ABOUT ALU

ALU provides higher education for a higher purpose. Our students declare missions, not majors.They develop the real-world skills to take on the world’s most pressing challenges. And they take ownership of their learning from day one through our peer and student-led approach – because ALU believes in the power and agency of young people to start shaping the future right now. Together with a world-class faculty and staff, our students are igniting a ripple of positive impact across Africa and the world.

We are dedicated to fostering an open yet secure environment, balancing the safety of students, staff, and visitors with respect for individual rights, and safeguarding responsibilities.

HOW WE WORK

The ALU Team works in starkly different ways to traditional academic bureaucracies. We approach education from first principles, empower individuals to design, test, and implement creative new ideas, and work closely together to craft transformative learning experiences. We are deeply passionate about our students and excited by the challenge of building something entirely new.

The African Leadership University is committed to ensuring the safety and Well-being of all students under our care. As part of this commitment , we have a comprehensive safeguarding policy in place , which outlines our Zero-tolerance approach to any violation of safeguarding.

ABOUT THE TEAM 

The Financial Performance & Reporting team at ALU is being established from the ground up. Under the leadership of the Associate Director of Financial Performance & Reporting, the team's mission is to transform financial data into strategic insights that guide institutional decision-making. This encompasses areas such as financial planning, management reporting, revenue assurance, and performance analysis.

This is a small but high-impact team, where the work has a significant impact. The systems, frameworks, and processes you help develop will directly influence how ALU understands and manages its financial performance for years to come.

ABOUT THE ROLE 

The Financial Performance & Reporting team sits at the core of ALU’s finance transformation agenda, with a mandate to establish a disciplined, insight-driven approach to financial management across the institution.

Led by the Associate Director of Financial Performance & Reporting, the team is responsible for translating financial data into clear, actionable insights that support decision-making at both operational and leadership levels. This includes ownership of financial planning, management reporting, performance analysis, and the integrity of underlying financial data.

The team operates at the intersection of FP&A and financial control, working closely with the Finance Operations function to ensure that reporting is grounded in accurate, reconciled, and complete financial information. As such, the function plays a critical role in reinforcing month-end discipline, strengthening data integrity, and enabling ALU’s “report once” reporting framework.

This role reports directly to the Senior FP&A and ultimately to the Associate Director of Financial Performance & Reporting. As part of a small, high-impact team, you will contribute to building the systems, processes, and standards that will define how ALU manages and understands its financial performance going forward.

ROLE RESPONSIBILITIES 

1. COGS Analysis & Management

• Own the monthly COGS reporting cycle: extract, reconcile, and analyze all direct programme costs against budget, tracking variances by cost category, programme, and campus.
• Maintain the COGS master schedule, ensuring all direct costs, faculty fees, programme delivery costs, student-facing expenses, and contracted services are correctly coded, allocated, and reconciled to the NetSuite ledger.
• Prepare monthly COGS variance commentary for review by the Associate Director, highlighting key drivers, timing differences, and cost risks.
• Monitor cost per student and cost per programme metrics, flagging anomalies and trends for management attention.
• Drive identification of cost optimisation opportunities across programmes. 

2. Overhead Tracking & Departmental Cost Reporting

• Maintain the overhead tracker across all departments: HR, Technology, Finance, Facilities, Marketing, and Administration.
• Produce monthly departmental overhead reports with budget vs actuals, variance analysis, and narrative summaries for departmental leads and senior management.
• Reconcile overhead expenditure to NetSuite ledger entries monthly; identify and investigate mispostings, timing differences, and unbudgeted spend.
• Track committed spend and accruals to ensure completeness of the monthly overhead picture; maintain the accruals schedule.
• Challenge departmental spend against approved budgets and enforce cost discipline through proactive engagement with budget owners. 

3. Audit support  & Month-end close

• Prepare and maintain all core supporting schedules for the monthly and year-end close: prepayments, accruals, fixed assets, depreciation, and capitalized costs.
• Ensure all schedules are fully reconciled to the NetSuite trial balance and delivered to the Finance Operations Director within the agreed close timeline (by close +5).
• Maintain the fixed asset register: additions, disposals, depreciation runs, and year-end reconciliation.
• Support the Finance Operations Director in providing audit-ready schedules during statutory and donor audits.
• Proactively identify schedule discrepancies and reconcile items; investigate and resolve with the Finance Operations team.

