About The Team
Field Operations is the heart-center of operations at Komaza. We are deeply systems-oriented and enjoy the challenge of training and managing hundreds of new teammates each season. In order to plant tree farms with thousands of new farmers every year, we are laser-focused on hitting our key performance indicators. We thrive on data, and technology is playing an ever-increasing role in our day-to-day work life.
Field Ops is ultimately responsible for the planning, coordination and timely implementation of our innovative micro-forestry model, which creates life-changing income for our farmers by growing trees more cost-efficiently than large-scale plantations. We enroll farmers; support them through land preparation; distribute inputs and seedlings; plant trees; ensure post-planting care and long-term maintenance.
About this Role
As Director of Field Ops, you will be responsible for orchestrating all people and processes to drive dramatic growth, while simultaneously delivering quality improvements across the value chain. This role calls for a proven generalist operations superstar with the ability to grow a complex farmer extension network; this is not a “forestry expert” role. To succeed, you will need to be an inspirational team leader and very detail-oriented manager, but must not act like a “boss.” You will be responsible for driving growth at both strategic and deeply operational levels. This is a very demanding role that will require a lot of hands-on work, not a lot of high-level delegation. You will be responsible for detailed planning, coordinating, quality control, coaching, and troubleshooting – anything and everything necessary to make this complex operation succeed, and scale significantly, season after season. You will report to Komaza’s VP of Operations while working closely with the Founder & CEO, as well as other senior executives.
What You Will Do
Build and rigorously apply world-class operations systems to plan, manage, track and report on every step in the Field Ops value chain.
Build a Field Ops team culture of collaboration, performance, positivity, and accountability, with all motivated to help farmers and deliver forestry excellence.
Lead dramatic growth of our core farmer operations, growing your team of field extension staff from 350 to 600+ in the next two years; achieve 10X scaling in the next 5 years to create one of East Africa’s top-three forestry assets.
Invest in team leadership, coaching and relationship building, with a dedicated passion for developing our people, from your direct reports to frontline field staff.
Collaborate with other operations departments (technical forestry, nursery, farmer relations, and harvest), supporting departments, and executives to define operations strategy and coordinate business resources with success.
What You Have
6+ years’ relevant work experience, ideally with 4+ years leading significant growth of decentralized operations and/or an extension network in East Africa.
Proven experience leading high-performing decentralized teams with limited formal education and professional experience. You can thrive in dynamic, uber-growth situations. You’ve worked and thrived at a rapidly scaling company.
Excellent communication skills with the aptitude to distill complex systems and detailed analysis into simple, structured processes with concrete action plans.
High energy and enthusiasm – willing to do whatever is necessary to get the job done. You’re well organized with experience in project and change management.
Comfort with ambiguity and uncertainty, as well as patience and perseverance in the face of serious logistical and environmental hurdles.
Proven success working in Africa or developing country is strongly preferred.
You’re Also
Self-directed and intellectually curious – you know how and when to seek feedback in the pursuit of continuous improvement
Growth-obsessed with a strong desire for personal development
A collaborative problem solver who seeks the opinions of other teammates and departments in the development of creative and sustainable systems
What We Expect
We need a Director of Field Operations who wants to make a meaningful commitment to leading fast growth of this department for a minimum of 2 years. This role will be based at our current headquarters in Kilifi, Kenya for the foreseeable future. The role offers competitive salary and benefits with significant growth potential.
