Role title
Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) Manager
Department
Office of the Chief of Staff / ESG
Location
Accra, Ghana, with regular travel to farms, aggregation points, fulfilment centres, warehouses, suppliers, partner sites and operating communities
Grade
Manager level; final internal grade and band subject to the approved job-grading framework
Reports to
Chief of Staff
Direct reports
None; leads through enterprise standards, training, site oversight, corrective-action governance and cross-functional influence
PRIMARY MANDATE Achieve and sustain at least 90% verified compliance across the approved ESG commitments and goals, maintain 100% control of critical and non-waivable obligations, lead ESG due diligence, and own the timely implementation and evidence-based closure of the ESG action plan.
Detailed responsibilities
ESG management system, obligations and governance
- Design, maintain and continuously improve a proportionate ESG management system covering governance, policies, risks, commitments, controls, implementation plans, training, monitoring, evidence, incident response, corrective action and reporting.
- Maintain one version-controlled obligations register mapping every applicable legal, investor, lender, buyer, certification, contractual and approved internal ESG commitment to its requirement, risk rating, owner, control, evidence, frequency and escalation path.
- Translate approved commitments into policies, standards, SOPs, site checklists, contractual clauses, role accountability, system fields and operating cadences that teams can execute in farms, fulfilment centres, offices and partner locations.
- Establish a risk-based ESG assurance calendar and annual implementation plan aligned with company strategy, operating plans, expansion, new products, financing milestones and material changes at risk.
- Maintain clear ESG decision rights and segregation of duties, including who owns implementation, verifies evidence, accepts residual risk, approves disclosures and escalates to the Chief of Staff, Executive Team or Board.
- Monitor changes in applicable requirements and stakeholder expectations and coordinate timely updates to policies, controls, training, contracts, budgets, and reporting.
ESG action-plan ownership and operational embedment
- Own the consolidated ESG action plan from gap identification through approved closure, ensuring every action has a specific deliverable, accountable operational owner, due date, risk rating, dependency, resource need and evidence standard.
- Facilitate practical implementation with Agriculture, Field Operations, Supply Chain, Commercial, Product, Technology, Finance, People and Corporate Services without taking over their first-line control responsibilities.
- Run a disciplined weekly action review and monthly management cadence, identify blockers and overdue decisions early, and escalate unresolved critical or cross-functional dependencies to the Chief of Staff.
- Test whether action closure has changed the underlying control or outcome; reject closure based only on meetings, promises, draft documents or unsupported screenshots.
- Integrate ESG requirements into project gates, S&OP, procurement, supplier onboarding, product design, expansion, capital expenditure, farm programs, fulfilment and trade-readiness reviews.
- Prepare costed ESG priorities and business cases that distinguish mandatory compliance, risk reduction, stakeholder value and longer-term improvement; track approved spending and benefits with Finance and action owners.
Site implementation, audits and corrective action
- Create a risk-based site and activity coverage model that prioritizes serious harm, high-volume operations, vulnerable groups, weak controls, new locations, new partners, previous incidents, and repeated findings.
- Conduct or coordinate scheduled and unannounced site assessments, worker and stakeholder interviews, document reviews and control tests while applying confidentiality, consent, non-retaliation and evidence-integrity safeguards.
- Issue findings that state the requirements, objective evidence, risk level, immediate containment, accountable owner, deadline and closure test; distinguish observations, minor gaps, major gaps and critical breaches.
- Verify corrective and preventive action through evidence and follow-up testing, analyze recurrence and systemic causes, and recommend changes to processes, contracts, technology, capacity, or investment.
- Maintain reliable multi-location visibility of inspections due, findings, overdue actions, incidents, grievances, permits, training, supplier status and priority risks through approved digital workflows and dashboards.
- Control offline and low-connectivity evidence capture, synchronization, record reconciliation and anomaly review, so field realities do not create invisible or easily altered compliance records.
Environmental and climate performance
- Work with Agronomy and operational owners to identify and control material environmental risks associated with land use, soil health, water, agrochemicals, waste, pollution, energy, emissions, biodiversity, climate exposure and ecosystem impacts.
- Establish approved environmental baselines, targets and data methods; distinguish estimates from measured data and document assumptions, boundaries and limitations.
