Product Compliance Director: Product Safety and Risk, EMEA

About SHEIN EMEA

SHEIN is a global online fashion and lifestyle retailer, providing an extensive range of affordable, SHEIN-branded apparel and products sourced from a global network of vendors. Since our founding in 2012, we have expanded to serve customers in over 150 countries worldwide. Our EMEA headquarters are in Dublin, and we now operate over 15 offices across the EMEA region. At SHEIN, our mission is to make the beauty of fashion accessible to all. Through our industry-leading, on-demand production model, we support a smarter, more future-ready fashion industry that adapts to the changing needs of our customers.

Position Summary

This role will join the EMEA Legal Team, working closely with the product compliance functions globally. The position is responsible for compliance activities such as advising on evolving regulatory developments, enabling market access, reporting compliance trends, managing first-party product investigations and recalls, managing third-party recalls, and auditing product compliance on the SHEIN Marketplace. The successful candidate must be inquisitive, enthusiastic about e-commerce and innovation, enjoy a fast-paced environment and being continually challenged, and demonstrate sound judgment even in ambiguous situations.

Responsibilities:

• Primary: Work as an integral part of the legal team to lead comprehensive product compliance standards. Help develop workable compliance objectives and drive initiatives to achieve and elevate compliance standards. Drive improvements to operational processes and knowledge management systems. Ensure product compliance policies and procedures are thoroughly developed, clearly communicated, and implemented effectively by business partners. Identify gaps and close gaps in the product compliance program. Work closely with the product safety and quality control team within the supply chain business and direct business partners as to actions that must be taken to minimise product risk. Perform other duties as assigned or required to ensure product compliance in the EMEA region.
• Enable Market Access: Efficiently conduct product compliance research for, and use third parties (e.g. testing laboratories, consultants, and voluntary standards associations) to, conduct research that enables the business to quickly enter new geographic markets and launch new products (e.g. children’s products and general use consumer products; electrical and electronic equipment; food, drugs, cosmetics, and medical devices; and packaging). Effectively interpret regulatory and mandatory standards (e.g., permitted, restricted, and prohibited substances, materials, and products; safety; testing; certification; labeling; claims; packaging; etc.) and communicate them in a way the business can understand and implement compliance measures.
• Report Compliance Trends: Monitor regulatory changes applicable to selected products, countries, and policy areas and communicate the impact on the business. Identify regulations, standards, guidance documents, enforcement actions, and news applicable to products, countries, and policy areas, and communicate the impact on the business. Report to senior management regarding product regulatory and mandatory standards trends, data, comparisons of similarities and differences in product requirements across geographic markets, and the effectiveness of internal policies and procedures.
• Manage First Party Product Investigations and Recalls: Ensure first-party product investigation and recall policies and procedures are thoroughly developed, clearly communicated, and implemented effectively by business partners. Identify gaps and close gaps in the first-party product investigation and recall program. Conduct research to determine when first-party product investigation and recalls are needed, and in which countries. Prepare communications to government authorities with regards to product investigation and recalls. Engage with government authorities and lead communication on behalf of SHEIN. Direct business partners as to actions that must be taken to effectively delist items, communicate with customers, and permanently block products from being relisted.
• Manage Third-Party Product Recalls: Ensure third-party product recall policies and procedures are thoroughly developed, clearly communicated, and implemented effectively by business partners. Identify gaps and close gaps in the third-party product recall program. Effectively track daily third-party product recalls for designated countries. Direct business partners as to actions that must be taken to effectively delist items, communicate with customers, and permanently block products from being relisted.
• Audit Product Compliance on the SHEIN Marketplace: Audit that gating is sufficiently minimizing product compliance issues downstream. Audit that delisting is efficiently catching products caught downstream. Where deficiencies are found in these product compliance-related processes, direct business partners as to actions that must be taken to effectively delist items, communicate with customers, and permanently block products from being relisted. Where deficiencies are found in these product compliance-related processes, request Corrective Action Preventative Action (CAPA) plans from business partners.

Skills and Qualifications

• Ability to perform professional work effectively in English (and Mandarin would be a plus, but not essential).
• A degree in a relevant area (science, law, or engineering), as well as a minimum of 7 years of relevant combined experience in consumer product compliance (product safety; regulations research; standards interpretation, guidance, and enforcement actions; technical writing; competitive intelligence services; and/or product recalls). Additional years of relevant work experience will be required for those with unrelated educational backgrounds. Applications are welcome from qualified lawyers with experience in product compliance.
• Thorough understanding of manufacturers, private label retail, third-party platforms, government authorities, industry associations, and voluntary standards committees, and the roles each plays in product safety and product recalls.
• Ability to utilise a wide variety of research databases and online resources.
• Ability to interpret regulations and standards and to quickly assimilate and assess new information and develop plans to capitalise or react to these requirements.
• Experience with product recalls in multiple countries preferred.
• Exceptional program and project management skills.
• Ability to influence people and drive projects to completion under tight deadlines.
• Self-starter, entrepreneurial, “roll up your sleeves” attitude.
• High degree of independence, initiative, and good judgement.
• Commercial and pragmatic in your approach to legal advice, whilst maintaining a strong sense of professional accountability.
• Experience and capacity to lead multi-jurisdictional projects and coordinate external advisors.
• Ability to deliver results, both as an individual contributor and as a member of the European and global legal teams.
• Flexibility to accommodate communication required across different time zones for collaboration with different parts of the group.

SHEIN is an equal opportunity employer committed to a diverse workplace environment.