Sustainable Procurement Specialist

Title: Sustainable procurement specialist

Location: Any Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) Office*

Contract: 12 months temporary contract

Starting day: Mar 15th, 2025

Deadline for applications: February 20th, 2025

Compensation and benefits: MSF practice is to offer the C&B package current in the MSF entity establishing the contract.

*By default, the successful candidate will be offered a contract in the MSF office of their country of residence at the time of application.

I.  MSF INTERNATIONAL

Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) is an international, independent, medical humanitarian organisation that delivers emergency aid to people affected by armed conflict, epidemics, healthcare exclusion and natural disasters. MSF provides assistance to people based only on need and irrespective of race, religion, gender or political affiliation. MSF is working in more than 70 countries all around the world with more than 60 000 staff.

MSF International is the legal entity that binds MSF’s 23 sections, 27 associations and other offices together. Registered in Switzerland, MSF International provides coordination, information, and support to the MSF Movement, as well as implements international projects and initiatives as requested.

II.  POSITION BACKGROUND

MSF is in daily contact with the world's most vulnerable populations as part of its mission and is witness to the impact of climate change on these populations. This is why MSF has set itself the strong ambition to reduce its CO2 emissions by 50% by 2030 and to develop a more sustainable management of its operations. 

In addition, MSF wants that its relationships with its suppliers and subcontractors create sustainable added value for the employees directly involved in the realization of services and products as well as for the surrounding communities whether that be through social, economic, or environmental means.

It is with this dual ambition that we have begun implementing a sustainable procurement approach over the past three years. In this framework, measuring the social and environmental performance of our supply chain becomes a priority for our organization.

To that effect, sustainable procurement in MSF is driven by a collaboration between the MSF Global Procurement Unit (GPU) and other projects undertaken by the International Office (IO) and the Operational Centers. A joint roadmap has been established to integrate the sustainability of MSF’s procurement practices. This approach relies on the deepening of the relationships between our procurement teams and our suppliers. To achieve transparency and visibility into our complex supply chain, MSF has set itself the ambitious goal of assessing the sustainability of its supplier base, through an external service provider (Ecovadis), but also through internally designed assessment techniques. Over the past year and a half, suppliers have been onboarded, procurement experts have been trained and assessing the sustainability of our critical suppliers has become part of our standard sourcing process. While further efforts need to be made to reach our objectives towards our supplier base and towards our own practices, there is a need now to work with the assessed parties to raise the overall sustainability of our supplier base.

III.   PLACE IN THE ORGANISATION

The Sustainable procurement specialist will:

• Report hierarchically to the Global Procurement Unit processes & systems manager.

• Work closely with ESCs buyers, GPU category buyers, buyers and procurement focal points across the different MSF entities and country offices.

• Engage with Climate, Environment and Health Project managers and with other colleagues in the international office linked to MSF’s commitment to reduce its carbon footprint by 50% by 2030.

• Externally: manage relationship with Ecovadis and steer MSF supplier base

• Where relevant, escalate identified risks internally and facilitate discussions with senior management.

IV.  OBJECTIVES OF THE POSITION

The Sustainable Procurement Specialist is responsible for enhancing the sustainability performance of MSF’s strategic supplier base​. They oversee the procurement sustainability development approach and its implementation across MSF movement.

V.  MAIN RESPONSIBILITIES

1- Drive integration and continuous improvement of sustainability practices at all stages of the procurement process: needs analysis, supplier selection process, contract and supplier performance management; with a strong focus on supplier relationship management

• Work with procurement experts across MSF to identify priority suppliers to follow up on sustainability assessment.

• Work with procurement experts and associated stakeholders in MSF to set strategy or category-based sustainability targets, in alignment with MSF’s 2030 targets.

• Using the existing supplier performance management process, follow up with assessed suppliers on assessment score and suggested improvement plans to reach agreed targets, fostering co-construction of goals and initiatives between MSF and the suppliers.

• Setting SMART targets for strategic suppliers in collaboration with category buyers & buyers and oversee the coverage in terms of supplier assessment and corrective action plans implementation

2- In coordination with other colleagues in the IO, analyze procurement categories in order to develop, communicate and maintain sustainable procurement strategies for various types of goods and services procured by European Supply Centers, regional hubs, HQ offices, Partner Sections and at field level

• Lead work on the definition of category-based sustainability strategies to identify improvement levers and assess potential impact on procurement sustainability

• Define and disseminate suitable sustainability selection criteria for services such as Travel, insurance, fundraising and other categories.

• Where possible, contribute to MSF efforts to develop item-level sustainability criteria.

• Actively participate in the definition of a system to follow tendering pipeline and/or ongoing sourcing projects across MSF movement and ensure sustainable selection criteria are included in tendering processes for services.

• In coordination with other IO colleagues involved in sustainable supply chain, compile developed criteria into a structured and accessible database.

3- Collaborate with the Global Procurement Processes & Systems Manager to increase visibility and reporting on sustainable procurement as part of GPU’s reporting framework

• Work with the MSF e-procurement project manager to ensure sustainability is integrated to the MSF system’s functionalities: supplier onboarding, link to Ecovadis & questionnaire, inclusion of selection criteria into CBA, Code of Conduct signature, performance review.

• In alignment with stakeholders and with the GPU reporting strategy, define reporting framework for sustainable procurement performance.

• Increase visibility into sustainable procurement performance across the organization through standardized data retrieval, consolidation, analysis and structured communication within relevant platforms and entities, improving automation where possible.

VI.   PROBLEM-SOLVING

• Inside the frame of the strategic orientations validated by the Executive Supply Chain Committee (ESCC) and the roadmap for sustainable procurement, autonomy to challenge and adapt the sustainable procurement strategy, capacity to communicate, deploy and report on the agreed sustainable procurement approach.

• Being able to coordinate and work transversally with 6 OCs and 3 ESCs and influence decision makers of all entities involved: Heads of procurement and supply of the 3 ESCs and 6 OCs, budget holders from requesting teams).

• Must be a confident communicator, able to raise awareness and sponsorship of the sustainable procurement strategy with senior managers in MSF.

   VI. DIMENSIONS

• Up to 100M Euros of global procurement monitored through sustainability assessments and tendering processes.

• Up to 5 projects to coordinate.

Education:

• Bachelor’s degree in business, social and environmental sciences or procurement/supply chain, or a combination of relevant education and professional experience.

Experience:

• 5+ years’ work experience in a complex organization, of which 2+ in procurement functions, including supplier management, category management or sourcing.

• Direct work experience in a complex multi-entity organization; MSF experience is a strong asset.

• Experience working with Ecovadis is a plus.

• Experience working with an e-procurement system is a plus.

Knowledge and Skills:

• Excellent communication skills and assertiveness

• Good knowledge and understanding of environmental and social responsibility issues related to the supply of products or services

• Ability to work in a cross-cultural and cross-functional environment

• Strong organizational skills, ability to handle multiple priorities at one time

• Proficiency in standard office tools including Word, PowerPoint, Excel.

• Good command of Power BI and data visualization

Languages:

• Fluent spoken and written English

• Good command of French is an advantage.