Senior Agronomy Advisor 165 views

We are recruiting for an experienced expert in managing people to lead the agronomy advisory unit of a large-scale five-year program in Yirgacheffe. If you want to be a part of a project from its inception this is the opportune moment to join TechnoServe as we move to the next phase of impact within the Ethiopian coffee industry.

If you are highly organized with proven leadership experience, if you are enthusiastic about good agricultural practices and helping farmers improve their operations, if you are an expert in managing multiple staff and work plans, and if you are comfortable overseeing program field operations, then you may be exactly the person that we are looking for!

The role

As the Senior Agronomy Advisor, you will directly contribute to the Regrow Yirga program’s deep impact by leading a team of agronomy advisors and farmer trainers to train more than 42,000 coffee farmers over five years. You will hire, train, and supervise you team to provide monthly training on good agricultural practices to farmer groups. Your team will conduct periodic farm visits to monitor best practice adoption and you will be responsible for collecting and reporting accurate and timely data and training attendance. You will report directly to the Agronomy Program Manager while supervising the field-based agronomy unit and serving as the program ambassador in operational areas. You will ensure the effective, timely, and high quality delivery of trainings and follow-up support activities to all program farmers with a particular focus on leading efforts to facilitate a more gender and youth inclusive and conflict sensitive agronomy program.

The Project

The project will help farmers boost productivity and expand trade. Specifically, the Regrow Yirga program seeks to serve 42,000+ farmers, 45+ processing businesses, and coffee industry service providers. The project will launch an innovative Farmer Stumping Fund which will facilitate direct incentive (tools or cash) transfers to farmers to encourage tree rejuvination which has the potential to be scaled up to over 1 million coffee farmers nation-wide.

This USD 15 million project finds its roots in TechnoServe’s 10+ years of experience working with the coffee farmers in Ethiopia. Our work was recently honored as the “Origin Charity of the Year” by the National Coffee Association – the leading trade organization for the coffee industry in the United States.

What we Offer

We offer competitive salaries and career growth opportunities. We offer online learning resources from top universities. We provide regular training to all our staff to equip you with the coffee-specific technical know-how for you to excel. We provide autonomy in your job and you get to be part of a stellar team and shape the project from its inception. You will be challenged and grow as a professional. We offer a diverse team environment and highly encourage women and underrepresented groups to apply. And of course… we serve great coffee and host regular fun team activities.

Our ideal candidate –

1.    Is knowledgeable about agronomy, business development, or project management.

2.    Has a Master’s degree (preferred) or Bachelor’s degree in agronomy, plant science, business and administration, sociology, rural development, engineering, or other related discipline with at least 5 years of experience .

3.    Is an excellent people manager with at least 3 years of professional management experience, preferably including experience in or with the private sector.

4.    Demonstrates high attention to detail with excellent leadership, management, and planning skills, with a history of working independently and within agreed timelines.

5.    Has excellent written and verbal communication skills in English and Amharic (knowledge of Afan Oromo, Sidamigna, or Gedigna is an added advantage).

6.    Is passionate about working with farmers and rural development; willing to be located in Dilla town with frequent time spent traveling to project training sites in rural areas.

7.    Embraces our values of collegiality (we stick our necks out for each other), integrity (doing the ‘right thing’ regardless), resourcefulness (solve problems) and results (bias for action).