Manager/Associate Director, Program Innovations

Supervisor: COO 
Location: Remote/Flexible within Colombia, El Salvador, Mexico, Guatemala 
Start Date: January, 2025 
Contract: Full-Time Employee 
Travel: 30% 

About Acceso: 
Acceso (www.acceso.org) is an award-winning social enterprise that is revolutionizing food systems in Latin America and the Caribbean to put smallholder farmers first. Acceso’s mission is to create fundamental and lasting positive economic change in the lives of rural smallholder farming families. Acceso’s seed-to-market model provides smallholder farmers with a sustainable way to participate in formalized markets, enabling them to work themselves out of poverty with dignity and to prosper. Acceso is currently a team of over 600 determined and driven change-makers supporting over 35,000 smallholder farmers across Colombia, Haiti, El Salvador and Guatemala.  

About This Role: 
The Manager/Associate Director, Program Innovations will lead the design, piloting, testing and deployment of all Acceso program innovations (such as new seed varieties, mechanization, solar-powered irrigation systems and other ag-tech) as well as gender and climate-smart agriculture programming and strategy.  

The programs team at Acceso is responsible for day-to-day partnership with farmers to increase their production yields, quality and volumes to meet market demand. The programs team seeks to drive sustainable income increases for farmers using the latest technologies, research and climate smart practices and market access. The programs team is responsible for all farmer-focused aspects of Acceso’s seed-to-market model, including farmer recruitment, in-person and digital training, inputs on credit and commercialization of production.  

Working in close collaboration with other programs team leads (operations, input financing), MEL and in-market program teams, the Manager/Associate Director, Program Innovations will ensure that Acceso has robust and vetted pipeline of innovations to drive real productivity gains, increased climate resilience, cost savings and ultimately income improvements for farmers. The Manager/Associate Director, Program Innovations will have the following primary responsibilities:  

• Lead research, design and development of all Acceso innovations, to maximize efficiency and farmer impact. 
• Implement strong methodologies for piloting and testing innovations at Acceso and oversee all program innovations development and testing prior to integration and full deployment into Acceso programs.  
• Lead gender, climate-smart and regenerative agriculture strategies and integrate them in the overall Acceso seed-to-market model. 

Key Responsibilities: 

• Innovations Design (40%) 
  • Oversee the design of Acceso innovations including research, surveys, feedback loops within and outside of the organization. 
  • Oversee piloting, testing and deployment of all Acceso innovations and strong evaluation of the best options to deploy and scale. 
  • Perform annual strategic planning and resourcing plans for programs innovations across all Acceso countries.  
• Innovations Implementation (40%) 
  • Ensure integration and standardization of all program innovations across all Acceso countries. 
  • Oversee all program innovations implementations including project plans, execution and administration.  
  • Work with staff to develop performance measurements across all programs innovations, to ensure consistent, high-quality evaluation and goal setting for all program teams. 
  • Lead program staff in analyzing program innovation results. 
  • Identify, build, and cultivate key partnerships tied to program innovations. 
  • Prepare and submit annual program innovations budgets for review and approval as necessary; effectively manage budget, regularly review, report on, and ensure compliance within program budgets. 
  • Lead and integrate gender and climate-smart agriculture programming and strategy. 
• Leadership (20%) 
  • Lead ag-tech team across all areas of business development, content creation, and technology in order to achieve annual targets. 
  • Ensure that innovative processes (behavioral change, user testing, etc.) are implemented across all Acceso programs. 
  • Recruit key roles required for programs innovations and support onboarding and training of new roles. 
  • Lead and/or provide guidance to teams or sub-teams on programs innovations executions. 
  • Identify and provide training and development opportunities for the program team.  

Qualifications 

• Mission driven and personal commitment to improving the lives of smallholder farmers.  
• BS or BA in business administration, agronomy or relevant area required. Master degree in business, finance, public administration, international development, agronomy or related fields a plus. 
• Required: 2+ years of experience in a management role for manager level/5+ years for director level, plus experience particularly related to innovations design, oversight, reporting and team management.  
• Preferred: 2+ years experience leading multi-million dollar agriculture and/or livelihood programs or country operations in Latin America or the Caribbean. 
• Strong analytical and problem-solving abilities; data-driven. 
• Excellent project management and organizational skills.  
• Experience with budget oversight and planning. 
• Financial and social analysis and reporting skills. 
• Technical skills in agronomy, gender and/or livelihood program design.  
• Proficiency in MS Office, including Excel, Word and PowerPoint. 
• Business acumen; entrepreneurial. 
• Ability to build trust and positive relationships; collaborative. 
• Highly organized with excellent time management skills. 
• Drive and ability to work independently, work well under pressure and handle multiple tasks simultaneously. 
• Language Skills: Full Fluency in Spanish and English required. French and/or Haitian Creole a plus. 

Application Instructions:  
To apply, please submit your CV/Resume and Cover Letter (all in English) via the application form below.  

For more information about Acceso and careers with us, please visit Acceso.org/careers.  

Acceso is an equal opportunity employer and does not discriminate on the basis of gender, race, color, ethnicity, religion, sexual orientation, gender identity, age, HIV/AIDS status, protected veteran status, disability and all other protected classes.