Director, Nature, Mission & Sustainability

Why do we exist? The Mission and Sustainability (M&S) team develops and enables the implementation of all of Danone North America’s mission and sustainability efforts. To deliver on Danone’s mission to bring health through food to as many people as possible, we must connect several integrated impact efforts across:

• Nature (e.g., regenerative agriculture, water, carbon, circularity, etc.)
• Health (e.g., nutrition, transparent and responsible marketing, positive impact of food on health, etc.)
• Communities (e.g., human rights, thriving communities, future skilling our value chain, etc.)

The M&S team provides strategic oversight, direction, and governance across these topics for Danone North America and ensures a deep collaboration with our Global Danone counterparts. We partner with multiple cross-functional internal stakeholders (e.g., procurement, sales, research and innovation, etc.) and external stakeholders to deliver on our strategy. The team is integrated into the heart of the business and sits within the Enterprise Strategy and Transformation Team (ES&T) in North America.

Danone has a deep partnership with B Lab. 70% of Danone’s global sales are now covered by B Corp™ certification, marking significant progress towards Danone’s ambition to become one of the first fully certified multinationals by 2025.

What do we do? The Mission and Sustainability team sets the umbrella strategy for all mission and sustainability related efforts, cascading our key priorities across Danone North America by working side-by-side with business leads to implement and measure progress.

DEVELOP STRATEGY AND BUSINESS CASE –

The M&S team partners with category teams and across the business to set the strategy and roadmap for impact priorities that will drive business results and societal impact. This means understanding current and future trends and mission-critical needs across the planet, our health, and our communities where Danone North America can make a difference. We use this strategic insight to prioritize commitments and programs that have the highest impact through deep analyses of costs, risks, ROI, feasibility, and tradeoffs.

PLAN, DO, AND REVIEW –

We collaborate with teams across Danone North America (e.g., procurement, sales, research and innovation, scientific affairs, HR, marketing, etc.) to develop and implement roadmaps for our impact programs. We identify short- and long-term milestones, resourcing plans, clear business ownership and accountability mechanisms. We also identify a simple and streamlined set of targets/goals, and actionable and measurable KPIs for tracking progress that are balanced to respond to both business and impact needs. We provide subject matter expertise and technical expertise to large-scale, cross-functional projects that often span research and innovation, sourcing, supply chain, etc. and a multitude of topics such as circularity, regenerative agriculture, healthy living, and affordability of and access to nutritious foods. We set up mechanisms to measure and report on our impact so that we can constantly refine our strategy and programs to deliver the highest impact. We stay in constant contact with our Global Sustainability Team to ensure that our work and impact “ladders up” to the broader mission and impact priorities of Danone.

What will you do?

The Director, Nature will be a change agent on the M&S team, leading several strategic initiatives tied to our Nature programs and strategy through cross-functional collaboration with C-suite / senior management teams.

This role has three main components: a) owning the full strategy development and implementation roadmap for DNA’s path towards its SBTi 1.5C carbon commitment and net zero to 2050 journey, ensuring full partnership across DNA and with our global teams; b) collaborating with and influencing cross-functional stakeholders to articulate the holistic strategy for other top Nature commitments: regenerative agriculture, packaging and circularity, and water; c) driving the roadmap implementation and impact measurement process and cadence for Nature topics.

• Carbon commitments: DNA is fully committed to decarbonization along our entire value chain, in line with our SBTi 1.5C by 2030 commitment and net zero by 2050. This Director would be responsible for developing and owning the carbon strategy and roadmap through deep cross-functional engagement across our BUs and functions. This will require significant cross-functional leadership and influence across all levels of the organization. In addition, the Director will be building and owning the refreshing of rigorous quantitative analysis to: a) assess the baseline, b) identify levers, c) size financials and impact on Nature KPIs, and d) develop a prioritization methodology tied to business cases.

• Other Nature commitments (regenerative agriculture, packaging, water, etc.): In addition to Carbon, DNA is committed to a handful of other top priorities to preserve and regenerate Nature. This Director would be responsible for collaborating with the cross-functional owners of these workstreams (e.g., in Public Affairs, Research and Innovation, Procurement, Manufacturing, etc.) to a) articulate the strategy and roadmap, b) assess the competitive landscape, c) evaluate future state innovations and technologies, d) drive portfolio prioritization of efforts based off of quantitative cost and feasibility analyses and impact “ROI”, e) ensure synergies across the topics and teams to drive efficient and high-impact implementation.

