Field Operations 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.

Our Uganda program, founded in 2014, provides more than 34,000 farmers with quality farm supplies as well as fruit trees like avocados. Our team in Uganda is headquartered in Jinja, close to the districts we serve, and supported by a small presence in Kampala. One Acre Fund works in the eastern region of Uganda, primarily in the districts of Iganga, Jinja, Kamuli, and Buikwe.

About the Role

As the Field Operations Lead, you will drive core seasonal activities, manage regional teams, and spearhead program expansion. You will deliver impact targets through rigorous field execution, coach Regional Leads, and represent the department.

You will report to the Head of Field Programs.

Responsibilities

Vision / Strategy:

• Lead the field implementation of the Uganda Vision and Strategy and drive up farmer impact in the region served.
• Identify and implement the resources, processes, and systems required to achieve the vision and strategy in the region served.
• Lead the design and setting up of OKRs for the department and support the Regional Leads to set OKRs that translate the vision and strategy into executable activities.

Season execution: coffee program execution and tree mobilisation

• Own the season execution plan end to end by making sure every training in the season calendar is delivered on time, to standard, and at target attendance in each region.
• Lead field mobilisation for the tree programme.
• Track weekly execution against plan using KPIs and data.
• Standardise and document field protocols and tools so they are applied consistently across regions.

Team Management:

• Manage and coach 3+ Regional Leads on professional development, regional performance, and day-to-day problem-solving.
• Participate in all aspects of regional operations throughout the season, including staff recruitment and leadership development.
• Supervise and sign off on the monthly payroll process so that salaries, transport costs and bonuses for all field staff are paid accurately and on time.

Expansion:

• Lead field rollout each season and ensure programme implementation objectives are met.
• Develop a clear rollout plan for every expansion season: site readiness, staffing deployment, timelines, operational needs and risks.
• Work with Government Relations and local leadership to ensure new sites are operationally ready and authorisations are in place.
• Coordinate with Procurement and Logistics to ensure supplies, logistics and training materials are ready before rollout.

 Impact and tree programme follow-up:

• Work with the Impact and Innovations teams to roll out new coffee agronomy practices and training topics through the field team.
• Supporting the design and implementation of impact-centric trials and interventions by working together with the Social Behavioral Change and Product Innovations teams.
• Coordinate the collection of field data that allows us to derive insights related to impact e.g. on GAP adoption or prevalence of pests & diseases in the field.
• Coordinate with the Impact team on surveys that measure training success and behaviour change.

Budget:

• Co-create the annual Field Operations budget and monitor it monthly through a budget-versus-actuals (BVA) review; flag material variances and look for cost-saving opportunities.
• Support donor reporting needs, including grant BVAs for the program.

Stakeholder management and Partnerships:

• Coordinate and take part in key regional partnership meetings.
• Handle internal and external relationships, including government, district government officials, and other external partners in liaison with other relevant teams in the organization.

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:

• 5-7 years of experience in field operations, programme delivery or a similar role, and at least ~2 years in management, ideally in agriculture, rural development or last-mile distribution.
• Demonstrated experience managing people, ideally managers or team leads.
• Experience delivering seasonal or time-bound operations at scale.
• Experience with expansion, scale-up, or new-site launches is a strong advantage.
• Willingness to travel regularly to field sites across Uganda

Preferred Start Date

As soon as possible

Job Location

Jinja, Uganda

Benefits

Health insurance, housing, and comprehensive benefits

Contract Duration

2 Years

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.

Application Deadline

01 February 2027. 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.