[Hiring] Agricultural R&D Manager @One Acre Fund

Role Description

This role leads the country program Ag R&D strategy execution, trial execution, standardization of research designs and tools, implementation of FAIR data principles across operating countries, Ag R&D efficiency metrics and KPI tracking, and driving Ag research dashboard. By optimizing the research pipeline from ideation to field adoption, the Regional Ag R&D Manager ensures that spatially and temporally tailored innovations directly improve smallholder farmer yields, profits, and long-term soil health.

This role also guides research-backed agricultural recommendations to program teams on optimized input choices, soil health, alternative fertilizers, and crop management decisions. Additionally, this role designs and administers staff training in research in general.

Responsibilities

• Provide thought leadership and technical guidance for the development and implementation of strategies to deepen farmer impact through improved agronomy.
• Variety recommendations - leadership and oversight of research to generate high-impact and adoptable seed recommendations at region to field level.
• Drive development of country-level strategies to diversify seed catalogs and encourage farmers to experiment with and adopt varieties that improve their productivity.
• Crop nutrition - Develop recommendations to improve profitability & sustainability of fertilizer use.
• Soil health - Develop recommendations for adoption of erosion-mitigation practices and soil structure improvement.
• Technical consulting - Serve as the regional technical expert, delivering rapid, evidence-backed advice for urgent field challenges.
• Research strategy & trial design - Provide technical leadership to ensure research methodologies produce rigorous data.
• Research data analysis & interpretation - Execute and provide oversight for analysis of trials, survey and other data.
• R&D operations, efficiency metrics & KPI tracking - Establish standardized efficiency metrics and KPI tracking systems.
• R&D pipeline management - Participate in stage-gate processes to evaluate innovations.
• Capacity Building - Design training materials and conduct regional workshops on trial design and data analysis.
• Outsight - Collaborate and share information with various institutions and the private sector in agriculture research.

Qualifications

• Fluency in agronomy, physiology, G x E x M, and major pests of crops widely cultivated in our operating areas.
• Ability to translate knowledge of technically optimal agronomy into simpler, practical recommendations for field teams and farmers.
• PhD with 3 years or MSc with 5 years experience in applied agricultural sciences.
• Experience in designing and managing on-station and on-farm trials.
• Knowledge of appropriate application and interpretation of statistical analysis techniques for agronomic trial data.
• Familiarity with predictive and classification machine learning algorithms.
• Demonstrated track record of establishing project management frameworks and KPI tracking.

Benefits

• Health insurance, housing, and comprehensive benefits.

Eligibility

• This role is only open to citizens or permanent residents of Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Rwanda, Burundi, Ethiopia, Malawi, Democratic Republic of Congo, Zambia, and Nigeria.

Application Deadline

08 January 2027. Please note that we hire on a rolling basis.

Diversity, Equity, Inclusion (DEI)

Diversity, Equity, Inclusion (DEI), and anti-racism are deeply connected to our organization’s mission and purpose. One Acre Fund aspires to build a culture where all staff feel consistently valued, represented, and connected.