• Roadmap and measurement: This Director will develop the overall holistic plan for our Nature strategy that pulls together a number of priorities and teams. The Director will lead the current strategy refresh for Nature topics in the short term and develop the long term roadmap for implementation and tracking. This Director will be an independent change agent, responsible for identifying and rolling out new ways of working and change management that will enable the Nature team to deliver on its priorities. This Director will work in partnership with the M&S team’s Director, Strategic Partnerships and Impact Measurement and the company’s Carbon Master to build, manage, and constantly improve the tracking, reporting, and impact measurement processes, systems, and tools for all Nature-related KPIs.

Who are we looking for?

We are looking for an influential business leader with a passion and track record for driving societal impact in a business-forward environment. Someone with strong leadership skills at all levels of the organization and the ability to work in a complex matrix environment. Someone with high tolerance for dealing with ambiguity and “getting to the answer” without a traditional starting point. Someone who excels at finding effective and innovative solutions by thinking outside of the box and driving collaboration across the organization. Someone who can be thrown into any situation and identify a clear path forward. Someone with passion for and subject matter experience in decarbonization and at least one of our other Nature priorities

Key Experience:

• 10+ years of relevant experience, with minimum 3-5 years at a top-tier strategy consulting or social impact consulting firm and/or in an internal leadership role in a strategy or mission-related team, or other relevant CPG industry experience; and/or banking, sustainable finance, or ESG
• S./B.A. (required) in Business or Social Impact/Sustainability, or related field

• MBA (preferred) in Strategy and/or Social Impact/Sustainability

Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities (required):

• Ability to operate independently with limited direction at any stage of the strategy or implementation process
• Expertise in “connecting the dots” across multiple teams, business units, and needs that bridge global and local needs
• Ability to “get to the answer” by identifying creative means of sourcing data and insights, driving rigorous quantitative and qualitative analyses, and identifying cross-category themes
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills, particularly in developing presentations, action-oriented analysis, and materials for C-suite level board presentations
• Significant subject matter expertise in carbon/decarbonization and at least 1 other nature topic, either directly through technical/programmatic work or through an advisory role
• Experience in developing and implementing sophisticated impact measurement frameworks
• Experience in integrating impact and sustainability topics into the P&L and strategy of other in-house departments: Brand/Comms, Procurement, Supply Chain, Marketing, Sales, and Public Affairs
• Viewed as the trusted partner to executive stakeholders (both internal and external) with proven effectiveness in influencing and building alignment
• Intellectual curiosity and courage to challenge status quo; always leading the mandate for continuous improvement
• Inclination to be flexible and agile on a daily basis and also with the future evolution of this role as team and business needs may evolve

The base compensation range for this position is $150,000-$160,000 commensurate with experience. Danone North America additionally offers a performance-based bonus and has a strong benefits package including Medical, Dental, Vision, Prescription Drug Coverage, 401k Plan, Wellness Program, Life Insurance, Tuition Reimbursement, Flexible Time Off, and Paid Parental Bonding Leave, among other benefit plan options.

At Danone North America, you’ll work with some of the best-known food and beverage brands in the world like Activia, Silk, Horizon Organic, Two Good, Oikos, evian, and Happy Family. You’ll be part of one of the largest Certified B Corps™ in the world, working together to make sure our brands create real benefits for people, communities, and the planet. We have 6,000+ employees across the U.S. and Canada. Come join our movement for a healthier world: One Planet. One Health BY YOU.

Danone North America doesn’t just welcome what makes you unique, we value it. We’re proud to be an equal opportunity and affirmative action employer. All hires to our team are based on qualifications, merit and business needs. We recruit, employ, train and promote regardless of race, color, religion, disability, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, age, veteran status, genetic characteristic or any other protected status. Faithful to our values of openness and humanism, all of our employees share in

the commitment to engage one another with dignity and respect. http://www.dol.gov/ofccp/regs/compliance/posters/pdf/eeopost.pdf https://www.dol.gov/ofccp/regs/compliance/posters/pdf/OFCCP_EEO_Supplement_Final_JRF_QA_508c.pdf