Head of Strategy and Business Development at Apollo Agriculture

About the Role: Apollo is seeking an experienced Head of Strategy and BD to help us build pathways from subsistence to commercial farming. This role will drive Apollo’s growth in several areas, including new product strategy, geographic expansion, and partnership development.  This role is inherently cross-functional, touching on product and expansion strategy, agronomy, business development, and technology.

Location: Either Nairobi, Kenya or Amsterdam, Netherlands is preferred. The role can be remote for the first ~6 months.

Reporting: This role reports to the CEO.

You Have:

• Significant experience in product strategy and development in a growing technology company, likely in a strategy, growth, or product role working closely with a product team, and/or a background in management consulting.
• Significant experience building close working relationships and partnerships both within a company and externally.
• Strong financial modeling skills to evaluate potential growth opportunities.
• A demonstrated history of driving growth in a fast-paced environment.
• The experience to know when something is “close enough” to done to be valuable.
• Exceptional written and verbal communication skills.
• An MBA (useful, but not required) or similar skillset.

You Are:

• Entrepreneurial and ambitious, with a proven record of developing and executing strategic projects in a complex and dynamic environment.
• A skilled relationship builder, who is excited to bring together multiple teams and partners to understand and solve hard problems.
• Passionate about agriculture and sustainability.
• A considerate listener who takes the time to deeply understand customers, teammates, and partners.
• Incredibly curious.

We:

• Are a collaborative team of smart and ambitious people who are dedicated to serving our customers
• Make magic happen to solve hard problems and always come with solutions when challenges arise
• Are comfortable taking risks that can result in radical scale, and understand that failures are opportunities to learn and improve
• Are considerate listeners and take the time to deeply understand and seek out ideas from the people around us, even when we disagree 
• Offer a dynamic environment that fosters talent, collaboration, and growth
• Take pride in our work and share the responsibility to see it through from conception to deployment
• Back up our talk with a competitive compensation and benefits package and challenging projects
• Value autonomy, honesty, transparency, and respect
• Are excited to hear from you!

Responsibilities 

• The Head of Strategy and BD will work closely with Apollo’s CEO and Chief Customer Officer, as well as our product, engineering, agronomy, and operations teams, to evaluate opportunities and develop Apollo’s strategy in the following critical areas:
• Vertical scale: What crops, tools, services, and investments best enable Apollo’s customers to transition from subsistence maize farming to more profitable, more sustainable, and more commercial farming? How should Apollo evaluate, prioritize and actualize growth into these new crops, new products, and new services like market access for their crops, and on what timescale?
• Horizontal scale: How should Apollo expand, both within Kenya and internationally? What products are best suited to new regions, and how should product offerings be adapted to achieve product-market fit in new territories?
• Technology landscape: How should Apollo’s product and customer acquisition strategies evolve as our customers transition from feature phones to smartphones? How can Apollo best take advantage of opportunities brought about by smartphone adoption and other new technologies?
• Partnerships and Business Development: What partnerships can Apollo develop or deepen to increase both horizontal and vertical scale? How can Apollo expand existing partnerships, including with ag-input suppliers, local governments, insurance companies, and agrodealers to maximize our value proposition and achieve our growth goals?