Social Sustainability Lead

The core mission is to build and run Tetra Pak's Social Sustainability Framework, anchored in human rights due diligence. In practice this means designing a due diligence process that fits real business areas, then deploying it across markets and the value chain rather than leaving it on a policy page. Expect to develop risk assessments, action plans and KPIs, and to connect the outcomes to the company's sustainability reporting with Finance and Communications. A large share of the job is enabling others. You would train the teams responsible for implementation, build awareness and ownership among functions that do not see human rights as their daily work, and support colleagues when issues are identified so that mitigation and remedy actually happen. A specific focus sits in the global south, where Sustainability Operations market teams work with informal waste collectors and carton recycling. Alongside that, the role involves research on suppliers, customers, contexts and other stakeholders' human rights processes, plus relationship building with external stakeholders such as civil society organisations. The long term objective is an integrated sustainability agenda where social performance is measured and improved, not treated as a separate compliance exercise.

You would learn how human rights due diligence is translated from the UN Guiding Principles into operating procedures inside a large manufacturing and packaging business. That covers risk assessment methodology, action planning and KPI design, plus the practical work of feeding social data into integrated sustainability reporting alongside Finance and Communications colleagues. The global south dimension is a rare learning opportunity. Working with market teams on informal waste collection and liquid packaging carton recycling means engaging with informal sector livelihoods and the human rights risks specific to waste and recycling chains, a topic few sustainability professionals get hands-on exposure to. There is also structured learning in influence and training: designing sessions for non-specialist teams, running multi-stakeholder engagement, and qualitative research on suppliers and customers. Being part of a newly established Circular Economy, Nature and Social Sustainability team likely means close proximity to the Director and visibility into how the wider sustainability agenda is set.

The baseline is a Master level degree and at least five years of work directly implementing the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights or on specific human rights issues, gained in a company, consultancy, trade association, civil society organisation, government or international institution. Subject matter credibility in business and human rights is the filter, not general sustainability experience. Beyond the topic, the role needs someone with a track record of driving change and hitting targets in a multi stakeholder environment. Tetra Pak asks for independent working, the ability to develop ideas, projects and tools from scratch, and strong relationship building across geographies and cultures. Desk and qualitative research skills matter, as does writing and presenting complex ideas in clear, persuasive English. Soft skills worth weighing: patience with slow institutional change, comfort with ambiguity in a newly formed team, and the judgement to support remedy conversations without escalating them. Experience with informal waste sectors or packaging value chains would be a plus, though the posting does not require it.

Lead with the due diligence work itself. In your CV and cover letter, name concrete processes you built or ran under the UN Guiding Principles, the sectors and geographies involved, and what changed as a result. A short account of one risk assessment that led to an action plan and a measurable outcome will say more than a list of frameworks you know. Tetra Pak frames this as protecting people within a promise to protect food, people and the planet. Show that you understand the tension between commercial operations in over 160 countries and human rights risk deep in the value chain. If you have worked with waste pickers, smallholders, migrant labour or other exposed groups, make that explicit, because the posting highlights informal waste collection and carton recycling. Prepare for interview questions on stakeholder influence: how you got a sceptical business unit to own a human rights process, and how you handled an issue that required remedy. The hiring contact is named in the posting, so a focused question about the newly established team shows genuine interest. Emphasise your English writing and training ability, since much of the role is enabling colleagues.

The focus is social sustainability, specifically human rights due diligence across operations and the value chain. That means assessing risks to people, not only environmental impacts, and building prevention and remedy into how Tetra Pak buys, produces and recycles. Reporting is part of it: social data would feed the integrated sustainability agenda together with Finance and Communications. A distinctive environmental and social intersection sits in packaging circularity. The role supports market teams in the global south working with informal waste collectors and recycling of liquid packaging cartons, where waste chain livelihoods and human rights risks meet circular economy goals. That links directly to the Circular Economy, Nature and Social Sustainability team the role sits in. Expect governance work too: KPIs, risk registers and training that make social performance auditable and comparable. Supplier and customer engagement is where much of this plays out, alongside relationships with civil society stakeholders who can challenge or support the company's approach.

Human rights due diligence is easy to write and hard to embed. The main challenge is likely getting business areas to own a process they may see as compliance overhead, especially in markets with commercial pressure and limited local capacity. A newly established team adds its own friction: mandates, tools and internal recognition are still being built. The value chain scope is enormous for a company operating in more than 160 countries. Risk assessment and action planning across suppliers, customers and informal waste sectors means prioritising with imperfect data, and qualitative research on distant contexts takes time. Following through on remedy can be uncomfortable, since it may surface issues the business would rather handle quietly. Finally, the role spans geographies and time zones, with travel and collaboration across functions that speak different languages, literally and organisationally. Progress will often be incremental, and the person needs to sustain momentum without immediate wins.

A typical day probably mixes internal coordination and focused analysis. You might review a market's draft risk assessment, refine action plans with Sustainability Operations colleagues, or prepare training material for a business area new to the due diligence process. Calls with teams in the global south on informal waste collection could land early or late depending on time zones. Research is a steady thread: reading up on a supplier, a customer's human rights approach or the context in a sourcing region before an engagement. Meetings with Corporate Sustainability colleagues, Finance and Communications on reporting inputs recur, and external stakeholder conversations with civil society organisations appear regularly. Variability comes from travel and from issues that surface. An identified human rights concern can shift the day toward mitigation and remedy support, while training weeks and reporting deadlines change the rhythm considerably.

This is a subject matter expert role in a central function, which usually gives visibility to senior leadership and to the full breadth of the value chain. Successfully deploying the human rights due diligence framework would be a strong, portable achievement in the business and human rights field, valuable in corporate, institutional and civil society careers. The role touches reporting, supplier engagement, market operations and circular economy work, so lateral moves into procurement, sustainability reporting or regional sustainability leadership look plausible. Being part of a newly established team also means the chance to shape the mandate and grow responsibilities as the framework matures. Development comes from external stakeholder work and from the training role itself: teaching human rights to business teams builds the advisory and influence skills that senior sustainability positions require. Tetra Pak states it offers development and training opportunities, though the specifics would need clarifying in interview.

Internally, the closest relationship is with the Director, Circular Economy, Nature and Social Sustainability, and with the wider Corporate Sustainability team. You would work regularly with Finance and Communications on reporting, with business areas and markets that run the due diligence process, and with Sustainability Operations market teams in the global south on waste collection and carton recycling. Externally, the role engages suppliers and customers whose human rights processes and impacts are being assessed, plus civil society organisations and possibly international institutions that can support the strategy. These relationships mix partnership with scrutiny, so credibility and clear communication matter as much as technical knowledge. There is also an enabling stakeholder group: the teams you train and support. Your influence there is through expertise and persuasion rather than authority, which shapes how much of the job is relationship management versus analysis.