Position title: Palm Oil Technical Manager
Reports to: Senior Engagement Manager, Palm Oil
Location: Singapore
About World Wide Fund for Nature, Singapore (WWF)
WWF-Singapore is a Singapore-registered charity, a network member of WWF International – one of the
world’s largest and most respected independent conservation organisations. WWF-Singapore protects critical resources for people in Singapore by driving change across government, business, civil society and local communities. To meet key conservation goals, we address issues such as deforestation, haze pollution, seafood sustainability and illegal wildlife trade in Singapore and around the region. We deliver transformational corporate partnerships, fundraising to execute local and global conservation programmes and projects and community outreach to achieve WWF’s global goals for food, forests, oceans, water, wildlife, and climate and energy. As one of WWF’s global hubs, WWF-Singapore supports a global network that spans over 100 countries.
WWF’s vision is a future where all palm oil is produced without causing deforestation, peatland and
environmental degradation or harming wildlife, where workers are treated fairly, and communities’ rights are respected, and producers including smallholder farmers have access to tools for responsible production and access to benefit from the market for responsible palm oil.
WWF’s goals for palm oil are to:
● Protect: Wildlife and the environment is protected from expansion, and palm oil driven deforestation and natural habitat conversion is halted
● Produce: Production is sustainable in resilient and biodiverse landscapes, no longer contributes to climate change, and the industry provides sustainable livelihoods, reduces poverty and respects human rights
● Restore: The industry becomes a driver for wildlife conservation and restoration efforts, ensuring that
landscapes with palm oil are healthy and living
Summary of role:
Working closely with the Senior Engagement Manager, the Palm Oil Technical Manager will help to
implement and support projects and activities to accelerate demand for more sustainably and responsibly produced palm oil, with a focus on five countries in Asia (Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, India and China). This includes collecting and analysing market intelligence data to support the development and delivery of corporate engagement strategies, engaging directly with palm oil buyers and traders, and providing technical support on palm oil across the WWF network.
Major Duties and Responsibilities:
Technical Support
● Conduct in-depth qualitative and quantitative research on sustainable palm oil topics to support project delivery and communications outputs
● Collect and analyse market intelligence data to support the development and delivery of corporate
engagement strategies, the global palm oil strategy, and relevant project activities
● Review the palm oil sustainability policies and commitments of major traders and buyers, and track
company progress in implementing these
● Support the delivery of an update to the 2021 WWF Global Palm Oil Scorecard, including coordination of engagement activities with companies
● Provide technical support across the WWF network on palm oil issues and represent WWF on relevant best practice technical groups, as appropriate
Stakeholder Engagement
● Support the development of the business case and engagement strategy for major buyers and traders
● Support engagement with priority major buyers and traders, and lead engagement with selected companies under the guidance of the Senior Engagement Manager
● Provide technical support to SASPO (Support Asia for Sustainable Palm Oil), the WWF Sustainable Finance team, and WWF National Offices to support engagement activities and the delivery of the global palm oil strategy
Coordination & Communications
● Support the development of presentations, project reports, external publications, and other documents
● Coordinate the organisation of external engagement activities (e.g. speaking engagements, workshops and consultative committees) and communications with National Offices to share best practices and build alignment
● Undertake other appropriate tasks as assigned by the Supervisor
Required qualifications and skills:
● Bachelor’s degree in business administration, corporate sustainability, environmental sciences or other
relevant areas. Master’s degree preferred
● Demonstrated knowledge of sustainability, conservation and related topics, including a strong
understanding of social and environmental issues in the palm oil sector
● A minimum of two years of work experience in a field relevant to sustainable supply chains, sourcing and procurement strategies, preferably in Asia
● Experience engaging with corporates or other industry stakeholders on sustainability topics
● Strong research and data management skills, including experience collecting and analysing qualitative and quantitative data. Experience analysing spatial data preferred
● Excellent written and verbal communication skills, including experience delivering presentations to a range of audiences
● Proficiency in other languages is highly desirable, particularly where relevant to major palm oil producing and/or consuming nations (e.g. India, China, Indonesia, Malaysia).
You need to:
● Be a self-starter with a high level of motivation and drive.
● Be able to work independently as well as with others in a cross-functional team and network environment.
● Have great organisational and multitasking skills, and attention to detail.
● Be able to handle coordination of various stakeholders on complex projects.
● Ideally, have experience in project management and collaborations with external partners.
● Adhere to WWF’s values, which are: Courage, Respect, Integrity and Collaboration.
This job description covers the main tasks and conveys the spirit of the sort of tasks that are anticipated
proactively from staff. Other tasks may be assigned as necessary according to organizational needs.
Interested candidates should email a CV and a cover letter to hr@wwf.sg. Please indicate the position being applied for in the subject line.
Important Note: Applications without a cover letter will not be considered.
