Assurance Services International (ASI) is an independent assurance provider for voluntary sustainability standards and initiatives. Headquartered in Bonn, ASI oversees the conformity assessment bodies (CABs) that audit and certify against standards such as FSC, MSC, ASC and RSPO, helping to ensure that certification is credible and consistent.
ASI’s team of more than 100 staff and contracted experts works in around 50 countries, across sectors including agriculture, apparel, energy, mining, palm oil, forestry, fisheries and aquaculture. ASI works with close to 85 CABs, and its oversight covers more than 80,000 certificates worldwide.
ASI’s services include oversight, tailored oversight, integrity services and investigations, and advisory and training. ASI is developing a more risk-based, data-led approach to assurance, focusing its attention where integrity risks are greatest.
About the role
The Program Director is a newly defined role, created as ASI enters its next phase of growth.
Shaping the assurance model. ASI's growth ambitions call for an assurance model that continues to evolve. The Program Director will lead this work, proposing and implementing a prescriptive, risk-based approach that strengthens the impact of ASI's interventions.
A focus on effectiveness. Success is defined by results; whether ASI's interventions reduce risk and secure lasting compliance. Where effectiveness and cost need to be balanced, effectiveness takes precedence and the trade-off is documented.
Senior leadership. The Program Director is a member of ASI's Senior Management Team, reports to the Managing Director. Presents the performance reports to the Senior Management Team and to the Board.
Building capability. The role involves collaborating closely with ASI's Operations Director and Engagement Director to drive and achieve ASI's strategic goals.
Key dimensions of the role
The Program Director leads ASI's Programs function, which covers the main service and product delivery including the oversight (assurance), tailored oversight and integrity services; people management through competence and assessor management; as well as assessment planning and program administration. The role is accountable for the effectiveness of ASI's assurance: that compliance is assured, that integrity risks
are identified and managed, and that ASI's interventions improve compliance in the systems it oversees.
Key responsibilities
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Deliver effective assurance. Set and maintain an evidence based annual intervention plan that reflects identified risks, emerging intelligence and scheme owner requirements, and explain any changes in coverage.
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Lead the risk model. Develop, test and continuously improve ASI's risk model, determining where ASI intervenes and with what intensity, method and frequency, and adopting more effective methods across Programs.
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Manage the assessor and expert base. Oversee its size, composition, competence, calibration and utilisation. Set and report monthly utilisation targets, reduce the time assessors spend on administrative tasks, and develop the pipeline of senior assessors.
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Plan capacity with Engagement. Agree a documented statement of deliverable capacity with the Engagement team during annual planning, so that client commitments can be met reliably.
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Manage financial performance and contracted delivery. Deliver the intervention plan within budget, and monitor cost per assessor or expert day, direct cost as a share of intervention revenue, and delivery against contracted scope, timetable and price. Where plans cannot be delivered as agreed, present the Managing Director with options and their implications.
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Lead integrity services. Oversee the quality and financial performance of integrity services, maintaining a clear separation between commercial decisions and professional decisions on the scope, methods and conclusions of investigations.
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Safeguard independent judgement. Ensure that findings and sanctions are evidence-based and independent of commercial considerations, and that assessors can exercise their professional judgement free from undue pressure.
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Lead and develop the Programs units. Set priorities and accountabilities for unit heads, establish new units and ensure that essential responsibilities are covered in the interim. Strengthen service tiers, methods, assessor deployment and the use of data and technology.
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Represent ASI's assurance work externally. Maintain technical relationships with scheme owners, CABs and peer bodies, and ensure that significant findings and sanctions are communicated before they take effect.
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Uphold ASI's management system. Ensure that Programs operates in line with ASI's management system and with applicable scheme, accreditation and regulatory requirements.
Team
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Leads five unit heads: Oversight Delivery; Tailored Oversight; Integrity Services; Competence and Assessor Management; and Programs Planning and Administration. Some of these units are being established.
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Leads ASI's assessors and experts in around 50 countries. Act as IFDC’s lead representative with governments, donors, research institutions, the private sector and peer organizations.
Financial
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Accountable for the Programs budget and the cost-effectiveness of delivery.
Scope of authority
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Decides how Programs resources are deployed within the approved plan and budget.
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Approves assessor and expert assignments, and holds a competence veto that is final within Programs.
