About One Acre Fund

Founded in 2006, One Acre Fund equips 5.5 million smallholder farmers to make their farms more productive. Across nine countries that together are home to two-thirds of Africa's farmers, we deliver high-quality farm supplies, tree seedlings, accessible credit, modern agronomic training, and a wide range of other agricultural services. On average, this model enables any farmer to increase their income and assets on supported land by more than 35 percent, while permanently improving their resilience. This is all made possible by our team of 9,000+ full-time staff, drawn from diverse backgrounds and professions. To learn more, please see our Why Work Here blog post.

About the Role

The organization is seeking an exceptional strategist and communicator to enhance coordination between all of the Impact Division's workstreams. You will assist the CIO in advancing One Acre Fund's Global Impact Strategy.

Responsibilities

The Impact Division supports all One Acre Fund programs to generate more impact, wherever we work. We help the organization keep three core aspects of impact at the forefront of our work:

• Improving farmer livelihoods in the short-term
• Ensuring long-term viability through sustainable agricultural practices (soil health, crop diversity, etc.)
• Addressing non-agricultural needs of farming households (energy, nutrition, etc.)

The role of the Impact Chief of Staff is to assist the Chief Impact Officer (CIO) in advancing our organization’s Impact Strategy. Three critical components of this role are to:

• enhance coordination of many different actors to execute our Impact Strategy.
• Increase the reach and effectiveness of Impact Division leadership.
• guide strategic research, communications, or operational initiatives.

Specific responsibilities include:

Improving Impact Division communication & coordination around achieving goals

• Goal setting and tracking. guide the annual development of OKRs aligned to organizational impact strategy; track progress against the strategic plan, OKRs, and other organizational indicators.
• Coordination across the Impact Division. Ensure fluid collaboration between technical assist teams and operational teams through clear work planning and frequent, transparent communication.

Increasing the reach of Impact leadership

• perform regular prioritization reviews with division leadership to ensure we’re tackling the most important problems.
• Serve as the Chief Impact Officer’s “whip” by moving complex projects forward.
• Represent the Division externally by pursuing early stage opportunities with partners.
• Take on direct or indirect management responsibilities from division leadership, as appropriate.

Leading strategic Initiatives

• guide strategic research or operational initiatives that:
  • Are highly important to One Acre Fund and organizational leadership
  • Sit outside the day-to-day purview of the current team
• Specific projects will depend on the candidate's background and interests, organizational priorities, bandwidth of implicated teams, and timing. Examples could include:
  • Impact-focused internal campaigns
  • Researching a new technology or partnership
  • Team-building and culture initiatives
  • Improving impact communications & Q&A forums
  • Temporarily filling critical leadership gaps and recruitment of high priority roles.

Career Growth and Development

We have a strong culture of constant learning and we invest in developing our people. You’ll have weekly check-ins with your manager, access to mentorship and training programs, and regular feedback on your performance. We hold career reviews every six months, and set aside time to discuss your aspirations and career goals. You’ll have the opportunity to shape a growing organization and build a rewarding long-term career.

Qualifications

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

Passion, Motivation, & Humility

• Genuine passion for continually and sustainably improving farmer livelihoods.
• Motivated by helping others. This role isn’t about individual achievements but about supporting teams across One Acre Fund to achieve our common mission.

Strong Technical Aptitude

• University (or higher) degree in Agriculture or a related field (e.g. Ecology, Environmental Science, Ag Economics).
• Genuine enthusiasm for learning and an openness to feedback.
• Demonstrated analytical skills and ability to quickly turn around or sense-check quantitative analyses.

Excellent Communication Skills

• Strong verbal and written communication across a wide range of audiences - from non-technically-trained colleagues to external experts.
• Open listener; can create trust of colleagues and teams.
• English fluency required. Swahili, Kinyarwanda, Kirundi, or French are a plus.

Leadership & Collaboration

• Ability to understand the motivations and capacities of diverse teams, bring them together to collaborate effectively, and leverage their relative strengths.
• Demonstrated leadership experience, whether at work or outside of formal employment.

High-Level Productivity

• Strong organizational skills and an ability to 'keep the trains running on time’.
• Systematic thinker, able to track dozens of diverse tasks and initiatives.
• Demonstrated ability to deliver results quickly, whether working independently or implementing direction and advice.

Preferred Start Date

As soon as possible

Job Location

Kigali, Rwanda or flexible based on existing work authorization

Benefits

Health insurance, housing, and comprehensive benefits

Eligibility

One Acre Fund can assist a work permit for this role. However, nationals of (or those with an extensive professional background and work history in) our countries of operation are preferred.

• enhance coordination of many different actors to execute our Impact Strategy.
• Increase the reach and effectiveness of Impact Division leadership.
• guide strategic research, communications, or operational initiatives.
• Improving Impact Division communication & coordination around achieving goals
• Goal setting and tracking. guide the annual development of OKRs aligned to organizational impact strategy; track progress against the strategic plan, OKRs, and other organizational indicators.
• Coordination across the Impact Division. Ensure fluid collaboration between technical assist teams and operational teams through clear work planning and frequent, transparent communication.
• perform regular prioritization reviews with division leadership to ensure we’re tackling the most important problems.
• Serve as the Chief Impact Officer’s “whip” by moving complex projects forward.
• Represent the Division externally by pursuing early stage opportunities with partners.
• Take on direct or indirect management responsibilities from division leadership, as appropriate.
• guide strategic research or operational initiatives that:
• Are highly important to One Acre Fund and organizational leadership
• Sit outside the day-to-day purview of the current team
• Impact-focused internal campaigns
• Researching a new technology or partnership
• Team-building and culture initiatives
• Improving impact communications & Q&A forums
• Temporarily filling critical leadership gaps and recruitment of high priority roles.

• Communication
• Leadership
• Management
• Excel
• Planning
• Research
• Training
• Analytical skills
• Organizational skills
• Systematic thinking

• University (or higher) degree in Agriculture or a related field (e.g. Ecology, Environmental Science, Ag Economics).
• Genuine enthusiasm for learning and an openness to feedback.
• Demonstrated analytical skills and ability to quickly turn around or sense-check quantitative analyses.
• Strong verbal and written communication across a wide range of audiences - from non-technically-trained colleagues to external experts.
• Open listener; can create trust of colleagues and teams.
• English fluency required. Swahili, Kinyarwanda, Kirundi, or French are a plus.
• Ability to understand the motivations and capacities of diverse teams, bring them together to collaborate effectively, and leverage their relative strengths.
• Demonstrated leadership experience, whether at work or outside of formal employment.
• Strong organizational skills and an ability to 'keep the trains running on time’.
• Systematic thinker, able to track dozens of diverse tasks and initiatives.
• Demonstrated ability to deliver results quickly, whether working independently or implementing direction and advice.