Ethiopia Innovations and Growth Lead

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 provide 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.

One Acre Fund has been working with farmers in the Amhara region of Ethiopia since 2014, with a specific focus on trees since 2018. The Ethiopia program has now expanded into the South Region of Ethiopia in 2024. Our aim with the tree program is to provide not only short-term income opportunities but also long-term benefits, such as soil health improvements and erosion control, so that farmers build resilience over time.

About the Role

The Innovations & Growth Lead will be an essential part of our leadership team in one of One Acre Fund's fastest-growing country programs and report directly to the Country Director. 

As an Innovations & Growth Lead, you will sit at the intersection of high-level strategy and "last-mile" delivery, shaping the strategy to plant 100 million trees and generate over $100M additional impact for 440,000 Ethiopian farmers by 2030. You will also pioneer the revenue models that will make our impact self-sustaining.

You will lead a high-performing team of innovators and M&E specialists to turn a 5-year vision into a rigorous 'Learning Agenda”: designing the field trials, mastering the data, and proving what works before we scale it to 440,000 households. You will ensure that every piece of data collected in the field informs our highest-level strategic decisions. If you are obsessed with evidence-based growth and love solving complex operational puzzles in the field, this is for you!.

Success is measured by your ability to reach OAF Ethiopia’s 2030 objectives. You will:

• Support our network of 1,000+ nursery managers by improving their production and finding new ways to generate income.
• Engineer innovative, scalable solutions tomaximize income for every farmer reached, unlocking opportunities for youth and women.
• Secure our seed supply through large-scale adoption of the best varieties and partnerships like the Jimma Research Centre.
• Define the next frontier and move beyond existing programs to identify "what's next." You will lead the feasibility studies to transition OAF Ethiopia from a traditional NGO model to a revenue-generating organization. You will investigate the regulatory landscape and operational requirements, and research and test the most impactful agricultural practices, products, and services for our farmers.

In a single week, you could present our Learning Agenda to our Steerco, deciding which new programs (like carbon credits or market access) are ready for a pilot and which aren't yet viable. You would then work with the Tree innovation team to turn raw avocado trial data into a "Go/No-Go" recommendation for national expansion, before travelling to a remote nursery to troubleshoot a pilot in person, interviewing nursery managers to identify why avocado grafting success rates are lagging, and pivoting the training approach on the spot.

Responsibilities

• Translate our strategy into action: Lead multi-year impact strategies and translate them into specific field interventions across the organization.
• Drive the "Learning Agenda": Define annual critical questions. You will decide which new services or products enter our pipeline based on scale and ROI, then set SMART objectives. For example, explore the possibility of adding high-value trees.
• End-to-End Trial Management:  Design multi-year impact models, oversee the full lifecycle of field trials, empower and coach the impact team to research and implement impactful activities, from hypothesis and budgeting to operational workflows and staff training to translating it into actionable recommendations.
• Evidence-Based Decision Making: Partner with our Monitoring & Evaluation teams to analyze trial data and drive "Go/No-Go" recommendations for the Country Director. 
• Champion the professional evolution of your direct reports, providing the coaching and clarity needed to turn high-level organizational vision into rigorous, field-level results.

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:

• A proven track record with a minimum of 7 years of experience in managing complex projects or operations, or social enterprise programs in emerging markets, e.g., in agricultural innovation, extension, research & development, marketing, product development, consulting or MEL in agriculture, public health, or education (including 3+ years in one of our countries of operation).
• Experience identifying strategic gaps and designing "Learning Agendas" - knowing exactly which questions we need to answer through field trials before committing to a national-scale rollout.
• Field-First Mindset: Significant experience living and working in rural or "last-mile" settings, with a deep understanding of the associated operational challenges.
• Experimental Design & "Piloting" Mindset: Proven ability to design and execute field trials or pilot programs. You understand how to set up a "test vs. control" environment to see if a new intervention actually drives impact, you understand KPIs and success metrics and you have the judgment to adjust as needed when challenges come.
• Evaluation Frameworks: Analyze qualitative/quantitative field data, and turn raw results into a "Go/No-Go" recommendation for leadership. A plus if experience working with Monitoring & Evaluation (M&E) teams to design surveys.
• Experience managing large teams (5-10+ team members) and delivering projects successfully.
• English required, Amharic preferred. 

Preferred Start Date

As soon as possible

Job Location

On-site in Addis Ababa or Bahir Dar, Ethiopia, with regular visits to our field areas of operations (around 35% of the time).

Benefits

Health insurance, housing, and comprehensive benefits

Eligibility

One Acre Fund can support 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.

Please note that we hire on a rolling basis which means that applications are reviewed and processed on a continuous basis until a hire is made.

One Acre Fund never asks candidates to pay any money or pay for tests at any stage of the interview process. Official One Acre Fund emails will always arrive from an @oneacrefund.org address. Please report any suspicious communication here ([email protected]), but do not send applications or application materials to this email address.

Diversity, Equity, Inclusion (DEI), and anti-racism are deeply connected to our organization’s mission and purpose. One Acre Fund aspires to build a culture where all staff feel consistently valued, represented, and connected – so that our team can thrive as professionals, and achieve exceptional impact for the farmers we serve.

We are committed to equal employment opportunity regardless of race, color, ancestry, religion, sex, national origin, sexual orientation, age, marital status, disability, gender, gender identity or expression. We are proud to be an equal opportunity workplace.