Precision Agriculture for Development (PAD) Recruitment – Agronomist

• We are looking for a driven, creative and independent person to join a high-performing, flexible team as an Agronomist to support PAD’s new operations in Nigeria.
• You will work in a non-hierarchical team and have opportunities to work closely with PAD staff and substantially contribute to PAD’s programs that test new ideas, measure their impacts, and scale them up.

Responsibilities

• The Agronomist will be responsible to provide ongoing agronomic expertise and support to PAD’s operations in Nigeria.
• The Agronomist will report to the Nigeria Research and Operations Manager and will work with the relevant Program Leads and project team members.
• The position will be located in Abuja, Nigeria and will temporarily be a work-from-home position due to the current COVID-19 pandemic.
• When it is safe to do so, this position will be based from PAD’s office in Abuja, Nigeria and will require frequent travel to field locations in Nigeria. PAD is a start-up organization and will require flexibility from all staff with regards to roles and responsibilities.

The Agronomist will be responsible for the following tasks:

• Work closely with PAD team members and our partner organizations to execute project implementation;
• Provide overall agronomy expertise and information to the team in Nigeria;
• Gather and compile scientific evidence on key agriculture topics to better inform the design of mobile phone-based agricultural advisory services in Nigeria;
• Collect and maintain an extensive database of all major crops in Nigeria, and map out season-wise and territory-wise crop prospects;
• Support current projects that PAD undertakes in content development, simplification, and customization with regard to  major agronomic practices, pest and disease management, post-harvest management, etc;
• Develop, refine and revise agronomic content of mobile phone-based agricultural advisory services implemented by PAD and/or other partners;
• In collaboration with partner organizations and PAD staff, the Agronomist will be responsible for exploring new engagement areas and new project opportunities;
• Support and supervise other (junior) agronomist staff within the team;
• Provide support in managing relationships with key partners across multiple projects and provide technical backstopping to partner organizations;
• Contribute to project M&E activities, including designing of monitoring tools, regular fieldwork to collect monitoring data, and preparation of monitoring reports.

Qualifications
Required Qualifications and Experience:

• Master’s degree in agronomy, agricultural sciences, crop production or agroecology;
• At least 5 years’ experience implementing agriculture, livelihood or value chain development projects  in the developing world;
• At least 2 years’ experience working directly with smallholder production systems in sub-Saharan Africa;
• Practical experience drafting agricultural curricula and implementing trainings;
• Experience carrying out focus group discussions and gathering qualitative data from farmers;
• Strong written and oral communication skills in English;
• Strong organizational and planning skills;
• Experience in writing reports and communicating scientific topics to laypeople;
• Willingness and ability to work under tight timelines, and flexibility to engage in multiple projects;
• Willingness to travel to field sites in Nigeria and internationally;
• Ability to work independently and with minimum supervision;
• Experience and ability to work in multicultural settings;
• Ability to engage effectively with diverse stakeholders.

Desired Qualifications and Experience:
Our preferred candidates are likely to have some, but not all, of the following qualifications:

• Knowledge of the Nigeria agricultural sector.

Compensation

• Commensurate with experience

Application Closing Date
Not Specified.