Human Rights & Compliance Sustainability Program Lead (m/f/d)

At Fresenius Medical Care, we are the global leader in kidney care, committed to improving the lives of patients with chronic kidney disease.

Our mission is to deliver high-quality, innovative products, services, and care across the entire healthcare journey.

Guided by our vision—“Creating a future worth living.

For patients.

Worldwide.

Every day.”—we work with purpose and compassion, supported by a global team of over 110,000 employees.

Within our Care Enablement segment, we develop and provide life-sustaining medical products, digital health solutions, and therapies that empower clinical teams and improve patient outcomes.

Our FME Reignite strategy drives transformation through innovation, efficiency, and sustainable growth.

Our values guide how we work

• We Care for our patients, each other, and our communities
• We Connect across teams and borders to deliver excellence together
• We Commit to doing things the right way— growing with purpose and leading kidney care with integrity and innovation

As Human Rights and Compliance Sustainability Program Lead, you will play a key role in advancing our global Human Rights Due Diligence and sustainability compliance agenda.

You will shape and continuously improve our human rights program, ensuring compliance with evolving regulatory requirements while partnering with stakeholders across the organization to promote responsible business practices throughout our operations and value chain.

Your Responsibilities

• Lead and continuously develop the global Human Rights Due Diligence (HRDD) program, ensuring alignment with applicable requirements including the German Supply Chain Due Diligence Act (Lk SG), EU Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive (CSDDD), CSRD/ESRS, UN Guiding Principles and OECD Guidelines.
• Act as a member of the Human Rights Office pursuant to §4(3) Lk SG and the senior subject-matter expert and primary point of contact for human rights due diligence, advising business functions and senior management on relevant risks, regulatory developments and compliance requirements.
• Conduct and coordinate regular and ad-hoc human rights risk assessments across the company’s own operations and global value chain, identifying key risks and defining appropriate preventive and remedial measures.
• Monitor the effectiveness of the human rights risk management system, track corrective actions and remediation activities, and regularly report human rights performance and key developments to senior management and relevant governance bodies.
• Further develop policies, processes, procedures, training concepts and digital tools supporting the HRDD program, including maintaining the company’s human rights policy statement and related commitments.
• Coordinate human rights and sustainability-related disclosures and supporting data for regulatory and sustainability reporting, including CSRD/ESRS, Lk SG documentation and applicable international reporting requirements, including e. g.

UK Modern Slavery Act, Canadian Forced Labour Act.

• Oversee the human rights grievance mechanism, ensuring accessibility, confidentiality, protection against retaliation, appropriate case documentation and continuous assessment of its effectiveness.
• Partner with Procurement, Human Resources, Sustainability, Legal, Internal Audit, Regulatory Affairs and other functions to implement risk-based due diligence measures, including supplier assessments, audits, contractual requirements and conflict-minerals due diligence.
• Engage with external stakeholders and support ESG ratings and investor requests on human rights topics.
• Maintain documentation demonstrating fulfillment of applicable due diligence and reporting obligations.

Your Profile

• Bachelor’s degree in Law, Business, Economics, Human Rights, Political Science or a comparable field; a Master’s degree or equivalent qualification is preferred.
• At least 6 years of progressive professional experience in compliance, human rights, ESG, sustainability reporting, legal or a related field, ideally gained in a multinational organization or healthcare/Med Tech environment.
• Deep expertise in human rights due diligence and sustainability regulations, particularly Lk SG, CSDDD, CSRD/ESRS, the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights and the OECD Guidelines.

Professional certifications in compliance, ethics, human rights due diligence, or ESG are preferred.

• Proven experience in designing, implementing and continuously improving compliance, sustainability or human rights due diligence programs within complex, international organizations.
• Strong understanding of corporate compliance, ethics, governance, sustainability reporting and relevant international regulatory developments, with the ability to translate requirements into practical business solutions.
• Excellent analytical, organizational and project management skills, combined with strong written and verbal communication skills and experience preparing executive presentations, regulatory documentation and reports.
• Ability to build strong relationships and influence stakeholders across functions and organizational levels without direct authority, while effectively managing multiple priorities in a global environment.
• Fluent in German and English, with a high level of integrity, professionalism, discretion and sound judgment; willingness to travel internationally up to approximately 25%.

Our Offer For You

There is a lot you can discover at Fresenius Medical Care, regardless in which field you are an expert and how much experience you have - all dedicated to your professional journey.

• Whether in front of or behind the scenes - you are helping to make ever better medicine available to more and more people around the world
• Individual opportunities for self-determined career planning and professional development
• A corporate culture in which there is enough room for innovative thinking - to find the best solution together, not the quickest one
• A large number of committed people with a wide range of skills, talents and experience
• The benefits of a successful global corporation with the collegial culture of a medium-sized company

We are committed to diversity and equal opportunities and welcome applications from people with disabilities.