Job Opportunities at One Acre Fund

Job Summary

• Seeking an analytical worker with a background in soil science who will help define One Acre Fund's strategy for soil carbon sequestration in a smallholder setting.

Job Descriptions

• Scaling adoption of climate-smart agriculture practices presents an opportunity for smallholders to address the existential livelihood threats posed by climate change. These practices simultaneously provide immediate economic benefits for smallholders and contribute to climate change mitigation through increased sequestration of carbon in soils.
• You will help One Acre Fund explore how we can a) maximize the carbon sequestration impact of One Acre Fund's work and b) connect smallholder farmers to global funding streams which reward them for the public good of carbon sequestration.
• This role would report to the Global Impact Director.

Responsibilities of this role will include:

• Build an appropriate modeling and measurement strategy for soil-carbon sequestration among small-holder farmers that could be integrated into One Acre Fund's current program work;
• Assess the health and accessibility of global financing streams that support c-sequestration (carbon markets and philanthropy);
• Produce a strategy to incorporate additional climate-smart farming practices that increase carbon sequestration while providing short-medium term economic benefits to farmers into One Acre's Core training/product package;
• Present and promote strategy to organizational leadership and country teams;
• Oversee execution of intervention and measurement strategy.

Qualifications
Required:

• Advanced degree in Soil Science, Environmental Science, or a closely related field
• English Language required; French, Swahili, Kinyarwanda, Kirundi are a plus
• Creative and diligent approach to work; flexibility and humility

Preferred:

• 3+ years of experience in agriculture with an emphasis on soil carbon dynamics or GHG fluxes, ideally in a development setting with smallholder farmers
• Experience of soil carbon modeling, e.g. in CENTURY, APSIM, RothC, NDICEA
• Experience using a mixture of quantitative and qualitative research methods at large scales, and producing systematic reviews and meta-analyses
• Working knowledge of trends in global carbon markets and certification requirements
• Experience leading collaborative work with multi-disciplinary teams

Sponsor International Candidates:

• Yes. Nationals of countries in which we operate are especially encouraged to apply.

Compensation

• Commensurate with experience

Benefits:

• Health insurance, paid time off
• Sponsor International Candidates

Career Growth and Development:

• We have a strong culture of constant learning and we invest in developing our people. You’ll have weekly check-ins with your manager, access to mentorship and training programs, and regular feedback on your performance.
• We hold career reviews every six months, and set aside time to discuss your aspirations and career goals. You’ll have the opportunity to shape a growing organization and build a rewarding long-term career.

Job Description

• We are seeking a smart, dedicated and analytical or field research professional to be an MEL Associate located in Zomba, Malawi. Overall, the MEL Associate will be responsible for using data to continually improve our operations, and impact on our customers.
• The MEL department at One Acre Fund operates like an in-house research institution and the results are used first and foremost to inform program decision-making and to rigorously understand impact.
• The Malawi Program has been in operation since 2013 and currently serves farmers by providing fertilizer and seed on credit with regular training.
• The Malawi program also runs a hybrid seed promotion project which serves a large swath of the country.
• The primary duties for the MEL Associate in Malawi are to ensure that data collection systems are running properly, data analysis is completed with action-oriented recommendations, and MEL staff are continuing to grow professionally.

Specific Responsibilities
Specific responsibilities include, but are not limited to:

• Goal-oriented survey design, field-testing of survey instruments, and revision.
• Innovate to ensure efficient and action-oriented data collection and results.
• Conduct data analysis and write reports to draw both early and final conclusions and actionable results.
• Work closely with the Field teams to ensure the M&E results and recommendations are understood and acted upon.
• Supervision of local MEL management including Field Coordinators, MEL Specialists, and Data Coordinators which support a team of ~30 full-time enumerators. This will include the following duties:
• Regular mentor-ship of MEL team members through field visits, meetings, and career reviews.
• In-field supervision of key MEL activities, with an eye to "perfect" quality standard.
• Quality-control and supervision of data collection processes.
• Overseeing in-field follow up on errors.
• Oversee the hiring and development of MEL staff.
• Update hiring protocols when necessary and use them to hire top-quality data collectors.
• Conduct regular trainings to improve skills of local MEL leads.
• Appropriately deal with under-performing staff.

