Program Manager

Wanted
Mid-career professionals with 4 – 6 years work experience for a role that combines both field and management experience in Africa.

Job Location
Western Kenya (English required) or Southwest Rwanda (French required).

Duration
Minimum two year's commitment, full-time job.

Organization Description
Most of the world's poor are farmers, representing the largest and most uniform group of poor people in the world. One Acre Fund is a start–up non-profit in Kenya, Rwanda, and Burundi that is innovating a new way of helping farm families to achieve their full potential. Instead of giving handouts, One Acre invests in farmers to generate a permanent gain in farm income. We provide farmers with a "market bundle" that includes education, finance, seed and fertilizer, and market access. Our program is proven impactful – every year, we weigh thousands of harvests and measure more than 100% average gain in farm income per acre. We have laser–like focus on generating better lives for the people that we serve.

Job Description
We are seeking exceptional professionals with 4-6 years work experience for our program manager role, and demonstrated interest and experience in international development (i.e. 1 year+ living in a developing nation). They will serve in a career-track position that combines both field and management experience in Africa. As a young organization, we are ready to hand over large responsibility for specific, well-defined work modules, with similar structure to an operations consulting role.

Projects will be focused on improvements to One Acre Fund's program model - as opposed to day-to-day operations, which are operated by our country staff. The typical program manager leads several major projects, and several smaller ones - typically projects with higher degree of difficulty. Example projects include:

• Operations projects. One Acre Fund may set up a bean seed production company, an area we have identified as a major humanitarian opportunity in East Africa. A program manager in Rwanda pioneered the protocols associated with starting a bean seed production company, and is investigating possible scale-up.
• Middle-management training series. As we rapidly expand our field operation, we need to recruit and develop a large number of middle managers. A program manager in Kenya developed a unified training series, rolled out some sample trainings with fifteen managers, revised, and worked with our Kenya director to deliver the trainings.
• Financial processes. We have a program manager who is heading up an effort to rationalize our financial processes. As a result of his work, we will now have monthly data on actual expenses vs. budget across all budget line items and three different districts. He will gradually hand this off to two office staff that he is managing. Having this data will lead us into the next phase of the work, which is to design and implement a wide variety of cost-cutting programs

This is a career-track role that is intended to eventually transition into a role such as country director, innovation director, etc. This is also a role that is eventually tracked to transition to "general partner", the core leadership group of One Acre Fund.

Qualifications
We are looking for truly extraordinary candidates that will help take our organization to the next levels of impact and scale. This is a competitive posting for a career-track role with minimum initial commitment of two years. Candidates who fit the following criteria are strongly encouraged to apply:

• *Demonstrated interest and experience in international development, requiring at least one year of living in a developing nation.
• *A willingness to commit to living in rural areas of East Africa for at least two years, minimum.
• Top-performing undergraduate background (include GPA and test scores on your resume).
• Strong work experiences. Examples include professional work experience, or some kind of successful entrepreneurial experience (e.g. starting a field program in a developing country, leading a conference, starting a business, peace corps).
• Leadership experience at work, or outside of work
• Humility and personal stability. We have a fantastic and likeable team. We are looking for passionate professionals that combine strong leadership skills with good humor, patience, and a humble approach to service
• Nice to have: Kiswahili a plus, Kinyrwandan or French a plus. English required.
• Ability to cook/ laugh/ extraordinary patience - all desirable.
• ** PLEASE DO NOT APPLY FOR PROGRAM MANAGER, IF YOU DO NOT FIT THESE CRITERIA. WE HAVE OTHER OPEN JOB POSTINGS AVAILABLE, SUCH AS PROGRAM ASSOCIATE. **

Language
Western Kenya (English required) or Southwest Rwanda (French required)

Preferred Start Date
Flexible

Compensation
Starts very modest. However, this is a career-track role with fast raises for performance, paying a meaningful salary for long-term placement in developing nations.

Benefits
Health cover, immunizations, flight, room and board.

Career development
Quarterly management consulting-style career reviews and constant feedback. Your manager will invest significant time in your career development.

Sponsor International Candidates
Yes

To Apply

1. Complete this form.
2. Email cover letter and resume to jobs@oneacrefund.org (Subject line: "Program Manager Search" + name of the site that referred you).
3. If you are a Returned Peace Corps Volunteer (RPCV), please submit a copy of your Description of Service (DOS).