Manager, Membership & Supply Chain, LATAM & Portugal

Starting Date: ASAP

Contract type: Full-time and open-ended

Salary: 288,244 BRL, commensurate with relevant experience and skills

Location: Brasilia or São Paulo, Brazil

Application closing date: 02.04.2025

About The Job

As Better Cotton works to achieve its 2030 vision and drive change for farmers, Better Cotton is tracing and certifying Better Cotton sourcing, a new and exciting opportunity for its existing and prospective members around the world. By introducing traceability and certification, we will continue to generate demand for Better Cotton, supporting our core markets of apparel and textiles globally while contributing to systemic change towards social, environmental and economic sustainability in cotton production worldwide.

Better Cotton works across all farm sizes and geographies. It is crucial that Better Cotton producers, and the cotton they produce, can continue to access international markets in the face of changing regulatory and business expectations. This new phase of the Better Cotton’s work represents an opportunity to enhance transparency on impact while ultimately meeting our vision to drive change on the ground.

The LATAM & Portugal Team continues to grow in scope and size. We are setting the stage for full traceability and certification of Better Cotton in 2026. This is great time to join us and accomplish something truly transformational.

We are looking for an experienced manager able to drive and closely oversee the implementation of our new chain of custody and traceability system in Brazil, the wider Latin American region, and Portugal. The ideal candidate has managed operations regionally and/or built start-up operations or is an experienced professional in cross-border supply chain development. The candidate should have strong team development and management skills, coupled with a proven expertise in change management. A commercial mindset and a genuine interest in sustainability are essential. The candidate should also have an engaging personality and be capable of representing Better Cotton with confidence and authority amongst stakeholders. We are looking for fluency in Portuguese, Spanish and English.

The Role

Reporting to: Director, Supply Chain Operations, Demand and Engagement Team

Posts this role manages: 2-4 staff based remotely in Brazil (São Paulo region and Brasilia)

Membership and Account Management

• Lead the LATAM/Portugal Team in customer relationship management including the use of Salesforce, contributing to the Organisation’s member satisfaction and retention KPIs

Business Development

• Work in collaboration with the Member Engagement Team to ensure the organisation's member recruitment strategy is implemented for the region.
• Represent Better Cotton at key industry events.
• Manage the delivery of Better Cotton’s outreach, member and supply chain engagement events in the region.
• Work collaboratively with the Programme Team as part of the engagement and consolidation of the New Country Start Up Process in countries in the region to increase demand for Better Cotton

Relationship Management

• Cultivate and manage relationships with senior-level representatives from key supply chain stakeholders, retailers, and brands across Brazil, Latin America, and Portugal.
• Foster partnerships by establishing partnerships or agreements (e.g., MOUs) with national textile associations in each country where Better Cotton is expanding its presence.
• Maintain a strong, collaborative, and transparent relationship with ABRAPA, our strategic partner in Brazil, to ensure alignment and mutual success.

Oversee supplier onboarding for traceability and certification

• Manage the onboarding and roll-out process for suppliers seeking to source physical Better Cotton, ensuring a smooth and efficient experience.
• In partnership with the Global Training and Change Management Manager, ensure training is translated into local language, tailored to each country’s context and delivered effectively by the team.
• Identify and report operating challenges, providing actionable recommendations to the global team to mitigate risks and improve the overall solution.
• Champion our Traceability Roadmap
• Execute our Traceability Roadmap in Brazil
• Oversee the movement of traceable, certified Better Cotton, proactively addressing bottlenecks and ensuring smooth flow into international supply chains.

Supply chain engagement (cotton supply chain)

• Oversee the mapping of in-country Better Cotton supply chains to identify suitable supply chain actors for targeted engagement during the rollout process for traceability.
• Understand the needs of Better Cotton supply chain stakeholders, from farm to retail, and assess the impact of introducing traceability and certification on their operations.

Ensure the continued improvement of regional operations and Better Cotton Chain of Custody

• Leverage supplier feedback to generate insights and provide recommendations that inform and refine our Chain of Custody implementation.
• Lead any in-country pilots to test new functionalities of our systems in different contexts, contributing to help shape future developments.

Recruitment and line management

• Lead on recruitment for staff as agreed annually in the budgeting and planning cycle.
• Develop, mentor and manage staff to ensure the professional development of our staff.
• Motivate staff to execute growth plans across LATAM and Portugal.

Other Responsibilities

• Establish and manage the regional budget.
• Where relevant, support the development of fundraising proposals.

In addition to these responsibilities, Membership & Supply Chain Manager, LATAM and Portugal will carry out other assignments as agreed with the Director of Supply Chain Operations.

Profile

The selected candidate will have the following skills, knowledge, and experience:

Essential

• University degree, or equivalent higher education qualification, in a relevant field with an interest in sustainability
• Demonstrable experience managing global operations and/or building start-up operations, or is an experienced professional in international development
• A commercial mindset and a keen interest in sustainability with key account management experience
• An authoritative representative for Better Cotton in the region
• Proven experience leading and managing operations at scale
• Strong stakeholder engagement and influencing skills and the ability to communicate with stakeholders from diverse cultures and backgrounds
• Experience managing teams and matrixed staff
• Knowledge of textile or commodity supply chains
• Good written and verbal communication skills with the ability to communicate persuasively and exert influence, while being service minded
• A self-starter that is comfortable managing uncertainty
• Fully proficient (written and verbal) in Portuguese, English, and Spanish

Desirable

• Knowledge of traceability and associated technologies
• Empathetic and collaborative approach to teamwork and problem-solving

Working arrangements

The position is full-time (40 hours per week), offers flexible working arrangements, and will be based remotely. The role will be hired through an employer of record acting on behalf of Better Cotton. The role requires occasional travel (up to 25%), including trips to Europe up to twice per year, mainly to London and Geneva (where global leadership sits), with potential travel to other regions worldwide as needed.

Apply now

Interested applicants with the required attributes are asked to send, in English, a detailed CV (2 pages maximum) and a brief cover letter (2 pages maximum) to Better Cotton by 02.04.2025 by applying via this link.

About Better Cotton

Better Cotton is a global not-for-profit organisation supporting the production of more equitable and sustainable cotton at farm level. We exist to catalyse the cotton farming community with partners, governments and others to continuously drive positive impact by setting standards and facilitating the supply and demand of more sustainable cotton from farm to brand. In just 15 years we have aligned more than a fifth of the world’s cotton with our standard and helped farmers and farming communities thrive. Join us in building a better, more sustainable future for cotton worldwide.

About Our Values

The post holder will be expected to operate in line with our workplace values which are:

• Trustworthy (including honest, transparent, credible)
• As having Integrity (including responsible, authentic)
• Positive (including problem-solving, pragmatic)
• Engaging (including adaptable, inclusive, holistic)
• Daring (including courageous, innovative, game-changing)

Being you @ Better Cotton

Better Cotton is committed to creating a diverse environment and is proud to be an equal opportunity employer with a strong commitment to good practice and transparency in the management of natural, human, and financial resources.

We have a zero-tolerance approach to any attitudes or behaviours that put children or adults at risk of harm. Safeguarding incidents are acts of serious misconduct and are grounds for disciplinary action, up to and including, dismissal and referral to relevant authorities for criminal prosecution. Therefore, all offers of employment are subject to satisfactory references and appropriate screening checks.