Agriculture Innovation Fund Director - Nigeria USAID/Feed the Future at Palladium Group

Project Overview and Role

• Palladium brings more than 50 years of experience applying rigorous, evidence-led methodologies to international development.
• Our work covers health, education, economic growth, governance, environmental issues, informatics, workforce development, and monitoring and evaluation, offering innovative approaches that support the design, planning, implementation, and evaluation of development programs. Our presence extends across more than 90 countries, creating positive impact over 100 projects through the dedication of 2,000+ project and home office staff.
• Palladium seeks Agriculture Innovation Fund Director for an anticipated USAID-funded Nigeria opportunities in Agriculture Competitiveness Project.

Responsibilities

• Ensures that innovation funds identify and catalyze new investment in Nigeria agribusiness and agriculture value chain development.
• Liaises with the value chain development team to identify companies/enterprises with potential to contribute to a stronger Nigerian food system through provision of agriculture inputs, expanded processing and trade, linkages to post-harvest handling and storage; and promotion of domestic consumption of key value chains.
• Develops a systems to track social impact of the agriculture fund on key target populations;
• Oversees a grants management team, ensuring that grants are in compliance with USAID and Palladium policies and procedures, and ensuring that grants manual and related program documents are compliant with USAID regulations.
• Oversees development of a grant tracking system to ensure the timely and correct execution of all grant agreements
• Maintains communication with recipients to ensure smooth administration of sub instruments;
• Reviews recipient reports and documentation for compliance with agreement/sub-agreement terms and conditions

Requirements
Minimum Qualifications

• Master's degree in Business, Finance, Agriculture Economics or any other relevant field.
• Experience with USAID innovation funds and grants required
• Demonstrated effectiveness in communicating with clients and project stakeholders
• Previous experience in Nigeria preferred
• Strong interpersonal skills required for working with project staff and beneficiaries
• Demonstrated ability to work under pressure with limited guidance
• Excellent communication skills are essential to write effectively and persuasively and be able to present information in a variety of settings and formats
• Fluency in English required