4. Budgeting & Forecasting Support (Cost focus)

• Support the annual budgeting cycle: consolidate departmental cost submissions, validate assumptions, flag outliers, and prepare the cost budget for review by the Associate Director.
• Maintain rolling overhead and COGS forecasts, updating for actuals, known changes, and management decisions each month.
• Build and maintain cost scenario models: sensitivity analysis on key cost drivers (headcount, programme volumes, exchange rates) to support institutional planning.
• Provide cost-side inputs to the Senior Financial Analyst for integration into the consolidated financial model and Board reporting.
• Support business case preparation: model cost implications of new programmes, operational changes, and investment proposals.

5. Financial Performance Reporting (Cost contribution)

• Prepare the cost performance section of the monthly management accounts: a structured, clearly narrated view of COGS, overheads, and total expenditure vs budget.
• Deliver cost variance analysis for consolidation by the Senior Financial Analyst into the monthly Board pack and management reporting cycle.
• Produce the monthly expenditure dashboard: overhead burn rate, COGS efficiency, headcount cost trends, and key cost ratios.
• Contribute supporting data and cost schedules to donor reports prepared by the Senior Financial Analyst, ensuring budget vs actuals reconciliation for grant-funded programmes.
• Translate cost performance into actionable insights for management decision-making. 

6. CAPEX & Project Cost Tracking

• Track capital expenditure against approved budgets: maintain the CAPEX schedule, monitor spend against authorizations, and flag overspend risks.
• Reconcile CAPEX actuals in NetSuite to the project register; liaise with the Finance Operations Director on capitalization, depreciation, and disposal treatments.
• Prepare CAPEX progress reports for senior management, highlighting spend status, pending commitments, and forecast to completion.

7. Tools & Systems

• NetSuite (ERP):  Extract AR ledger, grant-coded transactions, deferred income data; run saved searches and exports
• Google Sheets / Google Suite: Primary working environment for all trackers, reconciliations, dashboards, and reporting files
• SQL: Working knowledge query writing for data extraction and reconciliation (advantage)
• Salesforce: Extract billing, opportunity, and payment data; validate against NetSuite; support donor register
• Google Suite (Slides / Docs): Format dashboards and reports for leadership and donor audiences

REQUIRED EXPERIENCE

Essential Qualifications:

• • Bachelor's degree in Finance, Accounting, Economics, or a related field.
  • 3–5 years of experience with demonstrated experience in overhead tracking, cost variance analysis, and supporting schedule preparation.
  • Strong proficiency in Google Sheets and/or Excel: advanced formulas, pivot tables, and structured financial models.
  • Experience working with ERP systems (NetSuite experience is a strong advantage).
  • Solid understanding of management accounting principles: accruals, prepayments, fixed assets, cost allocation.
  • Detail-oriented with a disciplined approach to reconciliation and schedule accuracy.
  • Clear written communication: able to present cost findings in plain language for management

Desirable qualifications

• • Part-qualified or fully qualified accountant (ACCA, CPA, CIMA, CA, or equivalent) preferred.
  • Experience in education, non-profit, or international development financial environments.
  • Exposure to CAPEX management, project cost tracking, or fixed asset accounting.
  • Understanding of grant budget tracking and donor fund allocation (supporting role).
  • Audit or assurance background (added advantage)

Personal Attributes

• • Cost disciplinarian: brings rigour and precision to expenditure tracking, reconciliation, and schedule ownership.
  • Proactive investigator: spots variances and discrepancies early and investigates root causes before being asked.
  • Structured and systematic: naturally organizes work into clean, version-controlled, audit-ready files.
  • Comfortable with foundational work: motivated by building clean systems in a function that is still being established.

ABOUT ALU

ALU provides higher education for a higher purpose. Our students declare missions, not majors.They develop the real-world skills to take on the world’s most pressing challenges. And they take ownership of their learning from day one through our peer and student-led approach – because ALU believes in the power and agency of young people to start shaping the future right now. Together with a world-class faculty and staff, our students are igniting a ripple of positive impact across Africa and the world.

We are dedicated to fostering an open yet secure environment, balancing the safety of students, staff, and visitors with respect for individual rights, and safeguarding responsibilities.

HOW WE WORK

The ALU Team works in starkly different ways to traditional academic bureaucracies. We approach education from first principles, empower individuals to design, test, and implement creative new ideas, and work closely together to craft transformative learning experiences. We are deeply passionate about our students and excited by the challenge of building something entirely new.

