Job Purpose and Mission

Starbucks wants to become the sustainability leader within the Coffee Shop Industry. This new and critical role contributes to Starbucks’ success by ensuring proactive compliance with ESG (environmental, social, governance) legislation across the various legal entities within the EMEA region. By shepherding the business and its strategic partners through a rapidly evolving and often complex legal landscape, this role will in turn part lead and contribute to the achievement of our global sustainability goals to halve our carbon, water, and waste footprints by 2030.

Reporting to the Director within Supply Chain, this role will be accountable for leading and managing a new team focusing on a number of identified workstreams across Starbucks EMEA, its suppliers and Licensees. This role will be tasked with leading the co-ordination of existing reporting, identifying gaps in reporting, ethical standards as well as product/supply compliance to new regulations, leading the creation of action plans towards compliance of Starbucks EMEA and building business cases for additional resources and managing such additional resources (internal and external). The role will ensure an overview of the full supply chain compliance status and will sit alongside regional counterparts in Finance, Supply Chain, Legal, Technology and our Seattle support centre teams to create, validate, and implement an ESG strategy and roadmap for compliance across the workstreams in EMEA.

In addition to playing a leading role in a newly formed ESG matrix team and coordinating associated workstreams, this role will specifically exercise accountability for leading the successful execution of supply chain audits on regulated chemicals (including PFAS) and hazardous substances, as well as forced labour due diligence. It will share responsibility with other functions for guiding the organisational response to forest-risk commodities, the auditing of green claims, and compliance with waste and plastics legislation in conjunction with the sustainable packaging team, leading the SCO response to each. The role will also be key to the effective, timely, and compliant reporting of non-financial metrics.

This role will operate across the full breadth and depth of sustainability strategy in EMEA, it will be informed by and work especially closely with the legal team given its focus on legislation and compliance and the technology team to build systems for reporting. It will work closely with the (and under the guidance of ) the Director of sustainability and social impact which will  bring to fruition key ESG workstreams and it is imperative to the successful delivery of our 2030 global targets.

Summary of Key Responsibilities    
Responsibilities and essential job functions include but are not limited to the following:    

1. Lead and effectively manage ESG workstreams and implementation of initiatives to develop ESG capabilities and maintain Starbucks’s leadership position in line with senior leadership and external stakeholder expectations.
2. Work closely with and build a network of cross-functional ESG leaders, to implement a supporting governance structure, pulling in dedicated program support from EMEA finance, tech, supply chain, legal and other departments as and where necessary. Communicate workstream status and progress to Board whilst flagging and addressing risk.
3. Define the overarching ESG strategy and roadmap for regulatory compliance in EMEA, mapping out near-term legislative imperatives and long-term action required to deliver on Starbucks’s commitment to halve its global waste, water, and carbon footprint by 2030. Engage and lead regional business units, licensees, and partners in pursuit of this shared objective.
4. Set and agree KPI’s and targets, monitor progress, and lead the SCO sustainability working group(s) whilst engaging with the ESG Executive SteerCo in Seattle, as well as Asia Pacific ESG Subcommittee. Diligently represent the EMEA region and advocate effectively and commercially for the interests of its senior leadership team, licensees, suppliers, and partners. 
5. Work in tandem with legal team and external partners to monitor ESG regulations and ensure compliance across regional business units. Provide leadership, guidance, and support the building of reporting documentation, systems and standards.
6. Lead the supply chain function in verifying and auditing the extent of regulated chemicals and substances in Starbucks products, ensuring proactive compliance with legislation as it evolves. Lead the supply chain team to ensure effective and ongoing due diligence of supplier risk from forced labour, child labour, and human trafficking.
7. Lead global and regional supply chain team in efforts to audit and verify exposure to forest-risk commodities, putting in place remedial action where required. Work with sustainable packaging teams to ensure compliance in waste and plastics workstream, identifying single-use plastics, implementing circular systems, and modifying designs where required. 
8. Leverage and effectively manage a global support network of professional service providers, including contract workers, consultants, law firms, and agencies, to effectively support and discharge cross-functional areas of responsibility and accountability. Ensure SOWs comprehensively drafted and roles and responsibilities aligned at regional and global level.
9. Support the store development team to audit the energy efficiency of Starbucks’s facilities, ensuring energy performance of new projects and compliance with regulations on green buildings. Ensure effective environmental permitting of Starbucks roasting plants in the US, Milan and Amsterdam, monitoring reporting requirements.

Knowledge, Skills, and Experience

• Minimum 5 years directly relevant experience in senior project or program management in matrixed cross-functional teams, with relevant experience in corporate sustainability, environmental policy, or related field, with demonstrable commercial successes and output delivery.
• Extensive knowledge of ESG principles, frameworks, standards, and trends, with good knowledge of ESG regulations and legislation across multiple jurisdictions (CSRD, CSDDD, CSDR, UK SDR, UN SDGs, TCFD, ISSB, etc.).
• Demonstrable experience in influencing key stakeholders (internal and external) on ESG strategy
• Extensive knowledge of external consultants capabilities in the ESG field enabling decisions between in and outsource of work
• Bachelor's degree in Sustainability / Environmental Science / Business Management with ESG modules (post-graduate qualifications preferred).
• Strong written and oral communication and presentation skills to articulate complex concepts and issues in a compelling, persuasive, fact-based manner; must at once be able to inform, influence, engage, and inspire.
• Passion and desire to make sustainability and social impact integral to how Starbucks does business.
• Experience managing in-person & virtual, cross-functional project teams to achieve high-stakes delivery goals.
• Proactive risk identification, problem solving and analytical skills; familiarity with the fundamentals of brand building.
• Ability to manage multiple priorities and respond resourcefully to new demands and challenges within a rapidly changing, ambiguous business landscape.

This job description is only a summary of the typical functions of the role and is not an exhaustive or comprehensive list of all possible responsibilities, tasks, and duties that may be required. Management reserves the right to amend the responsibilities, tasks, and duties of the jobholder as dictated by business requirements.