Burundi Field Operations Associate

Seeking a mission-driven leader with 2+ years’ experience to manage and improve large-scale field operations, lead farmer facing teams, and drive program growth and innovation to sustainably increase impact for thousands of smallholder farmers. The Field Operations Department supports the implementation of the One Acre Fund program in the field through a cascading team structure that reaches thousands of field agents. These agents work closely with farmers and deliver Tubura’s core services, including training, credit management, and organizing product distribution at the hill level. As a Field Operations Associate within this department, you will have the opportunity to learn from large-scale field operations while contributing to continuous program improvement. The role includes two main components: operational management and innovation at scale. Operations management: The FOP Associate will focus on delivering services to farmers. He/She begins as generalists, with overall responsibility for executing our program within a given region of operation in Burundi. Over time, He/she can continue to grow as a general leader, potentially managing Field Operations for an entire country. He/She may also choose to specialize, for example in designing and rolling out training programs. Program associates also build the infrastructure necessary to sustain and scale the program. These teams proactively remove barriers to scale across a wide range of areas, processing millions of payments made by farmers, communicating with farmers through tens of millions of SMS messages, recruiting hundreds of new staff each year, and physically transporting more than 20,000 tons of agricultural inputs to various delivery sites. Program Associates also drive continuous improvements to accelerate growth, for example by implementing mobile money system integration at the country level. Innovation at scale: Associates identify innovative agricultural, nutrition and environmental products to help increase farmers ‘ incomes. The ideas they develop may eventually support thousands of households. The team will design pilot trials, implement them with thousands of households, analyse the data, and continuously refine the product offerings provided to farmers. Associates also work to improve our core operational model. By running trials with tens of thousands of farmers, they analyze targeted questions such as: does shifting from group liability loans to individual liability loans improve repayment rates and member satisfaction? They may also explore more radical ideas to determine whether there are more effective ways to deliver high-quality services to farmers. They test different program variations with the goal of improving our adaptability, impact, and financial sustainability. Responsibilities: Understand and solve problems: observe field operations, meet with field staff supervisors, conduct surveys, carry out desk research, analyze key performance indicators (KPIs), and more. Then design simple and sustainable solutions to complex challenges. Plan and execute large-scale projects: define clear objectives, develop project timelines, design work plans, create field tools and talking points, build incentive systems, engage stakeholders, and monitor and supervise project execution in the field. Strengthen the team: recruit staff using One Acre Fund’s unique “experiential recruitment” system, mentor key deputies, and progressively delegate responsibilities as your team grows stronger. Collaborate with other teams: work closely with other One Acre Fund teams in the field to deliver a smooth and positive customer experience for members in the simplest and most effective way possible.