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Senior Program Officer, Farmer & Market Insight Job

Date: Jan 30, 2015

Location: Seattle, WA, US

Division Global Development Program
Department Agricultural Development
Location Seattle
Foundation Overview Guided by the belief that every life has equal value, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation works to help all people lead healthy, productive lives. In developing countries, it focuses on improving people’s health and giving them the chance to lift themselves out of hunger and extreme poverty. In the United States, it seeks to ensure that all people-especially those with the fewest resources-have access to the opportunities they need to succeed in school and life. Based in Seattle, the foundation is led by CEO Sue Desmond-Hellmann and co-chair William H. Gates Sr., under the direction of Bill and Melinda Gates and Warren Buffett.
Group Summary The goal of the Global Development Program (GDP) is to increase opportunities for people in the developing world to lift themselves out of hunger and poverty and to help deliver targeted healthcare solutions in these regions. Our strategies focus on Agriculture Development; Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene; Financial Services for the Poor; and Family Health which includes Maternal, Newborn and Child Health, Family Planning, and Nutrition. These strategies are supported by functional teams that focus on Vaccine Delivery and Integrated Delivery. GDP also has Special Initiatives that focus Urban Poverty, Emergency Relief, Global Libraries and Value for the Money.The Agricultural Development Department focuses on sustainable productivity growth for smallholder farmers to achieve the impact that we seek: poverty reduction in Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia. Productivity growth for smallholders depends upon improved seeds, livestock and other technologies, incentives to adopt these improvements through functioning input and output markets, and an improved policy environment. We currently define our goals by commodity, with a focus on delivering tangible productivity gains for a priority set of crops and livestock products within a handful of target geographies. In developing and executing on their strategies, our commodity portfolio managers rely on functional and context expertise from three groups: Research & Development, Farmer Services & Systems, and Country & Policy.
Responsibilities We are looking for a senior leader with a background in marketing, market research, consumer insights, business intelligence, or a related field with the skills and experience to serve as the Senior Program Officer (SPO), Farmer & Market Insight within the Farmer Services & Systems team. The SPO Farmer & Market Insight is responsible for championing new ways to incorporate customer and market insights from smallholder farmers, as well as from other supply chain actors that smallholders rely on for input supply and market access, to maximize the impact of the larger Agricultural Development portfolio of investments. S/he will collaborate with others to create, manage, and oversee investments in market research and analytics, business intelligence, market sizing and segmentation, technology adoption preferences, and other insights to improve our investments in product development, marketing, logistics, and adoption at scale of products and services intended to improve the lives of smallholder farmers. This SPO will also serve in a technical advisory role, working with diverse stakeholders within the foundation as well as externally with our grantees, government partners, private sector, and civil society partners. S/he will work closely with members of functional, commodity, and regional teams within the Agricultural Development Department. S/he will contribute to the development and implementation of commodity- and country-based strategies for improving on-farm productivity and realized value for smallholder farmers in Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia.The SPO’s key areas of work include:
– Work in close collaboration with internal and external partners to design, implement, and manage a portfolio of performance-based grants to improve knowledge of
– farmer and end-consumer behaviors, motivations, and needs,
– smallholder preferences in input supply and competitiveness in agricultural commodity markets
– segmentation of markets and farmers for more targeted product and service design and delivery, and
– methodologies and tools for incorporating farmer and market intelligence into a range of other grants, advocacy activities, partnerships, and development processes.
– Provide leadership and management of program officers, associate program officers, and others working on farmer and market insight investments and partnerships.
– Ensure existing customer and market data in-house are made available and fully leveraged to answer strategic questions and to inform grant-making across Agricultural Development.
– Consult with grantees and other partners in public and private sectors to maximize impact of grants and to ensure continuous learning. This may include: site visits, providing operational guidance, working with companies, and convening meetings of key stakeholders.
– Develop projects with clear, measurable outcomes and milestones that clarify expectations up-front and enable nimble course-correction.
– Analyze and synthesize lessons and results to improve the overall operating model for the foundation’s investments in knowledge exchange and market intelligence.
– Provide input into strategic plans and participate in annual planning to drive progress toward our goals of increased potential productivity, realized productivity, and realized value among smallholder farmers.
– Identify and gather quantitative/qualitative information to measure progress against strategic goals.
– Contribute to the evolution of the Agricultural Development Program’s vision, strategic objectives, priorities, processes, organizational structure, etc.
– Prepare action-oriented communication materials to build awareness of market research, market intelligence, customer insight and other fields within the foundation and to support activities listed above.
Qualifications We are looking for people who enjoy the challenge of working on complex problems and collaboratively creating solutions that have the potential for transformational change in the lives of smallholder farmers. The candidate must be prepared to work across diverse sides of this field, bridging a wide range of expertise, including that of: farmers, development practitioners, technical experts, analysts, policymakers, business people, investors, and philanthropists. S/he will be a solid team player, with a demonstrated ability to work with flexibility, efficiency, and diplomacy in a fast-paced, challenging environment, using use a hypothesis-driven approach and analytical rigor to develop sound strategies and implementation plans.The candidate should have the following qualifications:
– Ten or more years relevant work experience in business intelligence, marketing, market research, or related field with responsibility for developing, implementing, and managing projects/programs. Outstanding record of achievement required.
– Two or more years in a low income country context, or the equivalent experience in market intelligence for emerging or developing country markets. Ideally will have conducted several projects in these markets/settings with users from the two lowest-income quartiles, strongly preferred. Experience in Africa and/or South Asia is considered an asset.
– MBA and/or Master’s in marketing, statistics, economics or related field.
– Solid knowledge of MR and BI methodologies as applied in the agricultural sector, techniques and tools (including how they work differently in rural emerging and developing country markets), as well as the ability to communicate how they can improve Agricultural Development investments by the foundation.
– Comfortable in a wide range of cultural, geographic and operational situations, demonstrating culturally sensitive behavior with a diverse range of people.
– Ability to orchestrate effective decisions across a broad range of issues and stakeholders, assess progress, analyze gaps, and make necessary changes.
– Innovative and open-minded approach; ability to question and challenge colleagues including managers and partners in a constructive manner.
– Ability to travel up to 25% of time as needs dictate.

The position will be based in Seattle, WA and will report to the Deputy Director, Farmer Services & Systems.

The statements in this description represent typical elements, criteria and general work performed. They are not intended to be construed as an exhaustive list of all responsibilities, duties and skills for this job.

As part of our standard hiring process for new employees, employment with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation will be contingent upon successful completion of a comprehensive background check.

We are an equal opportunity employer dedicated and focused on diversity.
Requisition Number 5350BR

Nearest Major Market: Seattle
Job Segment: Sustainable Agriculture, Agricultural, Program Manager, Agricultural Development, NGO, Agriculture, Management, Government

Job Overview

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  • Job Title: Senior Program Officer, Farmer & Market Insight Job