Sustainability Validation Specialist, Social

Company Description

Put your passion in sustainability and fashion at the center of our supply chain. H&M Group is looking for a **Social & Environmental Validation Specialist **based in Milan. Make your career possible

At H&M Group, we believe in making great design available to everyone. It’s essential in everything we do. Our family of brands — H&M, COS, Monki, Weekday, & Other Stories, H&M Home, ARKET, Afound, and Itsapark — offer customers around the world a wealth of fashion, beauty, accessories and homeware, as well as modern menus with fresh and local produce at some of the brands’ in-store eateries.

**What is Production? **It's the place where design ideas are transformed into actual products. We are in multiple sourcing markets and are the direct point of contact for local suppliers. We work to ensure our products are of good quality and produced at the best price and in a sustainable way.

**Job Description**:
As a **Social &** **Environmental Validation Specialist**, you are accountable for securing and continuously improving social & environmental performance index at H&M Group suppliers. You are accountable for ensuring our new and existing suppliers comply with H&M group’s sustainability standards/minimum requirements.

You work with suppliers to ensure they are equipped in carrying out H&M minimum requirements and self-assessments. You also make sure verifications are organized and completed that comply with our working methods and standards. You also monitor the quality of data and information provided through validation. You clearly communicate the areas for improvement with suppliers, guiding them through root cause analysis to secure their understanding. Support suppliers and internal teams on competence building both to mitigate risks and improve the performance in related areas. You are also responsible in providing trainings and workshops for internal teams and suppliers to update the improvement areas, best practices, and new guidelines.

**Qualifications**:
The person we are looking for has a strong knowledge and **experience HIGG FEM** (Facility Environmental Module) and **FSLM **(Facility Social** **Labor Module) and experience of handling different **sustainability projects.** **Audit/assessment experience** in sustainability environment and social field is required. Bachelor’s degree in sustainability related fields is preferred. Experience in têxtile industry is a big plus. Fluent **English and Italian** language skills are must, Portuguese is a plus. Driver license and good driving skills is required for supplier visits locally and internationally.

**Communication Skills** are at the forefront of your mind as you continuously engage, negotiate, and influence your stakeholders to achieve desired states collaboratively. To be successful in this role you need strong **Analytical Thinking Skills** coupled with solution-oriented mindset and innovative thinking. You enjoy **analyzing and interpreting data** and using **statistics** to turn analysis into effective actions. You exhibit **agility and flexibility** in managing problems in ambiguity.

Additional Information
**Is H&M right for me?**

People who are happy and do well at H&M tend to thrive on using their intuition and common sense. We might be the place of possibility, but we’re also a place of ambiguity and constant change. This is not a company for micro-managers or people who operate on autopilot. This is a company where your opinions will inform business decisions, so you need to enjoy making them heard, questioning how things work, and trying things that you might not be familiar with.

Consequently, we depend on teamwork. And we have a pretty high tolerance for failure, provided you can show you’re learning. You can expect to take on new responsibilities and to move around a bit, too, so this could be the start of a varied and rewarding career if that’s what you’re looking for. Beyond that, it’s really up to you. 70% of our people manager roles are hired from within, so there’s not much of a limit to how far you can go. All we ask is that you be yourself, take ownership of your work and your career goals, and go for it with everything you’ve got.

**Thinking about applying?