Senior Lead – Agriculture Development

About the role

Raising the Village is seeking a senior professional to lead its agriculture development portfolio across multiple Sub‑Saharan countries. The Senior Lead will provide strategic direction, technical oversight and quality assurance for agriculture programmes, ensuring they are scalable, climate‑smart and deliver increased household incomes and food security.

Key responsibilities

• Define cross‑country strategy and lead the design and implementation of agriculture programmes, adapting RTV methodology to local contexts.
• Guide implementing partners through technical back‑stopping, training and mentorship, and establish regular performance reviews.
• Integrate climate‑smart practices, crop diversification and value‑chain development into interventions.
• Oversee procurement of agricultural inputs, seed verification and quality control, approving partner and vendor reports.
• Represent RTV in regional and international forums, building partnerships with governments, research institutions and private‑sector actors.
• Collect and analyse programme data, produce cross‑country reports and contribute to learning briefs and case studies.

Required profile

• Bachelor’s degree in Agriculture, Agronomy, Agricultural Economics or related field; Master’s or postgraduate degree required.
• Minimum 5 years of experience in agricultural programme leadership, including at least 1 year in a senior management role.
• Proven experience managing multi‑country agriculture programmes and working with partners, governments and private sector.
• Strong project‑management abilities, including planning, budgeting and reporting.
• Willingness to travel 50–60 % of the time across the region.

Required skills

• Technical expertise in smallholder farming systems.
• Soil health management.
• Pest and disease management.
• Climate‑smart agriculture practices.
• Agricultural input procurement and quality control.