Career Growth and Development

• We have a strong culture of constant learning and we invest in developing our people.
• You’ll have weekly check-ins with your manager, access to mentorship and training programs, and regular feedback on your performance.
• We hold career reviews every six months, and set aside time to discuss your aspirations and career goals.
• You’ll have the opportunity to shape a growing organization and build a rewarding long-term career.

Qualifications

• We are seeking an exceptional professional with 2-3+ years of work experience, and a demonstrated long-term passion for international development. We are looking for truly extraordinary candidates that will help take our organization to the next level of impact and scale. This is a competitive posting for a career-track role with a minimum initial commitment of two years.

Candidates who fit the following criteria are strongly encouraged to apply:

• Strong and relevant work experiences such as rural data collection, research or prior field-based MEL work
• Academic or professional experience designing and implementing evaluations/research and analyzing findings
• Solid quantitative skills and experience with statistical software (STATA preferred)
• Ability to multi-task well and meet deadlines consistently
• Masters in International Relations, Public Policy, Statistics or related field preferred but not strictly required
• Positive attitude; oriented towards personal growth and learning. Ability to take feedback well.
• Logical and structured thinker with clear and compelling written communication style.
• Leadership experience at work or outside of work.
• Language requirements - English required, Chichewa desirable.

Compensation

• Commensurate with experience

Benefits:

• Health insurance, paid time off.

Job Descriptions

• We are looking for a operations manager with in-depth experience in process design, health and safety, and optimizing processes for efficiency.
• Rwanda will reduce and eliminate seed imports soon and is therefore investing in domestic seed production. One Acre Fund is excited to scale domestic hybrid maize processing. Our facility will bring hybrid seed to over a million farmers and create tens of millions of dollars of impact by increased harvest for farm households.
• The operations manager will bring a wealth of expertise in process efficiency optimization and safety assurance to bring our operation to international standards. You will achieve our growth targets, at speed, to provide even more high-quality seed for Rwandan farmers.

Reporting to the Seed Department Manager you will manage:
Plant and Worker Safety:

• Ensure our plant is safe to operate, introducing international standards of health, safety and environment controls

Data Management:

• Start a dedicated manufacturing data management system with full visibility of process inputs and outputs
• Implement tight controls on inventory management ensuring no losses

Finances and Forecasting:

• Manage monthly approval of seed processing Budget Vs Actual (BVA) spending
• Perform monthly cash flow forecasts

Process Efficiency & Optimization:

• Reduce per Kg cost of processing whilst maintaining the highest standards of seed quality
• Increase plant throughput while ensuring safety, quality and cost effectiveness

Future proof our operations:

• Ensure machine and infrastructure are fit for scale
• Support strategy development for successful processing capacity increase

Oversight of the processing team:

• Manage the seed processing specialist and seed quality control teams
• Ensure sustainable working hours, pleasant working culture and safety of our processing team

Qualifications
This is a career–track role. We are looking for extraordinary professionals who will take One Acre Fund to the next levels of impact and scale. Candidates who fit the following criteria are encouraged to apply:

• Education: Minimum of a Bachelor's Degree, preferably in Business, Engineering or Science. Related masters degree is desirable (e.g. Operations Management, Mechanical Engineering, Manufacturing/Industrial Engineering, Process Engineering, etc.).

Minimum 4 years work experience in:

• Managing large / complex operations or processing facilities
• Health and Safety protocol enforcement
• Design and optimization of physical manufacturing processes
• Data and budget management

Professional / technical skills:

• Analyze, summarize and communicate data. Excel skills particularly an asset (can maintain complex spreadsheets with advanced functions)
• Manage a complex and demanding workload and still achieve excellent results
• Leadership experience. Examples include startup experience or successful entrepreneurial experience (e.g. starting a program in a developing country, leading a conference, starting a business).
• Fluency English is necessary , Kinyarwanda is a plus
• Microsoft and Google Applications

Humility and Responsiveness to Feedback:

• Give and receive direct feedback
• Use feedback as a constructive tool to grow and improve professionally
• Bring humility into all aspects of work and interactions with colleague

Compensation

• Commensurate with experience

Benefits:

• Health insurance, paid time off

Career Growth and Development:

• We have a strong culture of constant learning and we invest in developing our people. You’ll have weekly check-ins with your manager, access to mentorship and training programs, and regular feedback on your performance.
• We hold career reviews every six months, and set aside time to discuss your aspirations and career goals. You’ll have the opportunity to shape a growing organization and build a rewarding long-term career.

Sponsor International Candidates

• Yes: East Africans are strongly encouraged to apply.