Job Openings 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

go to method of application »

About The Role

• The Tupande Research and Evaluations Lead will be responsible for overseeing all research, evaluation, and learning functions within Tupande.
• This includes managing and overseeing all ongoing and future research and evaluation projects in the country, ensuring they meet the needs of various stakeholders, including in-country teams, the Global Research and Evaluations team, and other global teams and donors. Additionally, the Research and Evaluations Lead will play a key role in contributing to thought leadership within Tupande, particularly focusing on data quality initiatives that support and advance Tupande's vision as well as the Tupande Impact Plan.

Responsibilities

• Independently lead in-country impact evaluations and studies, including:
• Outlining the theory of change and study design
• Developing data collection tools and implementation plans
• Representing research and evaluations work within the organization, ensuring stakeholders clearly understand the actionable results presented
• Take full ownership of the most complex workstream(s) while overseeing all other workstreams within the country, ensuring every project adheres to the minimum must-do's.
• Establish and continuously improve frameworks, processes, and procedures for quality assurance, monitoring, analysis, and reporting of impact data, in consultation with key stakeholders, ensuring team priorities run in alignment with organizational processes.
• Own the analysis and reporting of all Tupande research and evaluations data, developing and updating analytical frameworks and exploring efficiencies in data cleaning, automation, and reporting.
• Work closely with Program teams and other stakeholders to ensure research and evaluation results and recommendations are understood and acted upon, and strengthen the availability and use of high-quality data for decision-making at all levels of the organization.
• Contribute to thought leadership on Tupande's Impact Strategy, including developing studies on new or evolving channels, exploring new impact opportunities, and shaping research and evaluations goals in line with the strategy.
• Manage all team leadership matters within the department, including hiring, development, and performance management of research and evaluations staff.
• Oversee the department's budgeting and financial management, exploring growth and efficiencies without compromising team sustainability or data quality.
• Provide direct support to stakeholders on ad-hoc requests related to study design, analysis, data collection, and reporting, and partner with senior leadership in strategic decision-making related to impact work.

Qualifications

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

• A Bachelor's degree in a relevant field of study (e.g., economics, statistics, etc.)
• A Master's degree in a related field is an added advantage
• Strong professional experience designing and implementing evaluations and analyzing data (e.g., with large-scale data collection and field team management)
• Knowledge of evaluation concepts and mastery of experimental and quasi-experimental evaluation designs
• Strong analytical skills, especially the use of statistical techniques leveraged in impact evaluation measurement strategies (e.g., propensity score matching, difference-in-differences, regression discontinuity, etc.)
• Knowledge of statistical software, such as Stata or R
• Strong project management skills with the ability to oversee multiple projects of various levels of complexity at the same time
• A clear and compelling written communication style with an eye for design and visual presentation
• Ability to engage with multiple partners in a diplomatic manner and strong relationship-building skills
• Leadership experience, including managing a team
• A willingness to commit to living in East Africa for at least two years — this is a long-term, career-track role
• The ideal candidate will have at least five years of demonstrated experience working in the developing world, or be a country national from our program or operations
• Proficiency in English is required; Swahili is an added advantage