Lead One Acre Fund Kenya’s Field Operations Team
A top
strategic role overseeing field program execution and staff development for a
large and rapidly growing operation
Industry:
Nonprofit/International Development
Function:
Kenya Field Operations Director
Employer:
One Acre Fund
Job Title:
Kenya Field Operations Director
Job
Location: Rural Kenya (Bungoma
) – opportunity for partial time in
Nairobi after onboarding
Duration:
Minimum 2-year commitment, full-time job
Organization
Description
More than 75% of
the world’s poor are smallholder farmers, representing the largest and most
uniform group of poor people in the world. Serving farmers in Kenya, Rwanda,
Burundi, and Tanzania, One Acre Fund is a growing social enterprise that is
innovating a new way of helping farm families to achieve their full potential.
Instead of giving handouts, One Acre Fund invests in farmers to generate
a permanent gain in farm income. We provide farmers with a complete
“service bundle” that includes financing for seed and fertilizer,
delivery, training, and market facilitation to maximize profits from harvest
sales. Our program is proven impactful: on average, farmers working with One
Acre Fund realize a 50%+ increase in crop yields in a single season, giving
them a surplus harvest they can sell to make other investments. We measure
success in our ability to make farmers more prosperous and we have a
laser-like focus on generating better lives for the people that we serve.
We are growing
quickly. Since 2006, we have grown to serve 300,000 farm families with more
than 3,000 full-time field staff and we will serve 1 million farmers by 2020.
Website: www.oneacrefund.org.
Job
Description
One Acre Fund Kenya’s
long-term vision is to end hunger in Kenya and provide an accessible pathway
to prosperity for every farm family in the nation. Our Kenya program is
currently transitioning from a start-up environment to a mature operation –
and we are seeking a mid-career professional with demonstrated operations
management ability to help us build the team and operational systems we need
to sustain our rapid rate of growth. Working with our Kenya team presents the
opportunity to build upon strong operational foundations in One Acre Fund’s
original country of operation and lead our largest field team in delivering
impact to a network of hundreds of thousands of farm families.
As the Kenya Field
Operations Director, you will oversee a team of more than 1,300 total Field
program staff. Though the direct management of 3-4 associate and manager-level
individuals and close coordination with leaders from our Innovations,
Operations, and Program Design teams, you will play a critical role in
ensuring that we build the capacity of our staff team and our back-end systems
to provide financially sustainable impact to half a million farmers in Kenya
by 2020.
Key
responsibilities and skills will include:
- Program
execution and monitoring: You’ll lead the team that is ultimately
responsible for the timely implementation of our unique program that
fights poverty and hunger on a daily basis. You exemplify our belief in
putting Farmers First by determining methods to keep One Acre Fund a
customer-centric organization growing in scale and impact from season to
season. - Team
leadership: You’re passionate about people
development and all of our field staff, from our team leaders down to the
most junior Field Officer. You’ll plan and oversee teambuilding, advocate
for field staff at all levels, and find creative ways to inspire and
unite a large team. - Staff
development: You’ll establish and cultivate strong
relationships to ensure that all staff on the Field Operations team can
maximize their career performance and job satisfaction as part of the One
Acre Fund family. You’ll epitomize One Acre Fund’s value of being a
family of leaders by developing and maintaining processes ensuring that
everyone—from the Program Managers directly reporting to you to the
newest Field Officer in our program—is continually mentored, challenged,
and supported by the organization. - Knowledge
management: You’re detail-oriented and will
continuously find new ways to streamline documentation processing and
knowledge management for an operation that is rapidly growing in both
size and complexity. - Budget
management:
You’re a strategic thinker with the ability to oversee a large operating
budget. You’ll efficiently oversee the creation and compilation of annual
and monthly budgets. Additionally, your history of leading and building
successful initiatives with measurable results will support program
improvements that will increase our operational efficiency and reduce
operating costs. - Support
innovation: You dream big – you’ll be creating and
supporting ideas that will help One Acre Fund reach its goal of serving 1
million farmers by 2020. Among other things, this will entail providing
regular feedback on trial ideas and practical support to our innovations
teams as they work to integrate new products and new program design ideas
into our core operations.
Career
Growth and Development
One Acre Fund
invests in building management and leadership skills for all staff. In this
role, you can expect that your manager will invest significant time in your
career development by providing regular, actionable feedback and mentorship
during weekly 1:1 meetings and bi-annual career reviews. You can also expect
an intensive, multi-month onboarding period during which you will shadow
various leaders in the Kenya program to gain a comprehensive understanding of
the portfolio of work you will manage. The Kenya Country Director and other
leadership staff at One Acre Fund will continue to invest significant time in
your career development throughout your tenure in this role.
We are a team that
is devoted to rapid career growth for top performing staff. Therefore, you can
expect that your manager and other leaders in the organization will be ready
and willing to discuss your long-term career goals and work collaboratively
with you to craft a role that you can be passionate about.
Qualifications
We are seeking an
exceptional professional with 5+ years of work experience and a
demonstrated passion for international development. Candidates who fit the
following criteria are strongly encouraged to apply:
- 5+
years of professional work experience in a management or leadership level
in the private sector or a non-profit environment. - Experience
leading large teams, managing managers, and supporting the career growth
of others. Cross-cultural team leadership a plus. - Experience
in operations management. Formal training in project or operations
management a plus. - Ability
to solve complex problems and manage crises calmly. - Collaborative
and proactive working style. - Humility.
We are looking for passionate professionals who combine strong leadership
skills with good humor, patience, and a humble approach to service. A
leader in this position will need to be very comfortable hearing and
learning from “upward feedback” from their team. - Top-performing
academic background (please include GPA on your resume) and Master’s
degree. - Language:
English required, Swahili a plus.
Preferred
Start Date
Immediately.
Compensation
Commensurate with
experience.
Benefits
Health insurance,
immunizations, flights, room and board.
Sponsor
International Candidates
Yes
East Africans
are encouraged to apply