Regenerative agriculture & Agronomy manager

Company Description

The regenerative agriculture & agronomy manager is responsible for leading, organizing, and developing the agronomy team while driving the implementation of regenerative agriculture and farmer productivity initiatives across Kenya.

This role combines people leadership, operational management, strategic planning, and technical oversight. The successful candidate will ensure agronomy programs are effectively planned, resourced, implemented, monitored, and continuously improved, while fostering a culture of accountability, collaboration, and high performance.

The regenerative agriculture & agronomy manager will serve as the primary focal point for agronomy operations, regenerative agriculture implementation, farmer productivity programs, and field team coordination.

Job Description

Team leadership and people management

• Lead, supervise, mentor, and develop the Agronomy Team.
• Establish clear objectives, responsibilities, and performance expectations for all direct reports through regular one-on-one meetings and performance reviews.
• Build a culture of accountability, ownership, collaboration, and results orientation.
• Monitor team performance and implement corrective actions where required to ensure delivery against objectives and KPIs.
• Identify training and professional development needs within the team.
• Ensure effective communication, coordination, and knowledge sharing across the agronomy team.
• Oversee the delivery of high-quality technical support, training, and capacity building for Trainers of Trainers (ToT), Trainers of Farmers (ToF), agronomists, and field staff.

Planning, scheduling, and activity management

• Develop annual, quarterly, and monthly workplans for agronomy activities.
• Coordinate field schedules, farmer training plans, and extension activities.
• Monitor implementation against targets and ensure timely delivery of key outputs.

Regenerative agriculture & agronomy program management

• Lead the development and implementation of regenerative agriculture and agronomy initiatives across cooperatives and farmer groups, including demonstration plots, water efficiency, Good Agricultural Practices (GAP), Climate-Smart Agriculture, and sustainability interventions.
• Conduct soil analysis and soil health management, providing nutrient management recommendations to ToF to improve farm productivity and resilience.
• Support revolving fund programs through coordination of agricultural input distribution, farmer adoption tracking, and recovery reporting.
• Lead the design, implementation, and monitoring of demonstration plots to validate regenerative agriculture practices, soil amendments, soil rejuvenation techniques, agricultural inputs, and improved crop varieties.
• Certification Support & Compliance support
• Support implementation of sustainability and certification programs
• Ensure agronomic interventions align with certification requirements and projects activities
• Support audit preparation, corrective action implementation, and continuous improvement activities.
• Gender equity and youth inclusion
• Promote gender equity and youth inclusion through farmer group development, entrepreneurship training, and income diversification initiatives.
• Monitoring, Evaluation, and Reporting
• Collaborate closely with the Monitoring & Evaluation (M&E) team to ensure timely collection, validation, and reporting of field data.
• Monitor and report on the adoption and impact of regenerative agriculture and agronomy interventions, including productivity, soil health, water efficiency, and sustainability outcomes.
• Contribute to monthly, quarterly, and annual technical and narrative reports.
• Stakeholder and Cooperative Engagement
• Maintain strong relationships with cooperatives, farmers, service providers, and project partners.
• Collaborate with sustainability teams to strengthen farmer, and cooperative compliance and continuous improvement.
• Coordinate agronomy activities with cooperative leadership and field representatives.
• Support development and management of agronomy budgets.
• Monitor expenditure against approved budgets.
• Budget and Resource Management

Qualifications

Bachelor’s degree in Agronomy, Agricultural Science, Environmental Science, Soil Science, Sustainable Agriculture, or a related field.

Additional Information

Qualifications & Education

• Bachelor’s degree in finance, Business Administration, or a related field. MBA or relevant certification is a plus.

Experience

• Minimum 7 years of relevant professional experience in agronomy, agricultural development, sustainability, or farmer support programs.
• Minimum 5-7 years of experience leading, managing, and developing field-based technical teams.
• Demonstrated experience managing geographically dispersed teams and driving performance through multiple levels of supervision.
• Proven experience in work planning, resource allocation, performance management, and team development.
• Experience implementing regenerative agriculture and sustainability initiatives is highly desirable.

Other Competences

• Strong understanding of agronomy, soil health, and crop production systems.
• Knowledge of regenerative agriculture principles and climate-smart agriculture.
• Proficiency in Microsoft Office applications (mandatory).
• Familiarity with digital data collection and monitoring systems.
• Experience in project planning, implementation, monitoring, and reporting.
• Budget planning and resource management skills.

Core Competences

• Strong people leadership and team management skills, with the ability to motivate, coach, develop, and hold teams accountable.
• Proven experience building high-performing teams and managing performance across multiple field locations.
• Excellent planning, coordination, and organizational skills.
• Strong analytical, problem-solving, and decision-making abilities.
• Effective communication, training, and stakeholder engagement skills.
• Ability to manage multiple priorities and deliver results in field-based environments.
• High level of integrity, accountability, and commitment to farmer impact and sustainability.

Preferred ​​​​​​​

• Coffee sector experience is not mandatory but would be considered an added advantage.
• Experience with farming communities or applied research
• Wet mills operations
• Innovation / Technology / Regen Ag (soil, water, carbon...) / M&E

Soft skills

• Inspirational leader and strong communicator.
• Cross‑cultural collaboration.
• Strategic, organized, and proactive.