Commercial Strategy Lead – High Value Crops at One Acre Fund

About The Role

• Seeking a strategic project management professional with 5+ years of experience to lead complex cross-functional initiatives and translate a 5-year strategy into scalable, commercially viable solutions with strong farmer impact.

Responsibilities
Lead Strategic HVC Projects

• Lead and execute strategic projects that support the HVC and Potato strategies and Tupande's impact vision.
• Translate strategic priorities into structured execution plans, milestones and clear ownership.
• Own key HVC workstreams and drive them through agreed Stage-Gate processes.
• Contribute to strategic direction by identifying opportunities, risks and required interventions.

Commercial & Operational Analysis

• Drive planning, forecasting and performance analysis across priority HVC value chains.
• Analyse farmer, market, supply, pricing and operational data to generate actionable business insights.
• Develop business cases and recommendations to support variety diversification, commercial partnerships and margin expansion.
• Use data and sound business judgment to influence decisions on investment, scale-up and portfolio priorities.

Cross-Functional Project Leadership

• Coordinate cross-functional teams across Agronomy, Global Supply Chain, Government Relations, Operations and other relevant functions.
• Drive alignment on variety testing, regulatory approvals, seed multiplication and commercial implementation.
• Lead task forces and ensure agreed actions, milestones and dependencies are delivered.
• Influence stakeholders without direct authority to achieve strategic project objectives.

HVC Portfolio Performance Management

• Track strategic KPIs and performance across the HVC portfolio.
• Lead regular assessment of initiatives against agreed commercial, farmer-impact and operational criteria.
• Make recommendations to scale, pause, adapt or discontinue initiatives based on evidence and business viability.
• Support integration of HVC priorities into S&OP and broader business planning processes.

Support Leadership Coordination & Communication

• Prepare analysis, recommendations and presentation materials for HVC leadership, S&OP and SteerCo discussions.
• Support communication and alignment of strategic HVC priorities across relevant teams.
• Provide clear updates on progress, risks, decisions required and strategic recommendations

Qualifications

Across all roles, these are the general qualifications we look for. For this role specifically, you will have:

• Technical Skills: Exceptional project management and stakeholder management skills, with the ability to lead complex, cross-functional initiatives.
• Analytical Skills: Strong analytical capability, able to combine data with sound business judgment to influence business decisions.
• Strategic Thinking: Ability to translate strategy into executable plans and identify opportunities, risks and structural bottlenecks.
• Interpersonal Skills: Excellent interpersonal skills and ability to understand the motivations of different teams and stakeholders and support them to work together.
• Commercial Acumen: Ability to assess commercial viability, develop business cases and understand the financial implications of strategic decisions.
• Technical Tools: Proficient with Microsoft Office Suite, particularly Excel and Google Suite