Technical Lead (Consulting) at Cultivating New Frontiers in Agriculture (CNFA)

Background and Purpose

• CNFA is preparing for an anticipated agriculture investment-promoting opportunity that will address the constraints of the overall agricultural business environment of Nigeria and improve the levels of agriculture-related investments.
• The Consultant will serve as a Technical Lead to design the strategy for the subject proposal and will work closely with the technical writer, other technical consultants, and the rest of the proposal team to provide inputs, comments, and feedback during the proposal draft development and submission.
• The consultancy is immediate and may require travel to Nigeria for a short reconnaissance trip.

The illustrative tasks are provided below:

• Complete the Research Guide.
• Lead development of the technical approach and the partnership strategy and guide the proposal draft writing, collaboration, indicators, and results.
• Draft sections of the technical approach as assigned.
• Provide comments, reviews, and inputs for the color drafts.
• Lead development of a list of potential partners and stakeholders with whom the project should collaborate; and lead and participate in calls with them and secure letters of commitment.
• Provide input on the design of the organizational chart, management plan, staff position descriptions, project office locations, and collaboration narratives.
• Provide other deliverables as requested, based on mutual agreement with a supervisor.

Job Requirements
Key Qualifications:

• A Master's Degree in Agriculture, Agribusiness, Investment, Finance, Management, International Development, or a related field of study or equivalent work experience is required.
• At least eight (8) years of experience serving as a senior technical professional on a US-donor-funded value chain initiative is required.
• Successful experience in new business development in a capacity of a technical lead expert, and/or a lead technical writer is required.
• Demonstrated experience working in finance and/or investment or related sector is required.
• Experience providing technical oversight and leadership to facilitate expanded trade and competitiveness of agricultural value chains preferred.
• Experience establishing and facilitating public-private partnerships is strongly preferred.
• Experience overseeing value chain development or market systems development approach to improve a market access and development is strongly preferred.
• Demonstrated capacity to establish and maintain positive, collaborative, and productive relationships with government and other partners is required.
• Experience working in West Africa, particularly in Nigeria strongly preferred.
• Strong written and spoken fluency in English is required.
• Understanding of local language(s) preferred.