Agricultural Manager, Regenerative Agriculture Program

Everyone deserves the chance to build a better future. This simple idea has been at the heart of TechnoServe’s work around the world for over 50 years. TechnoServe is a pioneer in harnessing the power of business and markets to create sustainable pathways out of poverty.

The low-income communities we work in are full of enterprising people. Their small-scale farms and businesses are key to economic development. But they face many challenges: low literacy, lack of access to jobs and markets, unpredictable political dynamics, and, increasingly, the effects of climate change. Without resources to combat threats such as unpredictable weather patterns, worsening natural disasters, and crop and livestock diseases, these small-scale producers face lower incomes and higher risks as they struggle to make a decent living.

TechnoServe is rising to this challenge with a bold commitment to help create a people, nature, and climate positive world. Our Regenerate 30 initiative launched at COP27 aims to achieve the following impacts by 2030: 30 million people with increased resilience, 30 million tons of CO2e reduced or sequestered, 30 million hectares of land under sustainable management or enhanced conservation, and $300 million in private sector investment. The initiative will deliver over $1 billion in financial benefits to smallholder farmers and businesses. Innovating with corporate partners to transform their global supply chains across their entire sourcing footprint as they work toward net zero commitments is critical to achieving our Regenerate 30 vision.

Program overview:

The program donor has committed as a company to protect and regenerate 1.5 million hectares of land, forests and oceans by 2030 and has partnered with TechnoServe to implement the Regenerative Agriculture program, which inspires and supports farmers and agribusinesses to join the journey towards regenerative production systems.

This global program, funded until 2027, is an opportunity to partner with a leading company to demonstrate that there is a future for better, low-carbon, biodiverse, and profitable approaches to agriculture. The program will work with the donor’s suppliers in different countries and different food ingredients and will meaningfully contribute to TechnoServe’s Regenerate 30 impact goals. This requires working with the world’s leading regenerative experts and practitioners in agricultural communities to support them in driving bottom-up change based on local context. The program has a global reach and creates a unique opportunity to benchmark new regenerative agriculture practices and share insights and lessons learned across contexts.

Job Summary:

The Agriculture Manager is responsible for managing the programme’s technical team (comprising internal agronomists, external regenerative agriculture experts and partner organisations) and leads the programme’s engagement with donor technical counterparts and their suppliers. The Agriculture Manager manages the programme’s implementation to drive the transition to regenerative agriculture models in countries and commodities in the donor’s sourcing footprint; and coordinates and collaborates with the corresponding actors to execute the processes under their responsibility.

Primary Functions and Responsibilities:

• Program Management
  • Coordinates the planning, implementation and monitoring of regenerative agriculture projects across multiple countries and crops.
  • Develops project plans and timelines and manages project execution to achieve program objectives and stay within program budget.
  • Communicates program results, challenges and lessons learned to inform decision making and improve program performance.
• Program implementation
  • Manages the program’s technical team, consisting of internal agronomists, external regenerative agriculture experts and partner organizations, to execute the work plan
  • Leads technical meetings and workshops, including internal program implementation meetings and weekly team meetings with donor supplier technical teams
  • Provides technical advice to suppliers on regenerative agriculture transformation, in collaboration with our external advisors and partners (e.g., design of trials to test specific regenerative practices, monitoring and interpretation of agronomic results, design of a scale-up plan for farms in the supplier’s supply chain)
  • Provides technical insights during meetings with the donor and other external partners and stakeholders.
• Program reporting and knowledge management
  • Works with the different components of the programme to measure and report programme data, including output-level and outcome-level indicators (e.g., reducing greenhouse gas emissions, improving soil health, using water more efficiently, restoring biodiversity, and improving farmer livelihoods).
  • Shares knowledge and insights with internal teams and external partners to facilitate learning and replication of successful interventions.
  • Works with the team to respond to requests from TechnoServe HQ and other teams.
• Contract management
  • Provides support, if necessary, in recruiting and contracting consultants and experts.
  • Ensures timely execution of agreements and monitors the performance of consultants and subcontractors to deliver quality results.
• Other duties as assigned.

Basic requirements:

• A bachelor’s degree in agriculture or other relevant field and at least seven years of relevant professional experience are required, OR a master’s degree plus five years of experience
• Previous experience in the agricultural sector, managing agricultural operations or advising agricultural businesses, and an understanding of the principles and practices of regenerative agriculture
• Strong project management and people management skills, including anticipating demand and managing multiple tasks and projects while meeting tight deadlines.

Desired qualifications:

• Experience working in cross-functional and multi-cultural teams across multiple geographic regions.
• Experience in leading the transformation of agricultural operations to regenerative agricultural production systems.

Required languages: Fluent in Spanish and English. Portuguese is highly desirable.

Travel: International travel up to 30%.

Knowledge, skills and abilities:

• Ability to work independently and remotely and effectively manage multiple tasks and deadlines.
• Ability to navigate in culturally and – at times – logistically complex and challenging environments
• Commitment to sustainability and environmental stewardship.
• Attention to detail and strong organizational skills.
• Proven team player with strong interpersonal and intercultural skills.
• Entrepreneurial mindset and passion for identifying gaps and proposing solutions for continuous improvement.

This is a remote position in the Latin America/Caribbean region. Candidates must have a work permit in the country from which they are applying. Application materials must be submitted in English for further consideration.

We encourage all qualified individuals who share TechnoServe’s vision of improving the lives of others through proven business solutions to apply.

We are committed to diversity and are proud to be an equal opportunity and affirmative action employer. We do not discriminate on the basis of sex, race, color, ethnicity, religion, sexual orientation, gender identity, age, HIV/AIDS status, protected veteran status, disability or other protected class.

We are also proud to be committed to protecting staff, partners and beneficiaries from abuse and exploitation. All final candidates are thoroughly screened using stringent background and reference checks.

If you have a disability that prevents you from using our online system to apply for a position at TechnoServe, please contact Human Resources at [email protected] or call +1 202 785 4515.

Originally posted on Himalaya