One Acre Fund is a nonprofit organization that supplies smallholder farmers in East Africa with asset-based financing and agriculture training services to reduce hunger and poverty.
One Acre Fund is growing quickly – we plan to more than triple our purchasing portfolio in the next 5 years and are spending over $70M on agricultural inputs and life improving goods in 2019 alone. To support this growth, we need to develop a flexible sourcing strategy, set clear and measurable targets, hold the full supply chain team accountable to these bold targets using data, and implement tight controls to guarantee inputs make it to our clients on time and at the best possible price.
We are looking for a Data and Operations Associate to improve our team’s data quality, build more efficient and transparent processes, and lead major cost-saving projects. You will implement major cost-saving and efficiency improving projects with a heavy focus on process automation, reducing redundancies, and better use of data. You will refine and simplify processes, use data to align our systems across the supply chain team, improve our controls environment to prevent over-spend, improve order accuracy to dramatically reduce excess inventory, and justify investments in supply chain operations with visible performance goals.
Responsibilities
Specific responsibilities include:
Manage Sourcing Data
Work with the sourcing data team to automate data processes and reports for better visibility into supply chain data across the organization. More specifically:
Guide the data entry team to enter 100% of data on time – this will require holding the team accountable to ambitious expectations while simplifying and automating data entry processes to reduce the risk of errors
Manage day-to-day issue resolution and ticket generation for SAP request portal
Align with cross-department team members to alleviate friction caused by messy data, solve problems and resolve conflict quickly.
Inspire creativity in sourcing operations to eliminate waste
Work with Supply Chain Operations Manager to move creative, data-focused projects forward that improve efficiency. Example projects include:
Automate processes to reduce procurement lead times and improve process visibility
Reduce approval touch points in SAP and the portal
Build bridges with the payments / finance team to ensure payments go out consistently on time
Manage controls oversight through data sampling and reporting
Supplier relationship management
Manage new vendor onboarding process
Oversee supplier relationship management toolkit to ensure vendor profiles are up to date, vendors are being scored after every order, and low performing vendors are being phased out
Develop and execute supplier scorecard system
Capacity building / Build Team Culture
Create an empowering environment for staff reporting to you to learn under your leadership and support with recruitment at all job grades
Create an enabling environment for purchasers to improve their sourcing skills by developing trainings and being a mentor to others
Support heavily on recruitment by tapping into talent pools to hire top talent for open roles on the team.
Career Growth
We have a 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 shape a growing organization and build a rewarding long-term career.
Qualifications
You have 4+ years or work experience in an operations or strategic problem-solving role, with exposure to complex project management, process automation, and forecasting. You have an excellent academic background, love data, and are passionate about reducing waste across supply chain operations. Having prior operations or consulting experience is preferred but we’re most interested in whether you have experience solving complex operational problems in a fast-growing organization. You have the following experience:
You have experience in a demanding, multicultural professional environment, preferably in positions where frequent cross-department collaboration was required
You have experience in operations, consulting, manufacturing, or supply chain
You have leadership experience at work or outside of work
You love working with data and have data analytics and quantitative reasoning skills; Advanced Excel (can maintain complex spreadsheets) required and experience working in SAP is preferred
You enjoy coordinating with diverse teams – you advocate for your ideas while also being open to other perspectives
You’re comfortable quality checking documentation without support
You are passionate about delivering outstanding customer service – you put customers first in all that you do and understand the importance of building agile processes that will best serve your clients
You are fluent in English (French and Swahili a plus)
