Agricultural Manager - FMCG

SUMMARY:

A global FMCG company is seeking an individual to lead a team of agronomists and extension officers to ensure the secure supply of high-quality, locally grown malting barley and sorghum to processing facilities. The role includes expanding and optimising growing areas, maintaining key stakeholder relationships, supporting raw material procurement, and assisting R&D with research initiatives. It also involves implementing decision-support systems (e.g. SmartGrower) and driving the sustainability and regenerative agriculture agenda, including collaboration with local and international NGOs to enhance production and co-funding opportunities.

POSITION INFO:

Minimum requirements for the role:

• Must have a B. Sc. (Hons) in Agronomy or related field with field crops experience required
• Minimum 5 years’ experience in agronomy and a minimum of 5 years’ experience working in seed and FMCG companies
• Must have experience working successfully in an international and multidisciplinary environment
• Demonstrated ability to successfully influence colleagues across functional boundaries
• Expert knowledge of grain storage and factors influencing cost / quality and safe storage practices are essential
• Track record of influencing/developing talent is advantageous
• Experience in development, utilization and enabling technologies is essential
• Must have experience in managing a developmental environment with various levels of competency and capability within teams
• Effective time management, with the ability to successfully plan and control activities over several months or years
• High skills in Microsoft Excel, PowerPoint, Power BI, and Outlook
• Must have a valid driver’s license and be willing to travel extensively in production areas 60% of the time
• Fluency in English (Read, Write, Speak)

• Ensuring that the company has the right seed quantity, variety, and quality, at the right place and right time in accordance with the crop Variety Steerco and crop commercial policies.
• Demonstrating expert knowledge of the primary agronomic cropping systems in all regions where malting barley and sorghum are being cultivated.
• Serving as a domain specialist to all regional agronomy teams in areas such as fertilization and soil management, pest and disease management, planting density, irrigation, optimization of crop inputs, digital agriculture, and alternative rotational crops.
• Leading regional agronomists and extension officers, and driving execution, strategy, priorities, and actions for supply security of crops in each sub-region.
• Bringing balance between improvements in efficiency and effectiveness of crop operations from seed to sip (seed to supply to maltings).
• Providing input and driving implementation of the sustainability strategy and regenerative agriculture programs.
• Building effective partnerships with all regional procurement and global agronomy stakeholders, crop subject matter experts, and external experts to deliver high quality raw materials.
• Promoting a safe work environment and a strong safety culture.
• Maintaining a culture of operational excellence and continuous improvement.
• Developing and delivering regular updates to internal stakeholders and governance bodies regarding status and progress of the crop and contracting with aggregators and storage partners.
• Ensuring identification, assessment, and management of key risks in our production environments.
• Maintaining effective communication and interaction with collaboration partners to ensure execution of short-term plans and to support alignment of long-term strategy for our collaborations.
• Effectively managing budgets and ensuring resource requirements are clearly defined, communicated, and sourced on time in order to deliver on the key performance indicators.