European Coordinator

Break Free From Plastic

Hours
38 hours per week

Start date
1 July 2026

About the Organisation

Break Free From Plastic (BFFP) is a global movement of 3500+ organisations across 186 countries working to end plastic pollution. In Europe, we coordinate 127 members across 33 countries. Zero Waste Europe hosts the BFFP Europe coordination team

About the role

The European Coordinator provides strategic and operational leadership to the BFFP Europe team, overseeing delivery of the European strategy, line managing senior staff, leading fundraising, and representing the movement with key stakeholders. The role also connects European work with BFFP's global strategy. You bring substantial experience in network or movement coordination, people management, and fundraising, alongside a strong understanding of plastic pollution issues. You're a strategic thinker, skilled facilitator, and confident working across cultures in an international environment.

Responsibilities

Coordination and Management of the BFFP European Coordination Team:

• Lead the European coordination team, including oversight of collective and individual planning and evaluation processes
• Line manages three to four members of the team and supports other line managers
• Co-lead the recruitment of new staff and oversee their onboarding and offboarding as relevant. Support the Senior Manager, People & Operations, in setting and updating team policies and processes
• Update on a regular basis the European Support Team (governance body) about team and movement development, and seek their input as relevant.

Coordination of the effective implementation of the BFFP Europe Strategy:

• Oversee implementation of the different pillars (narrative, advocacy, movement building) of the European Strategy and support synergies building between pillars and projects, and between the BFFP European movement and its policy arm, the Rethink Plastic Alliance
• Support the development of European-wide or joint campaigns or activities, notably through support to BFFP Task Force leaders and liaising with the Rethink Plastic Alliance Coordinator
• Facilitate a collaborative evaluation of progress made collectively towards the achievements of the BFFP European strategy. Support the resilience of the European movement
• Co-led the organisation of the BFFP European Meeting (typically every two years), along with the Senior Manager, People & Operations
• Develop and maintain relationships with key external stakeholders as relevant (allies, change agents, decision-makers, funders)
• Pursue opportunities to raise the visibility of BFFP in public events, ensuring that BFFP members can represent the movement or represent it directly.

Support cross-regional work and contribute to BFFP's wider Team Processes:

• Ensure that the European strategy aligns with and supports the achievement of the BFFP global strategy - Provide input for, contribute to planning, agenda setting, and follow up, and participate in the Team Leads Forum (the movement's deliberative body comprised of team members who oversee main teams)
• Input to strategy & impact review processes on a global level and to initiatives focused on resilience building
• Coordinate fundraising efforts with those of the global team and of other regional teams.
• Identify and enhance synergies and complementarity between the work in Europe and in other regions or globally.

Fundraising, budget & grant Management:

• Implement and lead BFFP Europe coordination fundraising strategy and oversee its implementation
• Maintain strong relationships with funders
• Oversee all BFFP Europe coordination-related budgets
• Oversee funding proposals, narrative, and financial reporting
• Support the Senior Manager, People & Operations, finance consultant, and key staff at the fiscal sponsor, in financial compliance and reporting.

Skills, Competencies, Experience & Attributes

Experience:

• Experience in movements or networks
• Substantial experience in the coordination of groups, networks, and projects
• Experience in people management
• Experience with budget and grant management
• Strong understanding of issues associated with plastic along its supply chain
• Experience in fundraising
• Experience in working with people from different cultures and nationalities in a way that facilitates an intersectional approach.
• Deep knowledge of the BFFP movement
• Experience in advocacy, at national, EU, and international levels, notably on plastic policies
• Experience in team management
• Experience in building partnerships.

Knowledge, Skills & Understanding:

• Strategic thinking, with the ability to leverage opportunities and synergies
• Excellent command of English, and the ability to communicate complicated messages clearly and appropriately to different audiences
• Ability to manage and, as relevant, mediate differences of opinion and disagreements
• Appetite and skills for facilitation and holding groups;
• Commitment to wellbeing, work-life balance, and a healthy team environment
• Strong networking and team-building skills appropriate for a multicultural and multidisciplinary environment.
• Passion for social and environmental justice
• Excellent organisational skills and attention to detail
• Solid IT competences with collaborative tools:
  • Google Drive, Slack, Asana, Zoom, Google Groups).
• Other languages, apart from English, are a plus.

Personal Qualities:

• Empowering leadership approach built on clear communication, effective delegation, feedback, mutual trust, and a strong commitment to well-being
• Excellent interpersonal skills and a team player
• Excellent listener and communicator
• Impact-driven, solution-oriented, and resilient
• Organised and able to prioritise
• The capacity to run different tasks simultaneously
• Appetite for working in an agile European and international environment
• Willingness to work with a flexible schedule, as required
• Willingness to travel internationally, as required.

Compensation & Benefits

• Benefits such as lunch vouchers
• Payment proportional to your time worked during the year and holiday pay.
• BFFP Europe team members also benefit from 26 days of annual leave plus additional leave between Christmas and New Year, progressive discretionary leave policies, and travel insurance.

Conditions of employment

• You need to be valid work permit in Belgium or Germany

Working locations

• Brussels, Belgium

How to apply

• Submit your CV and motivation letter in English (PDF) via the application link by 7th May 2026 EOD. For questions, contact Alexander Colling at [email protected].
• Please note that applications via email will not ordinarily be accepted: please apply using the link above.

Interviews

• First round interviews (online) 12th and 13th May 2026
• Second round interviews (in-person in Brussels): 22 May. Please note that there will be a short assignment to work on between 13th May and 20th May. BFFP Europe will aim to reimburse candidates for their travel expenses to/from the second interview.

Policies

At BFFP Europe, we understand that not all individuals have the same opportunities to engage in paid work or studies both within and outside of the movement. We highly value passion and experience in addressing plastic pollution, environmental, social, health and human rights justice. We are open to receiving applications from those who may not fulfil all the required skills but have the interest, passion and lived experiences to fulfil the role. In this respect, we encourage people from a diverse intersection of backgrounds to apply.

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