The African Leadership University is committed to ensuring the safety and Well-being of all students under our care. As part of this commitment , we have a comprehensive safeguarding policy in place , which outlines our Zero-tolerance approach to any violation of safeguarding.

ABOUT THE TEAM 

The Senior Financial Analyst brings business acumen and commercial judgment to the Financial Performance & Reporting team. This senior analyst owns the topline revenue intelligence function, tracking, interpreting, and communicating student revenue performance, collections trends, and financial outcomes to institutional leaders. Working under the Associate Director of Financial Performance & Reporting, you will transform reconciled data into performance narratives, manage the donor and grant reporting relationship, and serve as a thought partner to academic and operational stakeholders.

This is a role for a finance professional with strong business instincts, excellent communication skills, and the ability to comfortably sit at the intersection of numbers and strategy. You make the data mean something to the people who need to act on it.

ROLE RESPONSIBILITIES

Topline Revenue Performance Management

• Own the monthly revenue performance reporting cycle: student fee revenue, collections rates, discount trends, deferred income movements, and receivables ageing.
• Develop and maintain revenue intelligence dashboards tailored to senior management and Board audiences — translating complex data into clear performance narratives.
• Track and analyse student cohort revenue trends, segmented by programme, campus, scholarship status, and payment modality.
• Identify revenue risks and opportunities (collection gaps, billing anomalies, discount leakage) and present actionable recommendations to the Associate Director and VPF.
• Monitor and report on collections performance against targets; provide weekly/monthly collections summaries to the Finance Operations team and leadership.
• Partner with the Registrar and Enrolment teams to align financial forecasts with academic and student data, ensuring one coherent revenue picture.

Management Reporting & Financial Performance Analysis

• Lead the preparation of monthly management accounts commentary and quarterly Board financial packs — ensuring narrative clarity, actionable insights, and variance explanations.
• Conduct variance analysis and trend identification across revenue and expenditure lines; develop and present narratives for senior management and Board reporting.
• Reconcile statutory financial statements with management accounts to ensure consistency between compliance reporting and internal performance data.
• Support the Associate Director in preparing forward-looking analysis: investment cases, cost optimisation opportunities, and resource allocation recommendations.
• Produce ad-hoc financial analysis and scenario modelling to inform strategic decisions, new programme launches, and funding proposals.

Donor & Grant Reporting

• Own donor financial reporting end-to-end: prepare accurate, timely donor reports, ensuring transparency on fund receipt, allocation, and utilisation.
• Partner with the Fundraising and Programme teams to track fund collections, expenses, and budget vs actuals per grant — reconciling financial records with donor commitments.
• Develop new programme budgets for grant applications in collaboration with the Fundraising team, aligned with ALU's strategy and chart of accounts.
• Review draft financial reports from the Data Analyst, add narrative and context, and finalise for submission under the Associate Director's oversight.
• Serve as the relationship interface between the Finance team and Fundraising/Programme teams on grant compliance matters.

Financial Planning & Forecasting

• Co-lead the annual budgeting cycle with the Associate Director: facilitated departmental submissions, challenged assumptions, and consolidated institutional forecasts.
• Maintain rolling revenue forecasts, integrating enrolment projections, collections assumptions, and pricing changes into forward-looking models.
• Support sensitivity analysis and long-term sustainability modelling, contributing business judgment to technical models built by the Data Analyst.
• Translate strategic priorities into financial targets and contribute to the institutional performance framework.

Business Partnering & Stakeholder Management

• Act as a thought partner to academic and operational leaders on financial performance, surfacing risks and improvement opportunities in plain language.
• Support in preparing Board and ExCo financial presentations, ensuring data accuracy, visual clarity, and strategic framing.
• Partner with the Business Planning & Transformation teams to integrate financial KPIs into institutional performance dashboards and planning cycles.
• Collaborate with the Finance Operations Director (FOD) to ensure smooth handoffs between operational transactions and management reporting.
• Support external stakeholder reporting (Board, regulators, donors) with validated data and clear analysis.