- Verify that required permits, assessments, management plans, emergency controls and monitoring records are current before relevant activities begin or materially change.
- Support climate-risk assessment, adaptation and resilience planning across growers, crops, facilities, logistics and expansion geographies and translate material risks into operational and investment decisions.
- Coordinate practical reduction and resource-efficiency initiatives with accountable teams and confirm that claimed savings or impact do not transfer risk to workers, growers, communities or ecosystems.
- Escalate unauthorized land clearing, significant pollution, serious chemical misuse, uncontrolled waste, material water conflict or other credible risk of severe environmental harm immediately.
Social, labour, safety, safeguarding and community controls
- Partner with People, Agronomy, Field Operations, Supply Chain and contractors to verify fair labour, worker welfare, occupational health and safety, safeguarding, inclusion, freedom from harassment and non-discrimination across company and value-chain activities.
- Implement risk-based controls against forced labour, child labour, trafficking, retaliation, exploitation, unsafe work and other severe human-rights impacts, including credible escalation, protection and remediation pathways.
- Ensure accessible worker, grower, agent, supplier and community grievance channels are communicated, confidential where appropriate, logged, triaged, investigated and resolved without retaliation.
- Support stakeholder mapping and meaningful engagement for operations, new sites, major projects and material changes, documenting concerns, commitments, decisions and follow-through.
- Review vulnerable-person, land-access, community-health, security and livelihood risks and ensure specialist support or executive decisions are obtained where the issue exceeds the role's competence or authority.
- Verify that benefits and impact claims concerning farmers, workers, women, youth, communities or other groups are supported by defined populations, consent, data and a balanced account of results and limitations.
Responsible sourcing, partner due diligence and value-chain oversight
- Define ESG due-diligence requirements for growers, Aggregation Agents, suppliers, 3PLs, contractors, fulfilment partners and other third parties according to geography, activity, spend, leverage and risk.
- Coordinate screening, risk classification, document verification, site review, contractual requirements, onboarding conditions, monitoring, corrective action, suspension and exit with Procurement, Field Operations, Supply Chain, Legal advisers and business owners.
- Verify traceability and chain-of-custody evidence needed to support responsible-sourcing, certification, financing and buyer commitments without representing incomplete source visibility as full traceability.
- Maintain a current high-risk partner to register and escalate sanctions, integrity, labour, environmental, land, community, safety or repeated non-compliance concerns through approved decision channels.
- Ensure commercial teams do not promise certifications, provenance, farmer benefits, environmental attributes or other ESG claims before the required evidence and approvals exist.
- Use supplier and partner performance data to recommend capability building, corrective action, commercial consequence, additional assurance or alternative sourcing proportionate to risk.
Training, capability and behaviour change
- Conduct an ESG training needs assessment by role and risk and maintain a matrix covering induction, refresher, toolbox, contractor, supplier, field-agent and specialist training requirements.
- Develop practical training, case studies, job aids, checklists and manager guidance that explain what good compliance looks like in day-to-day operating decisions.
- Deliver or coordinate training using language, literacy, connectivity and field realities appropriate to the audience; preserve attendance, assessment and version records.
- Verify training effectiveness through knowledge checks, observation, audit results, incident trends, and repeat-finding analysis rather than attendance alone.
- Coach leaders address the commercial-versus-ESG trade-offs relevant to their work and escalate uncertainty early instead of silently accepting risk.
- Build a network of trained sites and functional ESG focal points without transferring independent oversight or creating unapproved reporting lines.
Due diligence, reporting and impact storytelling
- Lead the coordination of ESG due-diligence exercises, audits, monitoring visits and information requests from authorized investors, lenders, buyers, partners, certification bodies and governance stakeholders.
- Maintain a controlled ESG data room and evidence index with current policies, assessments, permits, contracts, training, audits, metrics, incidents, grievances, actions and approvals, protecting confidential and personal information.
- Define each ESG metric's purpose, boundary, numerator, denominator, unit, source, owner, frequency, calculation, estimation method, control and assurance requirement.
- Publish concise weekly implementation reporting, monthly management dashboards, quarterly Board or investor updates and annual or transaction-specific disclosures as approved.
- Reconcile quantitative performance with narrative claims, disclose material limitations and negative outcomes fairly, and retain the evidence and approval trail for every external ESG or impact statement.
