Commercial Strategy Lead – High Value Crops

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 Kenya program, founded in 2006, operates under the local brand Tupande. Close to 500 staff in our Kakamega headquarters support 1,747 field staff and serve more than 1 million farmers. In Nairobi, around 50 staff support global functions like procurement, recruitment, government relations, and communications.

About the Role

Seeking a strategic project management professional with 5+ years of experience to lead complex cross-functional initiatives and translate a 5-year strategy into scalable, commercially viable solutions with strong farmer impact.

Responsibilities

Lead Strategic HVC Projects 

• Lead and execute strategic projects that support the HVC and Potato strategies and Tupande's impact vision.
• Translate strategic priorities into structured execution plans, milestones and clear ownership.
• Own key HVC workstreams and drive them through agreed Stage-Gate processes.
• Contribute to strategic direction by identifying opportunities, risks and required interventions.

Commercial & Operational Analysis 

• Drive planning, forecasting and performance analysis across priority HVC value chains.
• Analyse farmer, market, supply, pricing and operational data to generate actionable business insights.
• Develop business cases and recommendations to support variety diversification, commercial partnerships and margin expansion.
• Use data and sound business judgment to influence decisions on investment, scale-up and portfolio priorities.

Cross-Functional Project Leadership 

• Coordinate cross-functional teams across Agronomy, Global Supply Chain, Government Relations, Operations and other relevant functions.
• Drive alignment on variety testing, regulatory approvals, seed multiplication and commercial implementation.
• Lead task forces and ensure agreed actions, milestones and dependencies are delivered.
• Influence stakeholders without direct authority to achieve strategic project objectives.

HVC Portfolio Performance Management 

• Track strategic KPIs and performance across the HVC portfolio.
• Lead regular assessment of initiatives against agreed commercial, farmer-impact and operational criteria.
• Make recommendations to scale, pause, adapt or discontinue initiatives based on evidence and business viability.
• Support integration of HVC priorities into S&OP and broader business planning processes.

Support Leadership Coordination & Communication 

• Prepare analysis, recommendations and presentation materials for HVC leadership, S&OP and SteerCo discussions.
• Support communication and alignment of strategic HVC priorities across relevant teams.
• Provide clear updates on progress, risks, decisions required and strategic recommendations.

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:

• Technical Skills: Exceptional project management and stakeholder management skills, with the ability to lead complex, cross-functional initiatives.
• Analytical Skills: Strong analytical capability, able to combine data with sound business judgment to influence business decisions.
• Strategic Thinking: Ability to translate strategy into executable plans and identify opportunities, risks and structural bottlenecks.
• Interpersonal Skills: Excellent interpersonal skills and ability to understand the motivations of different teams and stakeholders and support them to work together.
• Commercial Acumen: Ability to assess commercial viability, develop business cases and understand the financial implications of strategic decisions.
• Technical Tools: Proficient with Microsoft Office Suite, particularly Excel and Google Suite.

Preferred Start Date

As soon as possible

Job Location

Kakamega, Kenya

Benefits

Health insurance, housing, and comprehensive benefits

Eligibility

This role is only open to citizens or permanent residents of Kenya.

Application Deadline

14 January 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.