Arvind - Head - Water Innovation Center

WICA Head

About the Organisation

Water is a shared resource with multiple uses and faces competing demands from domestic, agricultural, and industrial sectors. Today, almost two thirds of the world's population experience severe water scarcity for at least one month each year. With growing competition for increasingly scarce water resources, the textile and apparel sector are under pressure to introduce water management practices to sustain its business operations. Water Innovation Center for Apparel (WICA) is a one of its kind centre that will promote and upscale water management practices across the textile and apparel value chain and act as a 'innovation hub' for water management related innovations for the textile and apparel sector in India and around the world.

WICA aims to advance and scale water stewardship in the textile and apparel sector by partnering with manufacturers, businesses, government, academia, industry associations, and civil society. For the same, WICA will enhance the knowledge sharing opportunities for the industry and provide a pre-competitive and open-source knowledge repository; help develop innovation and expose manufacturers to current and futuristic technologies through the incubator; bring together key stakeholders in water management and manufacturing for meetings and events; and serve as an event space.

WICA is supported by Arvind Limited and Gap Inc. and its solutions will be open sourced to encourage innovation and uptake across the textile and apparel sector. This position will be initially housed in Arvind Limited which is a textile to retail conglomerate with focus on textiles, apparels, advanced materials, environmental solutions, telecom and Omni-channel commerce.

About the Role:

- Serve as founding WICA Head, shaping programming for a 2023 launch and raising awareness of the centre among textile industry and water management stakeholders.

- Initiate, build, and strengthen WICA's role and position within the textile and apparel sector.

- Manage the establishment, implementation and evolution of the Water Innovation Centre for Apparel (WICA).

- Development of strategic objectives of WICA including the facility budget and program.

- Lead WICA's work on thematic priorities related to capacity development, innovation and/or technology adoption.

- Develop implementation plans, with clear goals, deliverables, KPIs and timelines; and identify priority activities and allocate appropriate resources.

- Engage in adaptive risk management.

- Initiate, establish, and coordinate partnerships (and financial support) to promote engagement and participation of private and public sector stakeholders in WICA activities.

- Establish and improve internal working methods, collaboration, and organization.

- Manage and evaluate the performance of staff and consultants and ensure full delivery of agreed outputs while fostering a spirit of collaboration, teamwork, work ethics, transparency, and accountability.

- Prudently manage day-to-day office operations, including procurement, expert recruitment, financial and asset management

- Build WICA's inaugural staff; supervise multidiscipline teams with staff of varying experience.

About You:

Qualification:

- Advanced university degree in a subject related to water, environmental science, textile engineering, natural sciences, business administration or sustainability.

- At least ten years of progressively responsible and diverse experience in the above fields including at least three years with an international organisation.

- A Doctorate in a related field can be considered as a substitute for three years of working experience.

- Experience managing a learning center, innovation hub, community workspace, or multi-stakeholder institutions

Skills :

- Proven ability in leading and managing a culturally diverse team

- Ability to build the team responsible for management and performance of WICA

- Strong leadership presence, including confidence in public speaking and ability to persuade and influence people at all levels

- Extensive network of contacts within the field of water, textiles and associated fields.

- Excellent abilities in taking innovative technologies to full scale implementation through innovation incubator. This includes the ability to understand the technology and support its development from an idea to prototype and then to a full scale commercial product. Experience in creating content for innovation programs, workshops and training is also valuable.

- Strong Program and Project Management experience

- Strong project financial management

- Communicate effortlessly in English both writing and verbal.

What we offer :

When you work with us, everything you do will have a clear purpose and significant meaning, as we aim to reduce the water impacts of manufacturing clothing and apparel. You will have the chance to truly impact the textile and apparel sector and the environment while expanding your knowledge, improving your abilities, and advancing your career in a fun and dynamic organisation.