Temporary Open Wing Alliance Europe Regional Lead (Maternity Cover)

WHO WE ARE

The Humane League (THL) is a global nonprofit ending the abuse of animals raised for food. THL fosters a high-energy culture of teamwork and mission-driven problem solving, and we have earned recognition as Top Charity from Animal Charity Evaluators for all of their rating periods. Over the past few years, we’ve grown to a staff of 100+ talented individuals dispersed across the country and around the world. At THL, how animals are treated in the food system is at the forefront of our everyday work. As such, many of our staff are vegan by personal choice, and all of our THL-hosted events offer fully vegan menus. We welcome all mission-aligned candidates to apply, no matter where you are in your journey to end the abuse of animals raised for food.

YOUR OPPORTUNITY

The Open Wing Alliance (OWA), a program of The Humane League, is a global coalition of approximately 100 animal protection organisations across 75 countries united in a common goal: to end the abuse of chickens worldwide. For the past several years, we have focused our efforts on eliminating battery cages by securing cage-free policies from major retailers, restaurants, and manufacturers. OWA groups share tactics and resources to secure as many wins for animals as possible, specialising in institutional campaigning that can be tailored to our members’ unique circumstances and challenges.

The Humane League is seeking a tenacious, determined, and well-organised individual with the drive to create progressive change for millions of farmed animals. The Temporary OWA Europe Regional Lead (Maternity Cover) is responsible for carrying out all aspects of our coalition’s work in Europe. This includes strengthening the OWA’s presence in Europe, developing and maintaining positive and collaborative relationships with OWA and partner organisations, empowering groups to coordinate regional campaigns, overseeing grants made in the region, and supporting groups in advancing institutional campaign work in their countries. Many Europe-based OWA groups are focused on the European Chicken Commitment (ECC) and broiler chicken welfare, although some remain focused on securing cage-free commitments.

As Temporary OWA Europe Regional Lead, you will be part of the OWA Member Support team, a small, high-impact team that specialises in coalition and capacity building. The team fits within the Global Programs department at The Humane League. The department has a strong understanding of corporate outreach and campaigning for improved corporate policies by multinational food businesses, and we leverage that knowledge to strengthen the global animal protection movement through the OWA. The Temporary OWA Europe Regional Lead role reports to the Director of the Open Wing Alliance.

This is a temporary, full-time, remote position requiring international travel, equivalent to approximately 3-4 week-long trips per year. This is a fixed term contract to cover Maternity Leave for up to 15 months. Employment is expected to begin on approximately October 7, 2024 and end on approximately December 31, 2025.  The duration of employment may be extended or shortened at The Humane League’s discretion. The Humane League is not the employer of record (EOR) for this position; the successful candidate will enter an employment agreement with a local EOR with whom The Humane League partners.

We are only able to consider applicants who reside and possess work authorisation in the United Kingdom.

We will be recording a webinar hosted by Carley Betts, Director of the Open Wing Alliance, and Annie Evans, Associate Director of the Open Wing Alliance, Europe, Middle East, and Africa. You can view the recording here. 

CORE RESPONSIBILITIES

Your responsibilities include but are not limited to:

Strategy

• Lead, manage, and develop all OWA membership activity across Europe.

• Work closely with OWA members to coordinate on corporate outreach and campaign targets and actions.

• Develop the internal OWA strategy, informed by research, current events, and collaboration with other organisations. Research and stay abreast of developments in corporate relations strategy.

• Observe and work with other organisations to learn new approaches, and share or coordinate strategies with Europe-based OWA groups.

• Contribute to the OWA Europe grants program, including supporting and monitoring the efficacy of grantees.

Communication

• Oversee communication with Europe-based OWA member groups. 

• Streamline communication between OWA groups in Europe by coordinating meetings and webinars and managing communication channels, such as Slack.

• Collaborate with team members in the Global Programs department on campaign targets and actions, and ensure key messages are relayed to OWA groups in Europe.

Member Relations and Support

• Support the development of goals and content for the annual OWA Europe Regional Summit in March 2025, and assist the OWA Training & Events Specialist with some logistics of the event.

• Ensure that OWA member groups in Europe have the support and resources they need.

• Lead the onboarding of new OWA member groups in Europe, developing and implementing personalised support plans and training for grantees.

• Attend check-ins as needed with the Director of the Open Wing Alliance, OWA Grant Lead, and Europe-based OWA members to encourage accountability.

Other 

• Attend conferences, events, and protests as required.

• Perform any other duties assigned by the Director of the Open Wing Alliance.