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Initiates investigations and allocates investigative resources.
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Agrees assessor and expert terms within the rate band approved by the Managing Director, and fills approved positions within the headcount plan.
Key relationships
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Internal: Managing Director, Senior Management Team, Engagement Director, Deputy Managing Director (Operations), Quality, QMS and Disputes, and the General Manager of ASI Accreditation.
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External: scheme owners, CABs, certificate holders, assessors and technical experts, ASI committees and peer bodies.
How performance is measured
Performance is assessed on the effectiveness of ASI's interventions: whether they are precise, timely and focused on the most significant risks, and whether they are delivered at a cost that ASI and its clients can sustain. Measures include:
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a reduction in key integrity risks in each programme, recognised by the relevant scheme owner;
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lower recurrence of nonconformities after they are closed;
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a higher proportion of significant risks identified by ASI itself;
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shorter times from detection to resolution;
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consistent judgement across assessors;
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scheme owners' assessment of whether ASI's assurance is working; and
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utilisation, cost per day and on-time delivery against targets.
Skills and experience
Essential
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At least 15 years of relevant experience in accreditation, certification, assurance, sustainability standards, oversight or investigations, including at least 10 years in leadership roles with personal accountability for a delivery function and its results.
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Experience of designing or running risk-based assurance or audit programmes.
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Experience of managing a contracted expert, auditor or assessor pool against utilisation and competence targets.
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Experience of managing a defined budget.
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Working knowledge of ISO/IEC 17065, 17021 or 17011, or of equivalent ISO-based verification (for example, in carbon).
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Excellent written and spoken English.
Desirable
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Experience of ASI's schemes or comparable voluntary sustainability standards.
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Experience of integrity investigations, competence frameworks and international operations.
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Assessor or lead assessor qualifications, including scheme-specific qualifications.
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Additional languages.
Education
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A university degree in forestry, fisheries, environmental sciences, environmental engineering, resource management, sustainability or a related discipline.
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An advanced degree, or an equivalent combination of education and experience, is desirable.
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A background in assurance, audit, accreditation or regulatory oversight will be accepted in place of these disciplines where the candidate demonstrates the leadership, delivery and risk competencies set out below.
Competencies
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Assurance effectiveness and judgement: the ability to assess whether an assurance programme is working, to distinguish activity from impact, and to hold a position on a finding under pressure.
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Risk targeting and analytical rigour: the ability to build and test a risk model, interpret delivery and findings data, identify systemic issues and direct resources to where risk lies.
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Delivery model design: the ability to redesign how assurance is delivered, including service tiers, assessor layering, logistics and the use of data and technology.
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Resource and capacity management: the ability to manage an assessor base as a business resource, with clear and reported targets for competence, calibration, utilisation, succession and cost.
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Cost and commercial awareness: the ability to read a budget and a margin, deliver to a contracted scope and price, and set out the assurance implications of cost decisions so that others can make them in full knowledge.
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Leadership and accountability: a track record of leading senior professionals, building new functions and taking responsibility for outcomes, combining confidence with humility and bringing people with them through change.
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Management system discipline: the ability to run a delivery function within a documented management system and to address nonconformities at their root cause.
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Integrity and independence: a strong commitment to impartiality, confidentiality and evidence-based decision-making, and the judgement to recognise and resist undue pressure on a finding.
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Communication and stakeholder management: the ability to explain assurance decisions clearly to scheme owners, CABs and senior management, including when the conclusions are difficult.
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International working: the ability to work effectively across cultures in an international, distributed organisation.
Don’t meet every single requirement? Research shows that individuals from underrepresented groups are less likely to apply for roles unless they meet every listed qualification. At Millar Cameron, we are committed to supporting our clients in building diverse and inclusive teams. If you’re enthusiastic about this role but don’t meet every requirement, we still encourage you to apply - you could be exactly what our client is looking for, either for this position or another.
Please note that due to the high volume of applications we receive, we are only able to respond to candidates who are shortlisted for the next stage of the process. We sincerely appreciate your interest and the time taken to apply.
Since 2007 Millar Cameron has specialised in sourcing leadership and keyperson talent across a number of industries, including agribusiness, international development, industrial, consumer, financial and professional services, private equity, and technology, media and telecommunications. Our mission and purpose is to positively contribute to the development of Africa, and other emerging markets, through the provision of people.
