Engagement Consultant, you will sit on the Regional Advisory Team and be responsible for driving the supplier engagement and capacity building practice in the region, focusing on supporting clients to drive continuous improvement of their supply chain, strengthening supplier management systems and improving social compliance and worker wellbeing. The Supplier Engagement practice is a key component of our responsible sourcing and supply due diligence ecosystem portfolio of services.

Key Responsibilities:

• You will be responsible for leading projects with factories, farms, vendors and clients on social compliance and labour and human rights issues. This includes reviewing suppliers’ compliance performance, evaluating internal management systems, and providing practical recommendations and training for improvement aligned with local laws and best practices.
• You will be accountable for timely and high-quality service delivery, project staffing, efficient workplans and client management, taking corrective action as needed.
• You will have an annual sales target, leading commercial meetings and contributing to proposal writing and budgeting.
• You will be responsible for creating and delivering the plans to achieve and exceed the targets set, in line with your team and business priorities.
• You will maintain a strong technical knowledge of the market you operate in, ensuring you train and coach new and current staff and offer strategic advice to our Clients.
• You’ll use your technical knowledge and experience to contribute to product development and innovation, and to strategic discussions around LRQA business plans and growth objectives.
• You will be responsible for keeping up to date sales and pipeline systems, providing performance summaries and updates on specific project actions.
• Be an ambassador for One LRQA, working with colleagues from other functions and disciplines, to remove barriers to success.
• Play an active role on the regional Advisory Team, working with colleagues to ensure all business objectives are met.
• Pursue Continuous Professional Development and maintain a high degree of discipline, industry knowledge.

Key health & safety responsibilities:

Eliminate or minimize employee exposure to risks by regularly reviewing the health and safety risk register, applying appropriate controls, communicating results of risk assessments, and ensuring health and safety is considered in the planning and execution of all LRQA activities.

Manage your own, and your team’s, compliance with health and safety rules, instructions, systems and legal requirements to ensure employees are suitably trained and adequate resources are available to work safely.

Technical / Professional Qualifications / Requirements:

• Educated to degree level in an appropriate subject relevant to the business.
• Has a proven track record of 5+ years of work experience in sustainability and supply chain, ethical sourcing and supplier due diligence.
• Has proven experience working with factories, farms, vendors and clients on social compliance issues.
• Has a strong knowledge of social and human rights due diligence regulations and frameworks.
• Has experience working with suppliers to address human rights issues.
• Is exceptionally well organised, a ruthless prioritiser with high attention to detail.
• Ability to communicate fluently in English; fluency in Spanish is a plus.
• Able to travel frequently, to regional office and supplier, vendor, and client locations.
• Experienced in preparing and delivering proposal presentations.
• Demonstrable experience in working proactively and collaboratively across diverse and multicultural teams.
• Knowledge of standard IT programmes, including Office 365 and other data analytics tools.
• Sector specific experience in one of our core sectors, including consumer goods, textile and apparel, electronics.

Our Values:

Expertise

We value our experience, specialist knowledge, and pioneering history within the industry. But we also never stop looking for ways to learn and improve in the future.

Integrity

We always do what’s right, in the right way and continually measure our actions and their outcomes against rigorous criteria.

Ambition

We are industry leaders because we combine technology and innovation with the expertise of our people.

Vision

We support our clients in the present and prepare them for future success.

Togetherness

We respect the unique skills, expertise and backgrounds of our people and the inclusive culture they create.

At LRQA we focus on developing an enabling environment. One in which our people can flourish and succeed, by delivering insightful and innovative solutions to our clients while remaining knowledgeable and good partners. Our workforce is made up of many individuals with unique skills, values, backgrounds and experiences. As an Equal Opportunity Employer, we value diversity in our workforce and foster an environment that promotes inclusion.