Senior Project Officer - Private Sector Engagement & Markets

About the role

Catholic Relief Services (CRS) Uganda is hiring a Senior Project Officer for its Forest Flavors initiative, a 3-year project (FY26-FY29) that uses a market systems development and private-sector-led approach to strengthen inclusive, commercially viable and nature-positive agroforestry value chains, initially focusing on coffee, cocoa, vanilla and spices. The role is based in the Kampala office, reports to the Program Manager - Church Lands and PSE, and is open to Ugandan nationals only.

Key responsibilities

• Coordinate and implement Forest Flavors activities, including mapping and onboarding private sector actors and co-creating business models across priority value chains
• Provide technical assistance and business development support to private sector partners, MSMEs and dioceses, and follow up on agreed actions
• Ensure gender equality, youth inclusion and social inclusion are considered in partner diagnostics, business models and access to finance
• Follow up with partners, document bottlenecks and agree corrective actions, and support portfolio reviews and learning
• Represent the project in technical meetings with private sector actors, service providers, financial institutions, government and Church stakeholders
• Monitor expenditure against budgets, flag risks early and support procurement, logistics and technical assistance planning
• Compile progress updates, maintain milestone evidence and keep complete documentation of partner engagement, business cases and case studies

Required profile

• Bachelor's degree in agricultural economics, agribusiness or a related field, with specialization in market systems development, private sector engagement or a relevant field; additional experience may substitute for some education
• Minimum of 4 years of field experience in market systems development, value chain development, livelihoods, business development support, agriculture or agroforestry
• Must have experience working with private sector actors; NGO experience is a significant advantage
• Fluent English, with fluency in a local Ugandan language from the Central, Western or Northern regions an added advantage
• Willingness to travel up to 50%

Required skills

• Preferred: experience with private sector partners, value chain development, project monitoring and data collection, and prior work in MSD, business development services or financial services
• Preferred: experience using MS Office (Excel, Word, PowerPoint)