Job Opportunity at Yara: Government Relations & Public Affairs Manager
Job Opportunity at Yara
About Yara and YAA
Founded in 1905 and headquartered in Oslo, Yara International is a Norwegian multinational company (MNC) and the leading sustainable agricultural, digital farming solutions, and farmer livelihood-enhancement company. Our dedicated team of 18,000 professionals in 160 countries is committed to helping the world achieve a nature-positive food future through regenerative farming, climate neutrality, and farmer prosperity.
With its headquarters in Singapore, Yara Africa & Asia (YAA) is one of Yara’s three regional geographic operating units. YAA and its team of 2,000 employees support an extensive and diverse region of 22 market economies. YAA works closely with in-country, regional, and global stakeholders – including policymakers, commercial and smallholder farmers, retailers and channel partners, and NGOs to identify how the company can best support priorities around food security, farmer livelihoods, sustainability, and circular economy across the food value chain. With global production capacity and product innovation, digital technology across five digital farming hubs – three of which are in Africa and Asia (Singapore, Shanghai, and Bangalore) – Yara Africa & Asia is supporting millions of farmers to grow our food sustainably.
About the Unit
In Thailand, Yara has been present for more than 40 years, a leading brand in many crop segments and helping farmers increase their incomes. Safety and ethnics are our licenses to operate. Our people have the ambition to make Yara Thailand the best place to work, by empowering people on a day-to-day basis.
Yara Thailand (YTH), one of our Premium Members seeks a hard-working, dynamic, and motivated professional individual to lead and drive its public policy, stakeholder engagement, and external communications strategic initiatives in Thailand and Myanmar as its Government Relations & Public Affairs Manager, based in Bangkok.
This successful candidate will be part of Yara Africa & Asia (YAA)’s Social Impact and Public Affairs (SIPA) team. The person will report to the Director of Public Affairs & Corporate Communications – Africa & Asia (“the Director”), who is based in Singapore. He/she will also have a dotted line reporting to the Senior Vice President, Yara Thailand & Myanmar (“the SVP”), and to the Myanmar Country Manager (MCM).
YAA’s Social Impact & Public Affairs (SIPA) team was created in 2021 to help farmers achieve enhanced livelihoods, contribute to sustainable food production, and foster local and regional economic development by providing access to knowledge, financing and insurance, technology, and offtakers. SIPA’s mission is also to support policymakers and other external stakeholders in their mission to achieve a nature-positive food future for their nations.
Responsibilities
- Undertake comprehensive mapping of the relevant key public- and private-sector stakeholders.
- Identify public policy priorities, develop, and implement short-term and longer-term GR/PA plans, and strategies, budgetary requirements to help Yara Thailand and Myanmar achieve their commercial objectives.
- Understand governmental priorities relevant to Yara, determine areas of alignment, and how the company can help the government achieve these objectives.
- Develop Yara’s GR/PA strategies in Thailand and Myanmar in coordination with the SVP, MCM, and YAA regional teams, to position Yara externally as a key stakeholder and leader toward a nature-positive food future focusing on food security, farmer prosperity, regenerative agriculture, and climate sustainability.
- Position Yara as a trusted resource and advisor, helping the government and other stakeholders develop regulatory and foreign direct investment (FDI) frameworks supporting Thailand and Myanmar’s food and ag sector.
- Monitor, interpret, and support Thailand and Myanmar’s public policy and regulatory environments.
- Develop and proactively present concise and business-relevant GR/PA intelligence on pertinent regulatory and governmental issues to Yara senior executives and external stakeholders.
- Drive Yara Thailand and Myanmar’s senior management outreach and key stakeholder engagement to relevant policymakers, ensuring external relations are anticipatory, ongoing, and aligned.
- Build and further relationships with various Yara corporate stakeholders and external partners in Thailand and Myanmar.
- Develop the SVP’s and MCM’s internal and external communications.
- Assist with all aspects of Thailand and Myanmar country visits by key Yara global and regional leaders.
- Build and implement a strategy for Yara Thailand and Myanmar’s public affairs and media engagement activities, including policy-related external communications that augment and align with country, regional, and global corporate positions.
- Represent Yara in high-profile public speaking/engagement roles.
- Develop Yara Thailand and Myanmar’s – and help contribute to YAA’s – thought leadership and public policy contributions on a range of issues, including
- Help Yara grow a nature-positive food future to support increased agricultural productivity, food security, innovation, sustainability, and enhanced livelihoods.
- Advocate for the importance of adopting and enabling access to digital technology-enabled solutions and other innovations to improve the competitiveness of food system actors, specifically small-holder farmers and small businesses.
- Support the greater empowerment of farmers, particularly female and youth smallholders and MSME agri-entrepreneurs.
- Accelerate the adoption of climate-smart and climate-resilient agricultural practices.
- Championing Yara’s Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) commitment.
- Any other duties as may be reasonably expected.
Profile
- A bachelor’s degree in political science, international affairs, international development, or a similarly relevant field within the social sciences.
- 6-8 years of demonstrable experience working in public policy, public affairs, and/or corporate communications in Thailand. Myanmar, ASEAN-, APAC-, and/or Europe-related experience is a plus.
- Excellent attention to detail (i.e., perfectionist attributes), organisational ability, time management, and ability to prioritise competing demands and provide quality work under short notice and tight turnaround times.
- Discretion, tact, personal and professional ethics, and a diplomatic demeanour are essential.
- A team player.
- Proven ability to develop and maintain deep and diverse networks of contacts, such as those appropriate to this role. GR/PA background in the food/ag, agritech, or digital industries is highly desirable.
- Experience working in/with multicultural environments, and a keen interest in learning about other countries and cultures.
- The ability to engage (easily and confidently) Yara and external stakeholders at all levels of heads of state, ambassadors, C-level executives, and other senior officials is critical.
- Fluency in Thai, excellent interpersonal and written communications skills in English; proficiency in Burmese desirable; proficiency in other Asian national languages/lingua franca is a plus.
- Proven ability to develop and implement successful public policy engagement campaigns.
- Experience with media relations and developing PR (e.g., writing press releases, media briefs, interview preps, internal and external social media posts, etc.) are highly desirable.
- Pragmatic, resourceful, and flexible approach to work.
- Capable of operating independently as part of a small, hard-working team and prepared to assist outside of office hours where necessary to meet company requirements.
- Open to international travel opportunities if/as they arise.
Requirements
Candidates must have relevant work authorisation in Thailand (e.g., Thai citizenship, permanent residency, or non-immigrant visa status that allows employment). Yara is unable to provide an employment visa or relocation support for this role.
To apply, please send a cover letter (required) detailing how your career accomplishments and professional/personal interests would make you a great fit for this role, your detailed resume, and two short, relevant writing samples (max. 2-3 pages each).
Apply no later than,
30 April 2023, click here.
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