- Develop evidence-backed impact stories that connect verified data with the experience of growers, workers, buyers, communities and ecosystems, obtaining appropriate consent and avoiding tokenism, exaggeration or selective reporting.
- Track the effectiveness of ESG interventions and recommend priorities based on risk reduction, stakeholder outcomes, compliance status, operating feasibility, and company strategy.
Decision rights, accountability boundaries and escalation
- Own the ESG framework, obligations register, consolidated action plan, assurance calendar, due-diligence coordination, ESG dashboard and evidence standards within the authority delegated by the Chief of Staff.
- Require accountable teams to provide evidence, name action owners and respond to findings; escalate non-response, disputed findings, resource blockers and overdue critical actions through the approved governance cadence.
- Initiate immediate containment and the approved pause/escalation process where evidence indicates imminent serious harm, illegality, fraud, retaliation, falsification or breach of a non-waivable commitment.
- Do not replace People's ownership of employment processes, QA's food-safety and shipment-release authority, Agronomy's crop protocols, Supply Chain's operational custody, Finance's financial controls, or authorized legal counsel's legal interpretation.
- Do not independently waive commitments, accept material residual risk, sign financing or certification representations, approve unbudgeted spending, promise compensation or remedy, or publish external claims outside delegated authority.
- Provide the Chief of Staff and relevant executives with concise evidence, risk assessment, options, accountable owners and decisions required; preserve an audit trail when management accepts or defers a material risk.
- Maintain independence and confidentiality, disclose conflicts of interest, protect good-faith reporters, and refuse pressure to conceal, backdate, alter or overstate ESG evidence.
Required experience, qualifications and technical capabilities
Required experience and non-negotiables
- Three to five years of progressive ESG, environmental and social risk, sustainability, responsible sourcing or impact-management experience within agricultural supply chains, food export, agribusiness or agricultural value-chain operations.
- Demonstrated hands-on experience implementing ESG programs across operational sites, suppliers, growers, contractors or value-chain partners rather than experience limited to research, policy writing or corporate communications.
- Proven ownership of ESG action plans, including converting findings into accountable tasks, coordinating cross-functional implementation, verifying evidence, and escalating overdue or ineffective action.
- Experience leading or materially coordinating investors, lenders, buyers, certification or transaction ESG due diligence, site assessments, audits, data-room evidence and remediation plans.
- Evidence of embedding controls under commercial, time, cost or working-capital pressure without hiding risk, weakening evidence standards or treating ESG as separate from normal operations.
- Experience with agricultural environmental and social risks such as labour, worker safety, safeguarding, community impact, land, water, agrochemicals, waste, biodiversity, climate, responsible sourcing and traceability.
- Demonstrated ability to build accurate ESG dashboards and reports and translate verified data into clear management insight and credible impact stories for different stakeholders.
- Strong field judgment, integrity and courage to investigate inconvenient evidence, protect confidentiality, resist retaliation or misstatement, and escalate credible risk despite limited direct authority.
Qualifications and professional requirements
- Bachelor's degree in environmental science or management, Sustainability, Agriculture, Agronomy, Engineering, Occupational Health and Safety, Development Studies, Social Science, Economics, Law, Business or a closely related discipline.
- Practical working knowledge of environmental and social management systems, responsible agricultural supply chains, human rights and labour due diligence, stakeholder engagement, grievance management, corrective action and sustainability reporting.
- Familiarity with frameworks and standards relevant to the company's approved commitments - such as lender or investor environmental and social requirements, buyer codes, GRI or ISSB-aligned reporting, and ISO 14001/45001 management-system principles - is strongly preferred; formal auditor or sustainability training is advantageous.
- Strong numerical and analytical capability, including metric definition, baseline design, sampling, trend analysis, data reconciliation, action ageing, and evidence-based interpretation of performance.
- Clear written and spoken English and the ability to write concise audit findings, management reports, due-diligence responses, policies, training materials and stakeholder narratives; French and relevant local language capability are advantageous.
- Ability and willingness to travel regularly to farms, rural communities, aggregation sites, fulfilment centres, warehouses, ports and partner operations and to work safely in variable infrastructure and connectivity conditions.
