Agriculture and Retail Upstream Director

Position Summary:

GS1 is seeking a strategic and analytical individual to lead our engagement in the upstream segments of agriculture and retail. The goal is to understand retail upstream value chains and assess where GS1 standards and services can add value, for example, in fresh produce, such as fruit and vegetables, or food commodities like coffee, cocoa, and palm oil, as well as in apparel upstream, like cotton. This role will shape a global engagement strategy to reinforce our federated membership model, collaborating closely with GS1 Member Organisations and external retail industry stakeholders to expand GS1’s relevance further upstream in the retail supply chain.

Responsibilities:

Market Understanding & Strategic Intelligence

• Map the global agriculture and upstream landscape in relation to retail supply chains, including fresh food, commodity crops, and natural materials.
• Identify and prioritise retail supply chains challenges, benefits and opportunities for the usage of GS1 standards.
• Track agriculture and upstream retail trends impacting the supply chain and need for GS1 standards.

Global Market Priorities and Engagement 

• Define retail upstream target actors and business organisations to engage for each prioritised vertical.
• Select and prioritise key verticals (e.g. cacao, coffee, palm oil, cotton, fresh produce…) as well as key actors to engage (e.g. cooperatives, traders, certifiers, processors...).
• Identify key use cases where GS1 standards and services create value upstream and develop engagement plans for different stakeholders 
  o    Develop bundled value propositions (‘target offers’) tailored to sector-specific needs.
  o    Assess capability needs and support skill-building across the federation, partners, and users (could be education and awareness initiatives in the upstream ecosystem)
• Assess GS1 standards offer and inform the standards team on any changes needed

Execution Model

• Define roles and responsibilities across GS1 Global Office and Member Organisations.
• Establish coordination mechanisms for shared planning, execution, and oversight.
• Define and track KPIs and impact targets to measure adoption success.

Education/Experience:

• Proven experience with board-level strategy, business case development, financial forecasting, and presentation development.
• Demonstrated success in leading and delivering complex strategic initiatives.
• Strong background in developing rigorous, fact-based analysis (both quantitative and qualitative) to inform recommendations.
• Understanding of federated and membership organisation models and ability to navigate multi-stakeholder environments is a strong plus.

Skills required:

• Experience with market research and data analytics.
• Knowledge of upstream commodity sectors such as cacao, coffee, palm oil, or cotton, and their value chains.
• Project management experience in multi-region or multi-stakeholder contexts.
• Familiarity with GS1 standards or other global identification and traceability systems.
• Effective communicator and influencer, able to operate comfortably with senior stakeholders in a diverse cultural setting.
• Fluent in English; additional languages are a plus.

Additional Information:

This job may require up to 15% global travel.

This is a hybrid role with a minimum of 4 to 8 days per month in our Brussels office.

GS1 is an Equal Opportunity Employer. We will never unlawfully discriminate on the grounds of race, religion, belief, ethnic origin, colour, nationality, gender, gender reassignment, sexual orientation, age, disability, marriage and civil partnership, pregnancy, maternity, or political opinions.

How to apply:

Email your cover letter with CV to: jobs@gs1.org; include the job title in the subject line. Responses will be treated quickly and with strict confidentiality.