Senior Agronomist at Apollo Agriculture

About the Role:

We’re currently looking for a Senior Agronomist to join our Agricultural Product team and lead agronomic analysis that dives our product strategy as well as develop digitally-enabled advisory content that boosts the yields of smallholder farmers in Kenya. We want someone who is excited to apply their science in a fast-paced entrepreneurial environment, blending a deep knowledge of agronomy / soil science with the practical (and often rapid) process of designing, testing and launching products. You will be a core member of a fast growing and interdisciplinary team that includes designers, agronomists, data analysts and product managers. Challenges you work on will range from estimating carbon sequestered via agroforestry to help our farmers access voluntary carbon markets to developing easy-to-follow agronomic advice delivered to farmers via IVR and video. More broadly, you’ll be helping to define and deliver our agricultural product strategy, using the best data available to take calls on products that are both commercially viable and deliver a significant Return on Investment for our customers. Our expectation is you would quickly develop as a leader in the organization, inspiring colleagues to implement solutions that delight customers while improving their livelihood in the process.

Responsibilities:

• Leading analytical processes that drive decision making on high-priority agronomic questions, including:
• Collaborating with the Product team and other members of the organization to identify and frame a learning agenda that aligns with commercial, operational and customer priorities
• Developing a framework and approach for undertaking the analysis then facilitating feedback via an accessible feedback (e.g., comments on a 2-page Google Doc)
• Conducting data analysis, desk research and expert interviews to scope opportunities and develop ingoing hypotheses
• Managing and reporting on large-scale pilots and field trials
• Disseminating your findings and insights to the broader Apollo team.
• Working closely with designers, product managers and engineers to productize your ideas, from crop diversification bundles to a diagnostics questionnaire that enables call centre agents provide advice to farmers on managing pests and diseases.
• Collaborate with stakeholders across the organization to generate buy-in for your ideas, from drafting concept notes to elicit senior team feedback to aligning with field agents on the right language to use in a farmer SMS.

You are:

• Able to apply world-class knowledge of agronomy / soil science to a range of agricultural challenges faced by smallholder farmers in Kenya.
• Comfortable generating, analyzing and synthesizing a range of data, from customer insights to large data sets.
• Excited by the challenge of working in a fast paced scale-up environment, in some cases taking decisions with limited information or compromising to ensure commercial and operational priorities are adequately balanced.
• Not ideological about the ‘right’ model of agriculture our customers should pursue, instead recognizing there’s a range of social and environmental impact that a mission-driven business like Apollo is positioned to achieve
• Committed to learning, whether that’s working in a new environment or using new tools (e.g., SQL).
• Brilliant communicating in English (and ideally Swahili and/or another language spoken in Kenya).
• Comfortable working in and leading intercultural teams.
• A few years into your career, perhaps having worked for a research institution, corporate, or ag tech.