Tools & systems

REQUIRED EXPERIENCE

Essential qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Finance, Accounting, Economics, Business Administration, or a related field.
• 5–7 years of experience in financial management, FP&A, or management reporting — with demonstrated business partnering experience.
• Strong financial reporting and analysis skills: variance analysis, management accounts, Board reporting.
• Experience working with revenue-generating operations: student fees, subscriptions, project-based income, or equivalent.
• An excellent written and verbal communication applicant needs to be able to translate financial complexity into clear narratives for non-finance audiences.
• Experience managing donor or grant financial reporting, including budget vs actuals and utilisation tracking.
• Strong grounding in financial accounting and reporting principles, with the ability to challenge and validate underlying numbers
• Prior experience in audit (Big Four preferred) or a role with significant exposure to financial close and reporting processes
• Demonstrated experience supporting or owning month-end close processes in a structured environment
• High attention to detail with a focus on data integrity, controls, and completeness
• Ability to operate across both analytical (FP&A) and control/reporting environments
• Comfortable working with ERP systems (e.g., NetSuite) and large datasets, with an understanding of how transactions flow into reporting
• Strong stakeholder management skills, with the ability to enforce deadlines and challenge slippage constructively

OTHER COMPETENCIES

Desirable qualifications

• Experience in education, non-profit, or international development financial environments.
• Familiarity with Salesforce for revenue and pipeline tracking.
• Exposure to institutional performance frameworks, KPI design, and balanced scorecard approaches.
• Understanding of revenue recognition principles, deferred income, and student receivables accounting.
• Power BI or data visualisation tool experience (consuming dashboards and shaping requirements).

Personal Attributes

• Commercial and strategic thinker: connects financial data to institutional outcomes and business decisions.
• Exceptional communicator: writes and speaks with clarity and precision for executive audiences.
• Relationship builder: trusted by academic and operational leaders as a credible finance partner.
• Ownership mindset: takes accountability for the quality and timeliness of reporting outputs.
• Comfortable with ambiguity and foundational work: able to build structure in a function that is still being established.

ABOUT ALU

At the African Leadership University (ALU), we're more than just an institution—we're a catalyst for transformation. Our mission is to develop a new generation of ethical and entrepreneurial leaders who will shape Africa's future. Through our innovative curriculum, focus on experiential learning, and vibrant pan-African community, we empower students to become changemakers, problem-solvers, and innovators. At ALU, we're not just teaching; we're nurturing the leaders who will drive Africa's progress and prosperity in the 21st century

We are dedicated to fostering an open yet secure environment, balancing the safety of students, staff, and visitors with respect for individual rights, and safeguarding responsibilities.

HOW WE WORK

The ALU Team works in starkly different ways to traditional academic bureaucracies. We approach education from first principles, empower individuals to design, test, and implement creative new ideas, and work closely together to craft transformative learning experiences. We are deeply passionate about our students and excited by the challenge of building something entirely new.

The African Leadership University is committed to ensuring the safety and Well-being of all students under our care. As part of this commitment , we have a comprehensive safeguarding policy in place , which outlines our Zero-tolerance approach to any violation of safeguarding.

ABOUT THE ROLE

The Venture Analyst & Coach supports the development, assessment, and performance tracking of student-led ventures across ALU’s Student Ventures Program (SVP). The role
focuses on venture screening, founder coaching, post-funding monitoring, and data-driven decision-making to ensure founders progress responsibly and funding is deployed effectively. This role sits at the intersection of venture analysis, founder support, and accountability, ensuring that promising ventures are supported while risks are identified early and managed appropriately.

ROLE RESPONSIBILITIES

Venture Screening & Assessment (Core Function)

• Support the review and screening of applications for SVP programs, including Ventures Lab, ScaleUp Lab, and thematic accelerators.
• Assess ventures using defined evaluation criteria, rubrics, and data room reviews.
• Provide written assessments and recommendations to support selection, rejection, or conditional progression decisions.
• Flag inconsistencies, gaps, or risk indicators in venture submissions and founder claims.

Founder Coaching & Venture Support

• Provide hands-on coaching to founders across venture development, traction, execution, and operational readiness.
• Support founders in building and improving data rooms, financial models, traction plans, and pitch materials.
• Conduct structured progress reviews and milestone check-ins with assigned ventures.
• Escalate risks, underperformance, or integrity concerns to the Senior SVP Associate where necessary.

Post-Funding Support & Monitoring

• Support funded ventures through post-grant monitoring, KPI tracking, and milestone verification.
• Assist with tranche-based disbursement tracking in line with signed MOUs and funding annexes.
• Review progress reports and supporting evidence submitted by founders prior to tranche releases.
• Identify discrepancies between reported progress and observable outcomes.

