JOB DESCRIPTION – Principal Human Rights Consultant (APAC)
About the role:
As a Principal Consultant, you will help lead our human rights consulting practice, working with multinational clients to ensure their business practices align with international standards, regulation, and evolving societal expectations.
You will lead and deliver high-impact client engagements from early scoping through to implementation, translating complex human rights risks into clear, actionable advice. A key part of the role is shaping and delivering well-defined, scalable consulting services, while continuing to lead complex, high-value projects.
As a senior member of the team, you will work closely with colleagues across consulting, data, and sales, play an active role in business development, and build long-term client relationships. You will support clients in designing and implementing strategies to address actual and potential social impacts across their operations and supply chains. A degree of international travel will be required for short periods of time, depending on project/business development requirements. The successful candidate will also be encouraged to participate in external sustainability initiatives / communities of practice to enhance their ability to create positive impacts, experience new working contexts and develop stronger professional networks.
Day to day aspects of the role:
Consulting
Lead and deliver human rights advisory engagements, supporting clients to identify, assess, and manage human rights risks across operations, supply chains, and business relationships.
Apply international standards (e.g. UNGPs, OECD Guidelines) to develop practical, sector-relevant recommendations.
Manage project workstreams independently, ensuring high-quality outputs, clear documentation, and timely delivery.
Support business development by contributing human rights expertise to proposals, pitches, and client presentations.
Pre-sales support for data subscription and advisory solutions
Collaborate with sales and account teams to scope client requirements and help shape tailored solutions, methodologies, timelines, and pricing models.
Participate in introductory client meetings, articulating value propositions, and translating complex human rights concepts into client-relevant outcomes.
Collaborate with sales and account teams to position services effectively within broader sustainability and resilience offerings, including through the development of example deliverables and proofs of concept (PoC) tailored to individual clients.
Post-sales support for data subscriptions and advisory solutions
Act as a technical point of contact during delivery, helping maintain strong client relationships and confidence in project outcomes.
Support onboarding, project kick-off, and transition from sales to delivery, ensuring alignment on objectives and expectations.
Identify opportunities for follow-on work, service expansion, or long-term client partnerships.
Thought leadership and brand promotion
Contribute to the development of external thought leadership, including white papers, articles, webinars, and briefing notes on emerging human rights issues.
Monitor regulatory, legal, and market developments related to business and human rights to inform internal and external insights.
Represent Maplecroft at industry events, conferences, and client forums as a subject-matter expert.
Support marketing and communications teams with technically robust content that strengthens brand credibility and market positioning.
Product development support
Support the design and evolution of human rights tools, methodologies, frameworks, and digital products including the development of our human rights data and digital platform.
Pilot and refine offerings based on client feedback, delivery experience, and regulatory trends.
Collaborate with product, data, and technology teams to translate human rights expertise into scalable solutions.
Qualifications:
About you:
• Approximately 10+ years of experience working within the business and human rights field or related areas (such as responsible sourcing, sustainability, impact assessment, ESG, etc.), ideally within consulting or private sector contexts
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A proven track record of practical consulting experience, including the identification and nurturing of opportunities, development of robust and creative technical proposals, project delivery, team management and client engagement
• Expert knowledge of international human rights standards and norms, and key national and international regulatory requirements and trends, particularly as they relate to business
• Excellent communication and interpersonal skills, with the ability to engage with a wide range of stakeholders
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Microsoft Office proficiency, particularly PowerPoint and Excel
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Good presentation, research, report writing and analytical skills
