Rwanda New Product Trial Specialist

ABOUT ONE ACRE FUND

Founded in 2006, One Acre Fund supplies smallholder farmers with the agricultural services they need to make their farms vastly more productive. We provide quality farm supplies on credit, delivered within walking distance of farmers’ homes, and agricultural training to improve harvests. We measure our success by our ability to make farmers more prosperous: On average, farmers harvest 50 percent more food after working with One Acre Fund.

We are growing quickly. We currently serve about 1 million farm families in Eastern and Southern Africa, with more than 7,500 full-time staff.

One Acre Fund relies on our Product Innovation team to find the best new products to offer our farmers. Every season we run farmer facing trials and surveys to inform our field team and product offering decisions. Great innovation comes from excellent background research, a true understanding of our client base, excellent trial implementation, and a strong integration process that allows us to translate trial results into our full program.

As we always aim to offer the best service to our clients, we are looking for a committed business professional who can identify, develop, test and scale new products that can be offered to improve the livelihoods of our clients in rural areas. In particular, we are looking for versatile candidates to test a range of new products, from agricultural innovations to consumer electronics and more.

As the New Product Trial Specialist, you will be based in the Product Integration team within the wider Product Innovation department. In general, you will be a leader within the wider Impact Division, helping to improve the One Acre Fund program by being a technical leader in product development and evaluation. 

Specific responsibilities include, but are not limited to:

• Background research: the Specialist will be responsible for identifying and proposing new products to offer farmers. As such, you will independently undertake appropriate desk research to develop cases for or against new products and trials. 
• Trial design: as the Specialist, you will be responsible for taking an active role in designing new product trials especially within your portfolio with the support of the team lead, but will be available to assist on other trials as well. This will include a written document explaining the trial from start to finish along with proper project management tools such as calendar, issues trackers, the theory of change and more. You will elicit all necessary feedback for such trial designs from all relevant partners (both internal and external to the organization).
• Evaluation planning: As part of trial designs, all products under the Specialist’s portfolio will be evaluated appropriately to draw proper conclusions. Evaluation plans are expected for all new product trials, which include: sampling strategy, sample size, and analysis strategy. Depending on the complexity of the trial, the Specialist will collaborate with Integration Data Specialist and Team Lead for the development of any evaluation plan. 
• Survey development: You will elaborate all drafts of surveys about product portfolio either independently or with support from the Data Specialist.  You will ensure input into CommCare or other survey tool and verify that it is functioning, in partnership with Data Specialist. 
• Report Writing: Together with Integration Data Specialist, you will write up synthetic reports of all trials, surveys or evaluations for internal use. Reports will include quantitative and qualitative data to support all conclusions and recommendations.
• Impact Model ownership: Where appropriate (new product or intervention) Specialist will own the updating and elaboration of impact models, ensuring that they reflect the most realistic impact of a new product or intervention

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

We are seeking a business or agribusiness or research professional with +2 years of work experience and a passion for our mission. Candidates who fit the following criteria are encouraged to apply:

• Project management skills and the ability to create and stick to timelines.
• Bachelor’s degree in agribusiness, business, economics, international trade, and development or a related field required 
• Understanding of program evaluation strongly preferred, demonstrated the ability to use data for decision-making required, understanding of basic statistics also required. 
• Passion for team building and collaboration with colleagues from diverse backgrounds and through multiple media including remote work
• Stata, R or another statistical package preferred, Microsoft excel required
• Written and oral English required, knowledge of French, Kinyarwanda or Swahili very useful

PREFERRED START DATE

As soon as possible

JOB LOCATION

Rubengera, Rwanda

COMPENSATION

Commensurate with experience

DURATION

Full-time job

BENEFITS 

Health insurance paid time off

SPONSOR INTERNATIONAL CANDIDATES

No; Must have existing rights to work in Rwanda

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 (globalhotline@oneacrefund.org), but do not send applications or application materials to this email address.

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.