Monitoring, Evaluation & Reporting

• Collect, analyse, and maintain venture performance data including traction, revenue, user growth, and operational milestones.
• Prepare internal summaries and reports to support funding, continuation, or termination decisions.
• Support longitudinal tracking of venture outcomes post-program.

Administrative & Cross-Functional Responsibilities

• Maintain accurate venture records, documentation, and reporting folders.
• Collaborate with Finance, Operations, and Program teams on disbursements and compliance.
• Perform any other duties reasonably assigned by the Senior SVP Associate or C4E Manager.

REQUIRED EXPERIENCE

Required Qualifications:

• Bachelor’s degree in Business, Finance, Economics, Entrepreneurship,Management, or a related field.
• Demonstrated experience supporting, analysing, or working with early-stage ventures or startups.
• Experience with venture analysis, consulting, investment, or accelerator programs is an advantage.

Key Skills & Competencies:

Venture &Analytical Competencies

• Strong understanding of startup lifecycles, traction metrics, MVP validation, and execution risk.
• Ability to analyse financials, KPIs, and founder reports critically and objectively.

Coaching & Communication

• Ability to coach founders constructively while maintaining accountability.
• Strong written and verbal communication skills, particularly for feedback and reporting.

Operational & Judgment Skills

• High attention to detail and integrity in assessment and decision-making.
• Ability to manage multiple ventures simultaneously under tight timelines.

Professional Attributes

• High integrity, sound judgment, and comfort handling sensitive issues.
• Calm, objective, and solutions-oriented.

ROLE OUTCOMES / SUCCESS INDICATORS.

• High-quality, evidence-based venture assessments.
• Improved accuracy and reliability of founder reporting.
• Reduced funding risk through early detection of underperformance or misuse.
• Strong founder satisfaction balanced with accountability.
• Clear, timely reporting to leadership and finance.

About You and The Role

We are looking for a highly motivated and skilled data analyst to build out system health and performance monitoring within the Systems Engineering team, working closely with the team’s Senior Data Scientist. This role will play a key part in identifying critical fleet issues, improving safety, and removing barriers to Zipline’s growth. The successful candidate will work closely with engineers across Zipline, helping them understand the performance of their systems and how they relate to others, as well as senior leadership, assisting in measuring key company metrics. The ideal candidate has deep experience in data analytics, particularly in monitoring real-world hardware and/or operations, and can work adeptly with both highly technical and non-technical stakeholders to extract actionable insights from complex technical data.

What You’ll Do

• Design and build data analytics solutions, including monitoring dashboards, alerting tools, and ad hoc analyses, to track Zipline’s core flight reliability and safety metrics.
• Collaborate with System Engineers and partner teams to track the health of hardware, software, and operational systems.
• Create software scripts (in SQL and Python) to extract system performance data from raw flight logs.
• Work autonomously with other Data Scientists and Analysts across the company to create and maintain shared data models in our data warehouse, ensuring company-wide access for analytics and reporting.
• Ensure that we are following best practices for efficient data access across multiple technical systems.
• Serve as a source of knowledge and expertise, assisting team members across the company in locating and reporting on their own data.

What You’ll Bring

• 3+ years of experience in data analysis or business intelligence, preferably related to hardware-software systems or operations.
• Strong proficiency in data visualization tools such as Mode, ThoughtSpot, Looker, Tableau, PowerBI, or similar.
• Experience writing SQL queries to extract, manipulate, and aggregate large datasets from relational databases, including complex joins, aggregations, and window functions, with the ability to optimize and debug queries for performance and readability.
• Experience working with Snowflake’s cloud data platform or comparable data warehouse/data lake tools.
• Excellent problem-solving and analytical skills.
• Strong communication skills, with the ability to present complex data in a clear, concise manner to both technical and non-technical audiences.
• Ability to work independently and manage multiple projects simultaneously.
• Inherent self-motivation, adaptability, and creativity.
• Familiarity with Python for data analysis, including working with pandas, numpy, matplotlib, etc., and exploratory analysis in a Jupyter notebook environment.
• Must be willing to relocate to Kigali, Rwanda for this role

Preferred but Not Required:

• Experience using DBT to create data ETL pipelines.
• Experience with GIS and spatial analysis.
• Knowledge of GitHub and the ability to navigate a software pull request workflow.

