Chief Sustainability Officer — Process-Manufacturing Network

The mandate

A Netherlands process-manufacturing network is redesigning global sourcing to introduce recycled, bio-based and lower-impact feedstocks. Commercial teams want differentiated product claims, while plants are testing how new variability affects yield, emissions and safety. Procurement contracts and sustainability certificates do not yet reconcile to physical receipts and production allocation. The Chief Sustainability Officer will establish a responsible transition from supplier origin through mass balance to customer statement.

Approximately 2,450 employees and material partners fall within the operating network. The CSO owns sustainability strategy, responsible sourcing, climate transition, traceability, reporting, product claims and stakeholder assurance. Procurement negotiates supply, engineering and operations approve process use and quality releases product. The CSO defines evidence and ensures that environmental ambition does not bypass those independent controls.

Feedstock qualification must consider full process consequence. A lower reported upstream footprint can increase energy, waste, corrosion or off-spec output if variability is poorly understood. The CSO will require lifecycle and plant trials with agreed boundaries and will ensure rejected or reworked material remains in the impact calculation. Sustainability cannot be measured at the gate while ignoring what happens inside the process.

Mass-balance claims need robust custody. Purchased certified quantity, physical receipt, storage, conversion factors, production allocation and sale must reconcile within defined periods. Credits cannot be allocated twice or beyond eligible products. The leader will set controls with finance and quality, commission risk-based assurance and correct discrepancies before customer reporting.

Supplier origin and people impacts require more than certificates. High-risk agricultural, waste or mineral chains may involve land, labour, community and legality concerns several tiers upstream. The CSO will establish traceability expectations, grievance and remediation routes and credible improvement timelines. Where exit is necessary, it should be planned to avoid concealing harm in another route.

Transition contracts must balance availability and additionality. Long-term offtake can enable supplier investment but may lock the company into immature technology or weak verification. The CSO will help structure volume ramps, evidence, pricing and exit conditions, while finance and procurement retain their authorities. Unverified premium cost should not be called transition value.

Local water, biodiversity and community effects can differ from the headline climate case. A bio-based input may shift pressure to a sensitive basin or land system, while recycled processing may concentrate waste near a supplier community. The CSO will require place-based screening and credible mitigation so that global footprint improvement does not depend on exporting a material local burden.

The incumbent is leaving sooner than planned for personal reasons, creating an urgent replacement. A small internal team and external assurance partners maintain essential reporting, but major sourcing decisions require executive ownership now. The onsite Rotterdam role engages plants and suppliers across the wider region.

What you will own

• Set sustainable-feedstock strategy and evidence requirements across the network.
• Integrate lifecycle, process, quality and safety consequence into source decisions.
• Establish mass-balance custody, allocation, controls and independent assurance.
• Lead upstream traceability, human-rights, community and remediation governance.
• Shape transition contracts and supplier improvement with procurement and finance.
• Approve product and customer sustainability claims within verified boundaries.
• Correct discrepancies and escalate material exposure to executive sponsors.
• Build plant and functional sustainability capability with clear accountability.

The first 12 months

Within 45 days, map priority feedstock flows, claims and certificate controls, identify gaps between contracts, receipts and allocation and review ongoing plant trials. Put interim approval on high-risk customer statements and sourcing commitments. Present the sponsor with environmental, process and responsible-sourcing trade-offs.

By month six, implement mass-balance governance for priority products, complete enhanced supplier diligence and integrate sustainability evidence into qualification. Conclude at least two transition supply agreements with measurable ramp and verification terms. Train commercial and plant leaders on claim boundaries and discrepancy escalation.

At twelve months, place 90% of priority certified volume under reconciled custody, reduce lifecycle impact by 10% on selected eligible product families and close 90% of high-risk supplier actions on schedule. No material claim should exceed verified allocation or require withdrawal. Feedstock changes must produce no serious safety, quality or unreported waste consequence.

What the sponsor will measure

• Lower-impact sourcing improving the full production lifecycle.
• Certified volume reconciled from contract through product allocation.
• Upstream people and community risk addressed beyond document collection.
• Transition premiums tied to evidence and additional capability.
• Customer claims accurate, bounded and promptly corrected when necessary.
• Sustainability ownership embedded in procurement, plants and finance.

The person

You bring 18–22 years in sustainability, sourcing, process engineering or supply-chain transition within chemicals, food, materials, fuels or another mass-balance environment. You have governed certified inputs and changed supplier or process decisions using lifecycle evidence.

Your prior scope should exceed €1 billion of supply or 1,800 employees and partners. Evidence must include a custody discrepancy, a feedstock whose plant impact changed the sustainability case and a supplier remediation. You can communicate assurance limitations clearly to customers, directors and external stakeholders.

Compensation and terms

The base range is €240,000–320,000 plus annual incentive linked to verified transition, custody integrity, supplier outcomes, product claims and capability. This permanent onsite Rotterdam role reports to the Group Chief Executive or designated sponsor and requires supplier and site travel. The unplanned transition favours prompt availability.

Confidentiality

The network, feedstocks, suppliers, certifications, claims and transition contracts are confidential. Detailed evidence follows suitability, conflicts and signed confidentiality. Applicants must not contact certifiers, suppliers or customers to identify the enterprise or test presumed sourcing routes.