Job Description

Ethical Sourcing Operations and Governance Manager - Victoria, Hawthorn East

A new role means a new way to win together. We’ve been proudly serving Australian communities since 1914 and at the heart of our continued success lies our 115,000 team members working across the country. If you’re looking for a career-defining opportunity, take the next step and explore another way your work can have impact and make a difference.

About the team

People and Culture are dedicated to fostering an engaged and empowered workplace. One that’s strong, diverse and where our team members have exciting career pathways to choose from. We do it by making people’s lives easier through better experiences, useful tools, and by providing ongoing opportunities to learn and grow.

Coles is part of everyday life for millions in Australia, reflecting the communities we serve and the responsibility that comes with our scale. This responsibility extends beyond our own operations and team members to the people who contribute to our extended supply chains. Within People & Culture, the Ethical Sourcing team plays a critical role in managing human rights and modern slavery risks across our operations and supply chains. Working with business teams, suppliers and external stakeholders, we support the early identification, assessment and management of human rights risks and strengthen due diligence processes.

About the opportunity

Reporting to the Group Ethical Sourcing Manager, this is a senior role within the Ethical Sourcing management team. You willprovidea whole-of-program view acrossretailethicalsourcing activities, connecting this work to the broader Human Rights program. Partnering closely withtheLead Specialist,



the Operations and Governance Manager will help translate strategic priorities into coordinated and consistent execution, strengthen programgovernanceand drive operational effectiveness across thespecialistteam.

This is an chance to help shape the next phase of Coles’ Human Rights and Ethical Sourcing program as it continues to grow in scale, maturity and impact. We’re looking for a commercially astute leader with deep human rights expertise, strong strategic and analytical capability, and the ability to effectively influence at senior levels. You understand the realities of a large retail business and can navigate an evolving risk landscape, translating insights into practical actions that deliver meaningful, lasting outcomes.

Responsibilities:

Provide oversight acrossethicalsourcing activities inretail, setting priorities andmaintainingvisibility across delivery, reporting obligations and program evolution.

Partner with the Lead Specialist to build a coordinated interface with retail business units, creating clear requests, ownership and escalation pathways while reducing duplication and improving stakeholder experience. This includes ensuring controls for onboarding, risk segmentation, audits, non-conformance management,derogationsand escalations are applied consistently and proportionately, with performance insights used to address root causes and reduce recurrence.

Work closely with the program team to strengthen governance, data,



systems and reporting, embedding consistent frameworks and processes across investigations, audits and retail delivery,while partnering to use performance insights to identify systemic issues, address root causes, reduce recurrence, monitor outcomes andrefine approachas needed.

Stay close to the changing modern slavery, human rights, regulatory, media and supplier risk landscape, assessing how emerging developments intersect with retail innovation, changing customer expectations and shopping behaviours, and translating these insights into practical priorities for the business.

Lead,coachand develop the specialist team, strengthening accountability, cross-skillingand sustainable workload planning. Use data trends to improve program effectiveness, shape its next stage ofmaturityandmaintainstrong compliance and governance across the team.

You'llhave:

10+ years' experience across ethical sourcing, human rights, modern slavery, social compliance or related governance and risk disciplines.

Significant experiencein retail, FMCG or another fast-paced corporate environment, with a strong understanding of commercial drivers and the ability to balance risk and business priorities.

Strong systems thinking, analytical and critical thinking skills, able to connect diverse issues,identifyinterdependencies and distil data and emerging risks into clear recommendations, with strong follow-through to drive coordinated action and outcomes.

Deepexpertiseacross supplier assurance, social audit programs, risk assessment, investigations, remediation, governance,reportingand data-driven decision-making.

Proven experience leading high-performing specialist teams, bringing clar

📌 Ethical Sourcing Operations and Governance Manager (City of Boroondara)
🏢 Coles Group
📍 City of Boroondara