REQUIRED SKILLS

• Mission alignment: Dedication to THL’s mission to end the abuse of animals raised for food. Experience with, or interest in, the animal advocacy movement in Europe. 

• Collaboration: Outstanding relationship-building and interpersonal skills, with a track record of effective external partnerships and the ability to engage a wide range of stakeholders across various cultures. Able to facilitate conflict resolution and optimise collaboration between OWA groups. 

• Problem-solving and strategic thinking: Actively seeks opportunities and proposes solutions, with strong decision-making capability. Able to recognize and define problems, identify the underlying causes and contributing factors, and take a practical approach in considering different courses of action. Considers issues from various angles and generates logical and cohesive ideas.

• Global mindset: Able to approach work with a global perspective, taking into consideration the diverse experiences of OWA member groups across many different cultures, languages, and political systems. Sensitive to cultural and situational differences, with a demonstrated commitment to fostering and maintaining an environment of diversity, equity, and inclusion. 

• Tech-savvy: Comfort and proficiency with contemporary software applications. Able to quickly learn new software, including project management systems and communication tools. 

• Independence: Self-directed, ambitious, and comfortable taking initiative. Makes use of available resources and consults other staff members when appropriate.

• Organisation and project management: Able to manage a variety of simultaneous tasks and projects, prioritising and reprioritising effectively, with solid attention to detail. Excellent project management skills needed to coordinate logistics and communications with dozens of groups across many countries. 

• Communication: Fluency in English (other European languages would be a plus but are not essential). Able to communicate clearly and effectively with a variety of stakeholders across various cultural and linguistic backgrounds. Comfortable with public speaking and able to represent The Humane League and the Open Wing Alliance in a positive and diplomatic manner at conferences and events.  

• Good judgement: Safeguards confidential information and performs with a high level of discretion and integrity.

This position will remain open until filled, with a target fill date of early October. Applications will be reviewed on an ongoing basis throughout that time frame. If you are experiencing technical issues, please contact careers@thehumaneleague.org. Please submit applications and all supporting documents in English. All application questions and materials need to be submitted here through the application submission; we do not accept applications through our careers email.

Once your application has been reviewed, you will be notified via email with further details on the status of your application. If a candidate is moved forward, the interview process will be as follows:

• Phone Interview 

• Work Simulation Exercise (completed remotely)

• Interview (via video call)

• Reference Check

For full details of our recruitment process, please review this document.

Compensation and Benefits

The compensation range for this role is £37,454 - £45,777 GPB. At The Humane League, we believe in maintaining a fair and equitable work environment for all employees. As part of our commitment to transparency and equity, we recently implemented a job architecture framework, which levels all of our roles according to size and complexity, as well as a compensation step system, which allows us to account for an individual's total years of related experience when determining their compensation. In addition, we have adopted a no negotiation policy for salaries. To determine a job's level, we carefully consider a variety of factors, including a job's size and complexity, required experience, knowledge, and/or skills, internal comparability, and market data. To determine final compensation, experience will be measured by considering prior work in jobs or activities that are related to the role at THL. These new practices are aligned with our organizational values and will help us ensure we maintain clear, consistent, transparent, and equitable HR processes.

Benefits for employees in the United Kingdom include: 25 working days off, the last Friday of each month as additional time off, additional discretionary unlimited leave, paid holiday entitlement, 8 weeks full paid maternal, adoption, or shared parental leave after one (1) year of service, 2 weeks full paid paternity leave after one (1) year of service, and £25.00 GBP telework entitlement. The Humane League is not the employer of record (EOR) for this position; the successful candidate will enter an employment agreement with a local EOR with whom The Humane League partners.

Equal Employment Opportunity

The Humane League is committed to creating a diverse environment and is proud to be an equal opportunity employer. Women, people of color, people with disabilities, and veterans are strongly encouraged to apply. In compliance with laws and in furtherance of our commitment to fostering an environment that welcomes and embraces diversity, all qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, gender, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, national origin, disability, age, or veteran status.

Accommodations

The Humane League is committed to working with and providing reasonable accommodations to individuals with disabilities. We trust individuals to self-identify and ask for the accommodations they need. An example of an accommodation might be extra time to complete a work simulation exercise, among many others. If you need a reasonable accommodation because of a disability for any part of the employment process, please complete this form to let us know the nature of your request and your contact information.

AI Policy

We value original work and thought in the application process; with that being said, refrain from using artificial intelligence to generate your responses. By submitting this application you agree to comply with this. Violations of this policy may result in being dismissed from the hiring process. If you need a reasonable accommodation to this policy, please see above for more information.