Head of Food Programme

Laudes Foundation is an independent foundation accelerating the transition to a green, fair and inclusive economy. We do this by supporting brave action that inspires and challenges industry to harness its power for good. We focus on four key industries with an outsized impact on climate change, nature and social inequality: the built environment, finance and capital markets, fashion, and food. Complementing these industry-specific initiatives, our cross-cutting work in labour rights, finance and narratives amplify our impact across all sectors.

Location: Amsterdam or London

Travel Expectations: Up to 30%

Budget Responsibility: Accountable for Food Programme budget (~5M EUR / annum)

Direct Reports: 1 (Senior Programme Manager)

The Head of Food Programme is a newly created role within Industry Programmes responsible for the delivery of the food programme strategy and grant-making, as well as creating effective coalitions for change with organisations in the field and other funders and philanthropies. The role will report directly to the Director of Industry Programmes.

Key responsibilities

Vision. Developing a vision for how to inspire and challenge the food industry to be a force for good in addressing the climate crisis, as well as the ensuing transition to a more sustainable food system and its impact on people and nature.

Strategy. Refine and implement the strategic plan for the Food programme, deepening grant making and learning in the programme’s priority intervention areas, working closely with the Director of Industry Programmes in both programme implementation against approved strategy and further programmatic development.

Programme Development. Oversee the team and play an active role in sourcing and identifying potential grant partners working to inspire and challenge the food industry to transition to a more sustainable and fairer future. Act as a subject matter expert to ensure that the Food team is designing partnerships that form a grant portfolio of mutually reinforcing and complementary grants that achieve the programme’s five-year goals towards systems change. Work with Effective Philanthropy colleagues to develop and champion rubrics to guide measurement of impact.    

Programme Delivery. Oversee the team that is implementing grants, working with them to effectively deliver the programme strategy, including maintaining programme credibility and capturing/disseminating learnings to improve programme impact. 

Collaboration. Working as a leader of the Foundation to build a culture of collaboration, including close relationships with other Heads to drive an integrated systems change approach. 

Representation. Act as an ambassador and thought leader internally and externally to build the credibility and leadership of the foundation in the field of food systems transformation and food industry transition with a range of stakeholders. 

Advocacy. Identify partners the foundation can work with to affect broader change in food systems transformation and food industry transition, building a strong network to grow the foundation’s pipeline by having a deep understanding of the levers that can be utilised to promote change. 

Results. Achieve programme targets, as contained in the strategy objectives, and oversee monitoring and reporting of results in the required formats, in partnership with Effective Philanthropy. 

Financial management. Manage the annual budget (both programmatic and administrative) of the Food programme, reporting results to the Director of Industry Programmes.   

People management.  Inspire, lead and support the Food team to deliver on their individual and team objectives and the overall success of the programme as a whole. Team members may be geographically spread between Laudes Foundation offices in Amsterdam and/or London.

What you need for the role

• Must have full working rights in The Netherlands or United Kingdom
• At least 15 years of strong practical experience working on food systems, food policy, and food and related industries
• Knowledge of food supply chains (manufacturing, retail and service) and climate and labour and broader social impacts in those supply chains.
• Vision and creative “out of the box” thinking to challenge the status quo of the food industry that results in climate and nature degradation and labour exploitation.   
• Understanding of urban dynamics on food systems and food systems transformation, and levers that cities possess to influence the food industry.
• Understanding the role of finance in advancing the sustainability of food systems and food industry is highly regarded.
• External credibility (e.g., having participated as a speaker in relevant fora) and strong networks in the food systems area. 
• Experience developing programme strategies and solving deep systemic challenges in a complex and dynamic environment (e.g. experience working in strategy, sustainability, philanthropy, etc.). 
• Prior experience in grant making, including: developing coherent portfolios of complementary grants; management of a grant making team that works efficiently and with respect for grant partners; management of grant making budgets and the ability to use grant information to enhance programmatic and operational decision-making and learning. 
• Management experience with a proven track record of inspiring and motivating dispersed teams and building a culture of high performance, collegiality and ambition.  

This is what you can expect from us:

• Compensation ranging from EUR 91.000 to EUR 125.000 (Amsterdam, Netherlands) // GBP 80.000 to GBP 115.000 (London, UK) per year on a full time basis, based on experience and skills.
• 31 vacation days
• 4 volunteering days 
• We have our own pension fund (Provisum)
• Hybrid working opportunity: we aim for a 40/60 office/home work balance.
• You may work remotely from any location in the world for 10 days per calendar year.

An (online) assessment can be part of the recruitment process. Reference checks are part of the final hiring procedure.

DIVERSITY, EQUITY AND INCLUSION

We stand for equal opportunities and are committed to recruiting and retaining a diverse team in an equitable and inclusive environment. We strongly encourage applications of people with lived experience, as well as from candidates coming from any minority or underrepresented groups.