Wanted: Unique professional with 5-15+ years of work experience.
Job Location: Major US city, New York preferred.
Duration: Minimum 2.5 years 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 growing social enterprise in Kenya, Rwanda, Burundi, and Tanzania that is innovating a new way of helping farm families to achieve their full potential. Instead of giving handouts, One Acre Fund invests in farmers to generate a permanent gain in farm income. We provide farmers with a "service bundle" that includes education, finance, seed and fertilizer, and market facilitation. Our program is proven impactful – every year, we weigh thousands of harvests and measure 50-100% 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 a unique professional for a role that is positioned to grow into one of the top leaders at One Acre Fund as we enter an exciting period of expansion. This role has high potential to join our U.S. Leadership Council, which helps to set long-term organizational strategy along with our field leaders. With the support of our Board, existing funders, Executive Director, and U.S. Director, this role will be responsible for:
- New lead development and relationship-building. Interact with some of the most thoughtful and forward-looking funders in the international development arena to grow One Acre Fund’s funding.
- Strategy and partnerships. Increasingly, our funding arrangements are strategic partnerships with the world’s major institutional funders, crafted around objectives that align with One Acre Fund’s long-term strategy. The Director / Deputy Director of Business Development will help craft the strategy around these funding agreements. For example, we recently closed a grant with the Gates Foundation, the goal of which is to create a long-term platform for agricultural research and innovations that can scale to impact hundreds of thousands of smallholder farmers.
- Operationalizing new funding agreements. As our important deals move into implementation, the Director / Deputy Director of Business Development will be instrumental in forming the initial strategy around forming joint objectives, hiring new staff, and identifying the work streams to support funding arrangements.
- Team development. The Director / Deputy Director of Business Development will be responsible for selecting, mentoring, and developing a global team of 10-15 professionals over the next 3-5 years. We are looking for a humble leader who can help grow our business development, grant writing, and grant stewardship functions.
- Key spokesperson for our farmers. One Acre Fund is increasingly contributing to global discussions around agricultural development, and the Director / Deputy Director of Business Development will serve as a key spokesperson for the organization, attending and presenting at events like the Skoll World Forum and the Clinton Global Initiative.
This is a fund development role. However, because the Director / Deputy Director of Business Development will play a role in strategy, partnerships, and operating a growing team, we do not necessarily need someone with prior fundraising experience. Instead, we are looking for someone with a sharp business mind primarily, together with strong interpersonal skills and an abiding commitment to our values of humbly serving farmers.
Career Growth and Development
One Acre Fund invests in building management and leadership skills. Your manager will invest significant time in your career development. We provide constant, actionable feedback delivered through mentorship and through regular management consulting-style career reviews. We also have regular one-on-one meetings, where we listen to and discuss career goals, and work collaboratively to craft roles that each person can be passionate about. Because of our rapid growth, we constantly have new high-level roles opening up and opportunities in many functions. This results in fast career growth for our staff.
Qualifications
We are seeking someone with 5-15+ years of work experience who:
- Speaks the language of business. We are not necessarily seeking a traditional fundraiser, as this is not a traditional fundraising role. Our donors are looking for someone who speaks the language of business (financial sustainability, return on investment, impact per donor dollar). We are seeking someone with business fluency – e.g., a background in management consulting or impact investing.
- Values fit. We put a high premium on values. We want someone who has a true service orientation and humility – someone that puts our farmers before themselves.
- People-orientation. We do not need an extreme extrovert, but we are seeking someone who wants to spend their day building relationships with people by pursuing referrals, attending conferences and networking events, etc.
- Team-builder. We are looking for someone who has experience in, and passion for, helping to grow and develop a team of direct reports.
- Willingness to travel. This role will have approximately 60-90 nights per year of travel, half or more international. The travel commitment may diminish as we hire suitable staff in other continents, and dates of travel are highly flexible.
- Language: English required.
Preferred Start Date
Flexible
Compensation
Commensurate with experience.
Benefits
Health insurance in our group plan, 401k match, and 529 education fund matching contributions.
To Apply
Complete this form. You will be prompted to submit your CV and cover letter. You may also be asked to submit work samples for some positions. Returned Peace Corps Volunteers (RPCVs), please submit a copy of your Description of Service (DOS) in the appropriate section.
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