Technical Director - Feed the Future FORK at Land O Lakes

• The Technical Director will provide technical leadership direction of the program, ensuring an integrated vision among different components and actors. S/he will provide strategic vision and technical oversight to team members and implementing partners. This will include overseeing strengthening the technical capacity of implementing partners and local partners to transform their local food processing sector. S/he will identify issues and risks related to program implementation in a timely manner and suggest appropriate program adjustments. The position will be based in one of our project locations in Southern or Eastern Africa.
• The Technical Director will report to US based Project Director. The position is subject to the availability of funds and approval by USAID.

Primary Responsibilities:

• Lead technical planning and program implementation, ensuring programming is evidence-based, grounded in global best practices and utilizes the most up-to-date guidelines, tools, and approaches.
• Lead technical capacity strengthening efforts to program staff, global counterparts, and local program partners.
• Contribute to the development of a model for the adoption, replication, and scale up of key food processing high impact practices regionally and in target countries.
• Support monitoring and reporting of project progress to ensure quality, timeliness, and completeness of activities, interventions, and technical deliverables.
• Assist program leaders in rapidly identifying and addressing any food safety technical issues related to project implementation.
• Synthesize and disseminate evidence-based results and lessons learned through reports, working groups, workshops, and regional platforms.
• Contribute to project learning and knowledge management by collaborating with donors, communities of practice, global organizations and coalitions, host governments, technical working groups, and implementing partners to share and discuss progress, achievements, and challenges.
• Ensure programming advances gender equity and equality and the meaningful engagement of adolescents/youth, women, and other underserved and underrepresented groups in program design, implementation, monitoring, and sustainability planning.

Required Skills and Qualifications:

• Degree in a relevant field such as food science, nutrition, agribusiness, international development, finance, economics, or other relevant or equivalent field.
• Seven (7) years of experience implementing international donor-supported programs, including extensive work experience with agribusiness, and enterprise development.
• At least five (5) years in agribusiness, nutritious agri-food processing, MSMEs and private sector development and project management roles with similar scope, size, and complexity.
• Demonstrated expertise in food processing, nutritious foods, agri-food development, safe use and handling, food loss and waste, and experience with metrics around food and market systems.
• Experienced in providing training, coaching, mentorship, and capacity strengthening in food processing, food safety and quality.
• Previous experience working with USAID and other donors, governments, and diverse sets of public and private sector food system stakeholders.
• Demonstrated ability to collaborate across projects, be flexible, and creative and successfully lead an intercultural team in complex development contexts.
• Excellent interpersonal and written and oral presentation skills in English.
• Ability to travel internationally for up to 25% of the time.

Preferred Skills and Experience:

• An advanced degree (e.g. MA/MS, PhD) in food science, agribusiness, international development, economics, international trade, business management, or other relevant field.
• Previous experience serving as Chief of Party, Deputy Chief of Party or Technical Director on a US Government-funded project.
• Additional fluency in French, Spanish or other language.