What Else You Need to Know

Zipline is an equal opportunity employer and prohibits discrimination and harassment of any type without regard to race, color, religion, age, sex, national origin, disability status, genetics, protected veteran status, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, or any other characteristic protected by federal, state, or local laws or our own sensibilities.

We value diversity at Zipline and welcome applications from those who are traditionally underrepresented in tech. If you like the sound of this position but are not sure if you are the perfect fit, please apply!

Please Note

We have received reports stating that certain individuals are reaching out to people under false pretenses, claiming to be Zipline employees, affiliates, agents, or representatives. They may seek to gain access to your personal information or to acquire money from you by offering fictitious employment opportunities or by claiming that they are contacting you on Zipline’s behalf.

Genuine Zipline employees or representatives will never ask you for money or payment in exchange for employment opportunities or other related services. Any such offer of employment or any other service in exchange for fees that claims to be from us is deceitful and part of a fraud.

If you believe you have been targeted by a fraudulent party, we ask that you immediately get in touch with us via email at security@flyzipline.com upon receiving a suspicious offer or claim.

About One Acre Fund

Founded in 2006, One Acre Fund equips 5.5 million smallholder farmers to make their farms more productive. Across nine countries that together are home to two-thirds of Africa's farmers, we provide high-quality farm supplies, tree seedlings, accessible credit, modern agronomic training, and a wide range of other agricultural services. On average, this model enables any farmer to increase their income and assets on supported land by more than 35 percent, while permanently improving their resilience. This is all made possible by our team of 9,000+ full-time staff, drawn from diverse backgrounds and professions. To learn more, please see our Why Work Here blog post.

About the Role

From R&D to sales to strategy to operations, the Global R&D Data Analyst has the unique opportunity to improve decision-making across all aspects of One Acre Fund’s program using many diverse data types, such as sales, yield, demographic and satellite data, to help us reach more farmers with greater impact. 

The Global R&D Data Analyst will help us reach over one million farmers by executing analyses for strategic decision-making on repayment, expansion, and other business functions, and work directly with program leaders to interpret results and make data-driven decisions. The Global R&D Data Analyst will play an integral role in shaping One Acre Fund’s data strategy, including dreaming up and executing new ways to use our data to improve our program.

Additionally, One Acre Fund has a robust agronomic and socioeconomic research program spanning all countries of operation. This role will work closely with country R&D teams to ensure all trials are executed at the highest possible standards, provide follow-up analytical support and training to team members, and support with warehousing of our agronomic data to make our research outputs accessible to external collaborators, further increasing One Acre Fund’s smallholder farmer impact across the continent.

To succeed in this role, you will need to be a strong communicator and have a solid analytical background with experience in experimental design. You will need to be comfortable interpreting ambiguous results generated with imperfect data and advising leaders on the relative risk associated with different decisions based on the results of your analysis. 

This is a deliberately hybrid role. Success requires the ability to operate effectively as:

• an experimental methodologist (trial design & causal inference),
• an applied data scientist (production analytics, geospatial methods, modelling), and
• a delivery-oriented project manager (prioritisation, documentation, coordination).

Responsibilities

Own methodological rigour and analytical quality for trials and surveys (30%):

• Design and analyse trials and surveys, including:
  • Sample size and power calculations
  • Stratification and experimental design
  • Recommend the appropriate statistical methods (e.g., hypothesis testing, regression, ANOVA/mixed models)
• Lead analysis of agronomic and product trials to estimate treatment effects and program impact
• Quality assure trial designs and analyses produced by other analysts
• Translate trial findings into clear recommendations for product design, agronomic guidance, and program strategy.

Develop scalable analytical products and decision-support tools using program, survey, and spatial data (30%):

• Build, maintain, and improve analytical pipelines and production codebases that power operational decision tools (e.g., sowing date or input recommendations), including occasional support at the production level.
• Integrate survey, MEL, and operational data with geospatial layers (soil, climate, vegetation, remote sensing) to generate localised recommendations and program targeting strategies.
• Conduct spatial and remote-sensing analyses for program design, prioritisation, and impact estimation (e.g., soil erosion modelling, site suitability analysis).
• Analyse historical trial and soil data to generate input and soil management recommendations (e.g., lime application, fertiliser rate application).
• Evaluate potential impact of alternative interventions and support pilot design, iteration, and scale decisions.
• Translate analyses into decision-ready outputs (briefs, dashboards, and memos) for non-technical stakeholders.
• Identify new, high-leverage analytical use cases that improve program reach, impact, or cost-effectiveness.

