SUCAFINA 

SUCAFINA is a coffee trading house based in Switzerland with the vision of becoming the World’s leading sustainable, farm to roaster, coffee supplier by 2025.  The SUCAFINA Ethiopian Representative Office has been in operation since 2016.  Previously focused primarily upon commercial coffees, we are focused upon growing this business while shifting attention towards growing our presence in the specialty coffee market.

Summary of the Role:

Coordinate field agronomists and related farmer/coffee projects and carryout twice annual coffee crop survey.

Job Description:

SUNCAFINA Ethiopia is looking for a motivated, dedicated individual to help us coordinate field agronomists to better monitor the state of the Ethiopian coffee crop and prepare materials, trainings and provide technical oversight to improve the yields and quality of the coffee produced by our partner producers and farmers.   This individual will be the primary liaison between our Ethiopian Representative Office, Ethiopian partners, and sister offices/HQ abroad.

Responsibilities:

• Will represent SUCAFINA in any and all activities and as such should embody company values.
• Will coordinate and oversee field agronomists in all project areas and as they work with partner suppliers and farmers.
• Conduct twice or thrice-annual agronomy surveys to document and predict coffee crop yields in project areas and throughout coffee growing areas of Ethiopia.
• Will develop new plans and initiatives to better enable SUCAFINA to monitor the changing state of the coffee crop and to better interact and promote our partner coffee suppliers and farmers.
• Prepare agronomic best practice training manuals for field staffs, and partners as per SUCAFINA’s training plan.
• Coaching and technical support to field staff, while they deliver monthly agronomy related trainings to farmers.
• Will prepare regular reports for SUCAFINA research departments concerning local markets, exports, weather, cost of production, and any other relevant information.
• Will prepare additional reports as requested by managing staff.
• Prepare weekly and monthly updates.
• Conduct regular field/farm visits to assess field staff proficiency.
• Organize/oversee the collection of all production related information/data including acreage, yields, and production costs.
• Structure and analyze all relevant crop survey data.
• In addition to the above job descriptions, the agronomist expected to carryout reasonable alternative tasks as directed by SUCAFINA Ethiopia Representative Office to support the work of colleagues.

Reporting Line:

• Reports to Directing Manager/Sourcing & Supply Chain Manager

Location:

• Primarily based in Addis Ababa at the SUCAFINA Ethiopian Representative Office in the Lancha area with frequent trips to the field in coffee producing regions throughout Ethiopia.

Start Date:

• Position to begin as soon as possible.

Qualifications:

• Minimum of BSc in Agriculture, Horticulture, Agronomy or related field.
• At least 4-years of work experience in the coffee sector.
• Proficient in Microsoft Office, especially Word, Excel and Outlook.
• Proficiency in both spoken and written English is a must.
• Proficiency in Afan Oromo is desired but not required.
• Display the ability to collect, analyze and meaningfully interpret large data sets.

Skills:

• Displays ability to work well in a group setting with understanding of corporate hierarchy and chain of reporting.
• Must display a forward thinking ability to analyze and propose solutions to problems that may exist in their field of work to strengthen SUCAFINA operations in Ethiopia.
• Good communication skills are a must.
• Must display an ability to adapt to changing work/field conditions and resourcefulness in completing sometimes challenging tasks.
• Must remain flexible and be willing to travel to remote field sites, when required, to complete tasks in challenging settings.
• Ability to work in a start-up environment as part of a core team building the organization from ground-up.
• Excellent numeric ability & analytical skills.
• Sound planning skills.
• Focused priorities, innovativeness and motivation.
• Good inter-personal as well as intra-personal skills.
• Assertive and energetic.
• Emanate role model behavior and exhibit team based work culture.
• Ability to think in an innovative manner.
• Drive for results.
• Strong negotiation skills.