Department Manager, Social Impact (Fisheries)

Location:

• Remote opportunities available in Indonesia, Vietnam, and the Philippines

Job Purpose:

Thai Union is hiring Social Impact and Responsible Sourcing professionals to support our SeaChange® 2030 sustainability strategy and strengthen human rights due diligence across seafood supply chains.

Key social impact goals include:

• Responsible Wild-Caught Seafood: Ensuring 100% of vessels in our supply chain implement best practices to prevent modern slavery.
• Safe, Decent, and Equitable Work: Ensuring 100% of vessels in our supply chain meet or exceed industry best practices in welfare and working conditions.
• Responsible Supply Chains: Advancing risk-based human rights due diligence and continuous improvement programs for vessel owners, suppliers, and labor providers.
• Wi-Fi commitment
• ITF Partnership

Key Responsibilities:

Responsible Sourcing Governance and Human Rights Due Diligence:

• Continue to evolve Thai Union’s Vessel Code of Conduct (VCoC), responsible sourcing standards, and associated implementation protocols for sea-based supply chains.
• Support the implementation of Thai Union’s human rights due diligence framework across wild-caught seafood supply chains, including vessel owners, suppliers, labor providers, and recruitment agencies.
• Develop and strengthen Thai Union’s approach to monitoring and assessing labor risks across fishing vessels and sea-based supply chains, including risk-based audit and verification approaches.
• Support alignment with international standards and customer expectations, including ILO Core Conventions, UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights (UNGPs), SMETA, BSCI, FISH Standard, The Seafood Taskforce Standard, and relevant seafood industry frameworks.
• Partner with business units and Responsible Sourcing teams to support corrective action planning, supplier engagement, remediation tracking, and continuous improvement initiatives.
• Monitor emerging human rights regulations, customer requirements, and industry expectations related to seafood supply chains and forced labor prevention.

Responsible Recruitment:

• Act as a subject matter expert on ethical recruitment and migrant worker protection across sea-based supply chains.
• Support the development and implementation of responsible recruitment approaches for fishing vessels and labor supply chains, including recruitment mapping, recruitment fee transparency, and industry engagement initiatives.
• Support partnerships and pilot projects related to ethical recruitment, worker documentation, pre-departure training, and recruitment due diligence.
• Engage with external stakeholders including NGOs, labor organizations, governments, and industry initiatives on responsible recruitment and worker protection.
• Support remediation and follow-up processes related to recruitment-related grievances and labor rights concerns.

Worker Voice, Grievance Mechanisms, and Worker Welfare:

• Support the implementation and continuous improvement of worker grievance mechanisms and worker voice initiatives across sea-based supply chains.
• Support the development of worker welfare initiatives related to communication access, connectivity at sea, grievance accessibility, and worker engagement.
• Coordinate with suppliers, vessel owners, and external partners to strengthen accessibility and effectiveness of grievance channels for migrant fishers.
• Support investigations, remediation tracking, and continuous improvement processes related to worker grievances and labor rights risks.

Training and Capacity Building:

• Develop training materials and capacity-building programs for internal teams, suppliers, vessel owners, recruitment agencies, and external partners on human rights, labor standards, responsible recruitment, and decent work.
• Support supplier and vessel capability-building initiatives focused on continuous improvement and responsible labor practices.
• Partner with Responsible Sourcing teams and external stakeholders to strengthen implementation of labor standards and worker protection programs across supply chains.
• Partner with business units’ Responsible Sourcing team to identify partners globally to provide referral services for remedies.

Reporting and Communication:

• Support monitoring and reporting on Thai Union’s sea-based human rights and responsible sourcing commitments.
• Coordinate data collection, analysis, and reporting related to vessel monitoring, labor risks, corrective actions, and responsible sourcing programs.
• Support development of centralized systems and tools for social compliance monitoring, corrective action tracking, and supplier performance management.
• Collaborate with cross-functional teams to prepare internal updates, customer responses, sustainability disclosures, and external reporting.

Stakeholder Engagement and Industry Collaboration:

• Build and maintain relationships with NGOs, regulatory bodies, and other external stakeholders to stay ahead of emerging trends and best practices in human rights and compliance.

Who We Are Looking For:

We welcome candidates with experience or interest in:

• Sustainability
• Social compliance & Labor Rights
• Human rights
• Responsible sourcing
• Ethical recruitment
• ESG or supply chain due diligence
• Project management

Experience in seafood, agriculture, manufacturing, food production, or global supply chains is beneficial but not required for junior roles.

Qualifications:

• Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in Social Sciences, Human Rights, Sustainability, Environmental Studies, Business, or related field.
• Minimum of 10 years of experience in social compliance, human rights, or sustainability, with at least 3 years in a managerial role. Experience in the seafood or food production industry is highly preferred.
• Working knowledge of international human rights standards, labor rights, and audit/certification schemes (e.g., ILO, UNGP, SMETA, BSCI, FISH).
• Proven track record in managing global supply chain compliance programs, including supplier engagement, risk management, and audits.
• Strong communication and interpersonal skills, with the ability to influence stakeholders at all levels and manage complex, cross-functional relationships.
• Strong analytical and problem-solving skills, with an ability to manage multiple global priorities.