Lead impact data management and project management (~20%)

• Lead curation and standardisation of historical yield, agronomic practice, and trial datasets to enable reuse and external research collaboration.
• Own knowledge management for impact data and trials, including:
  • Central documentation of methodologies, assumptions, sample sizes, and results for all projects
  • Reusable analysis templates and reference implementations
• Manage external data requests in compliance with client data protection and confidentiality protocols.

Provide portfolio-level project management (~20%):

• Maintain project plans, priorities, and timelines
• Track dependencies and risks
• Coordinate with program and R&D stakeholders to identify potential delivery risks
• Establish durable documentation and planning systems (e.g., project roadmaps, project trackers, shared repositories).

Career Growth and Development

We have a strong 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 have the opportunity to shape a growing organization and build a rewarding long-term career.

Qualifications

Across all roles, these are the general qualifications we look for. For this role specifically, you will have:

• Bachelor's Degree in one of the following fields: economics, econometrics, mathematics, or statistics
• Proficiency in R and/or Python, including working knowledge of -
• Database connectivity (e.g., PostgreSQL) to enable data retrieval, manipulation, and storage from various databases
• Interact with RESTful APIs (e.g., JSON, XML)
• Data manipulation libraries (e.g., dplyr, tidyr) for efficient data wrangling, transformation, and exploration
• Packages for data visualisation (e.g., ggplot2, lattice, plotly)
• Advanced statistical analysis and modelling (stats, lme4, survival)
• Machine learning frameworks (e.g., randomForest, xgboost, caret) for building predictive models and conducting machine learning tasks
• Packages for data manipulation and visualisation, such as numpy, pandas, and Matplotlib
• Spatial data manipulation libraries (geopandas, rasterio, shapely, GDAL)
• In-depth knowledge of statistically rigorous trial design methodologies, including RCTs, side-by-side comparisons, RCBD, and other experimental designs
• In-depth knowledge of statistically rigorous survey design methods, including random, stratified, and cluster sampling
• Knowledge of relevant meteorological, soil, and vegetation data layers and sources, their uses and limitations (e.g., iSDA, ISRIC, CHIRPS, TAMSAT, NASA, Sentinel Hub, Google Earth Engine, AWS)
• Working knowledge of agronomy, e.g., practical understanding of fertiliser nutrient compositions, plant populations, growing degree days, GxE interactions.
• Working knowledge of GIS tools such as ArcGIS and QGIS, and spatial data analysis techniques.
• Proficiency in version control, such as Git/GitHub.
• Ability to easily explain technical concepts to non-technical decision makers and grow the analytical skills of others.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills for coordinating across teams.
• Demonstrated ability to manage multiple analytical projects in parallel, including:
• Scoping ambiguous analytical problems and translating them into deliverable plans
• Prioritising work against timelines and stakeholder needs
• Tracking progress, managing dependencies, and proactively unblocking delivery risks
• Maintaining clear documentation and project plans to ensure continuity and institutional memory

Preferred Start Date

As soon as possible

Job Location

Nairobi, Kenya or Kigali, Rwanda

Benefits

Health insurance, housing, and comprehensive benefits

Contract Duration

2 Years

Eligibility

One Acre Fund can support a work permit for this role. However, nationals of (or those with an extensive professional background and work history in) our countries of operation are preferred.

Application Deadline

10 July, 2026

Please note that we hire on a rolling basis, which means that applications are reviewed and processed on a continuous basis until a hire is made.

One Acre Fund never asks candidates to pay any money or pay for tests at any stage of the interview process. Official One Acre Fund emails will always arrive from an @oneacrefund.org address. Please report any suspicious communication here (globalhotline@oneacrefund.org), but do not send applications or application materials to this email address.

Diversity, Equity, Inclusion (DEI), and anti-racism are deeply connected to our organisation’s mission and purpose. One Acre Fund aspires to build a culture where all staff feel consistently valued, represented, and connected – so that our team can thrive as professionals, and achieve exceptional impact for the farmers we serve.

We are committed to equal employment opportunity regardless of race, colour, ancestry, religion, sex, national origin, sexual orientation, age, marital status, disability, gender, gender identity or expression. We are proud to be an equal opportunity workplace.