Producer Sustainability and Quality Manager

The primary mission of the Producer Sustainability and Quality Manager is to lead engagement with beverage producers to optimize packaging recyclability, material quality, and compliance with the national Deposit Return Scheme (DRS). You will oversee the producer team, driving strategic alignment, capacity planning, and performance management to support both operational mandates and national circular targets. On a day-to-day level, this involves managing technical evaluations of packaging formats entering the scheme, assessing substrates like PET and aluminium, and upholding Design for Recycling (DfR) criteria. You will establish strong quality assurance processes across collection and sorting to minimize contamination and ensure recovered materials can achieve premium, food-grade recycling status. Longer term, the role requires tracking and interpreting domestic and European regulatory shifts, particularly around Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) and the EU Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation (PPWR), positioning the organisation as a central advisory partner to the Irish beverage industry.

This position offers rare system-level exposure to national-scale circular economy operations and reverse logistics infrastructure. You will gain deep technical understanding of reverse vending machines (RVMs), modern material sorting facilities, and closed-loop bottle-to-bottle recycling ecosystems. Professionally, you will deepen your expertise in evolving European environmental policy, directly applying emerging mandates like PPWR and the Single-Use Plastics Directive to commercial packaging supply chains. Working at the crossroads of government policy and FMCG operations also improves skills in multi-stakeholder governance and commercial regulatory compliance. Additionally, the role provides strong opportunities to refine people leadership and strategic negotiation skills, as you steer a dedicated operational team while navigating complex interactions with multinational brand owners and trade bodies.

The ideal candidate combines a technical foundation in packaging, materials science, or environmental engineering with demonstrated experience in stakeholder engagement and team management. Prior experience within FMCG manufacturing, waste management, or producer responsibility schemes provides a decisive advantage. From a technical standpoint, familiarity with substrate characteristics (specifically rigid plastics, aluminium alloys, and labeling adhesives) alongside knowledge of Design for Recycling frameworks is essential. The role demands an analytical mindset capable of interpreting material quality metrics, sorting data, and compliance audits. Equally important are strong communication, diplomatic, and leadership abilities. You must be comfortable coaching team members, presenting complex technical concepts to non-technical business leaders, and balancing environmental integrity with operational and commercial practicalities.

Highlight your hands-on experience at the intersection of packaging design and end-of-life recovery. Emphasize any direct work with packaging specifications, recyclability assessments, or circular economy frameworks rather than high-level corporate sustainability initiatives. Tailor your application by demonstrating familiarity with Ireland's waste management environment and relevant European directives like PPWR and SUP. Showing an appreciation for the commercial friction producers face when transitioning packaging designs will set you apart. Prepare concrete examples of cross-functional influence where you successfully convinced suppliers or external partners to adapt product specifications or packaging lines to meet regulatory or environmental standards.

The sustainability focus of this role is squarely anchored in closed-loop circular economy principles, resource recovery, and material stewardship. Rather than general corporate ESG reporting, you will be dedicated to eliminating single-use packaging waste and preserving the purity of recyclable material streams. A key focus area is Design for Recycling (DfR) and eco-modulation, steering packaging decisions toward designs that flow seamlessly through optical sorters and reprocessing facilities. By reducing contamination in the returned stream, the role directly supports the supply of high-grade rPET and recycled aluminium. Additionally, the position tackles regulatory preparedness, guiding producers through recycled-content mandates and eco-design standards designed to reduce national carbon emissions from virgin material extraction.

One significant challenge will be managing divergent priorities between strict packaging recyclability requirements and producers' commercial, branding, or operational constraints. Navigating resistance from producers facing costly packaging redesigns requires tact, technical credibility, and persistent negotiation. Another obstacle is maintaining material quality control at massive national scale. With billions of containers processed, addressing contamination risks, non-compliant barcode formats, and evolving material blends demands constant oversight and agile troubleshooting across sorting partners. Finally, operating within a rapidly maturing, highly visible national scheme means managing public, media, and industry scrutiny, requiring adaptability and steady leadership in a fast-paced environment.

A typical day might start by reviewing packaging submission requests and testing data from beverage producers seeking registration within the DRS catalog. You could confer with your team on technical compliance, adhesive specifications, or barcode readability in reverse vending technology. Midday could involve meetings with external stakeholders, such as consulting with a global drinks manufacturer on PPWR compliance roadmaps, followed by discussions with sorting facility managers to assess recent material contamination metrics and purity yields. The afternoon might be dedicated to internal team management, running operational check-ins, tracking progress against scheme OKRs, and coordinating cross-functional projects with commercial and compliance colleagues.

Holding a key technical and management role within Ireland's national DRS positions you as a leading authority on packaging circularity and producer responsibility. This high visibility opens direct pathways into senior sustainability leadership roles across FMCG, retail, and environmental services. As European packaging regulations become increasingly stringent, your practical expertise in Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) execution will be in high demand internationally, offering opportunities for career moves into European industry bodies or multinational corporate affairs. Internally, as the scheme continues to expand and optimize its operations, opportunities to step into broader director-level operational or policy roles are likely to emerge.

Externally, your primary stakeholders include drinks producers and brand owners, packaging manufacturers, material recovery facilities (MRFs), reprocessors, and retail partners managing return points. You will also interface with industry associations and regulatory bodies. Internally, you will work closely with your direct reports across the producer team, providing guidance and coaching on daily operations. You will also collaborate with data analysts, compliance teams, and the executive leadership team to align packaging criteria with operational capabilities. These interactions require collaborative problem-solving, structured technical advisory, and clear communication to balance commercial compliance with scheme efficiency.