Senior Manager – Agroforestry Operations

Farmers for Forests (F4F); Pune District; On-site; INR 480,000 - 720,000; Full time

Job summary

Farmers for Forests (F4F) seeks an experienced project leader to plan, execute, monitor, and close multi-donor agroforestry projects across several clusters. You will develop detailed implementation plans, track budget vs. actuals, and mentor field teams to ensure high survival rates and timely delivery.

The role requires coordinating with donors, government agencies, NGOs, and vendors, while ensuring data accuracy through FieldHQ and Kobo. Willingness to travel across sites is essential.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in Agriculture, Forestry, Rural Management, Environmental Science, Project Management, or a related field.
• 6–8 years of experience in large-scale project management, operations, or implementation, preferably in agroforestry or rural development.
• Experience in end-to-end on-ground project execution including planning, budgeting, monitoring and closure.
• Proven ability to lead cross-functional, geographically dispersed field teams.
• Experience managing donors, government bodies, NGOs, vendors, and community institutions.
• Strong budgeting, cost estimation, and expense monitoring skills.
• Proficiency with Excel/Google Sheets and digital data collection platforms.
• Excellent communication, analytical, and organizational skills; English fluent; Hindi/Marathi a plus.
• Willingness to travel frequently across multiple project locations.

Responsibilities

• Lead planning, execution, monitoring, and closure of multi-donor agroforestry projects across clusters.
• Develop and monitor annual to weekly implementation plans, track progress and budgets.
• Mentor and monitor Field Managers and field teams, ensure timely execution and high plantation survival.
• Recruit, onboard, train, and evaluate field teams; conduct regular review meetings.
• Drive farmer outreach, mobilization, stakeholder engagement, and post-plantation maintenance.
• Prepare budgets, monitor expenditures, optimize costs, and ensure donor compliance.
• Oversee stock supply unit operations, procurement planning, and vendor delivery of inputs.
• Ensure accurate operational documentation via FieldHQ, Kobo, and other platforms.
• Establish monitoring/reporting systems; prepare project reports and donor submissions.
• Coordinate with Technology, Data, Finance, HR, Admin to ensure smooth implementation.
• Strengthen processes across procurement, implementation, monitoring, documentation, and reporting.

Skills

Project management

Budgeting

Stakeholder management

Excel/Sheets

Data reporting

Team leadership

Communication

Travel readiness

Problem solving

Education

Bachelor’s or Master’s in Agriculture/Forestry

Tools

Kobo

FieldHQ

Job description

ROLE

• Lead the planning, execution, monitoring, and closure of multi-donor agroforestry projects across 3–4 clusters, ensuring implementation is completed as per SOPs, within approved budgets, timelines, and quality standards.
• Develop annual, seasonal, monthly, and weekly implementation plans, monitor Plan vs. Actual progress and budgets, and ensure timely achievement of operational targets.
• Manage, mentor, and monitor Field Managers and field teams, ensuring adherence to implementation models, effective planning, timely execution, and a plantation survival rate of over 90%.
• Recruit, onboard, train, motivate, and evaluate field teams, conduct regular review meetings, resolve implementation bottlenecks, and manage employee lifecycle activities.
• Drive large-scale farmer outreach, mobilization, stakeholder engagement, and post-plantation maintenance activities, including monitoring at least 25% of current and previous years’ plantation sites by self.
• Prepare cluster-wise and project budgets, monitor expenditures, optimize costs, and ensure compliance with organizational financial procedures, procurement SOPs, and donor requirements.
• Oversee stock supply unit operations, inventory management, procurement planning, vendor identification, and timely delivery of saplings, drip irrigation systems, compost, and other project inputs.
• Ensure timely and accurate completion of all operational documentation through FieldHQ, Kobo, and other designated platforms while enforcing data validation, quality assurance, and compliance with internal and donor audit requirements.
• Establish robust monitoring and reporting systems, prepare project reports, dashboards, and donor submissions, and use advanced Excel/Google Sheets for costing, tracking, and performance analysis.
• Coordinate effectively with cross-functional teams including Technology, Data, Finance, HR, Admin to ensure seamless project implementation.
• Drive operational excellence by strengthening processes across procurement, implementation, monitoring, documentation, and reporting, proactively resolving operational challenges and ensuring continuous process improvement.
• Ensure strict compliance with organizational SOPs, quality standards, statutory requirements, and project guidelines while performing any other responsibilities assigned by the management in support of organizational objectives.

REQUIREMENTS

• Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in Agriculture, Forestry, Rural Management, Environmental Science, Project Management, or a related field.
• Minimum 6–8 years of experience in large-scale project management, operations, or implementation, preferably in agroforestry, rural development, natural resource management, CSR or other field-based development projects.
• Demonstrated experience in end-to-end on-ground project execution, including planning, implementation, monitoring, budgeting, and project closure.
• Proven experience in leading and managing cross-functional and geographically dispersed field teams.
• Experience in stakeholder and client relationship management, including coordination with donors, government agencies, NGOs, FPOs, vendors, and community institutions.
• Strong budgeting, financial planning, cost estimation, and expense monitoring skills.
• Proficiency in Microsoft Excel/Google Sheets and digital documentation and data collection platforms.
• Excellent analytical, problem-solving, organizational, and decision-making skills with high attention to detail.
• Strong interpersonal, written, and verbal communication skills with fluency in English; proficiency in Hindi is preferred, and Marathi will be an added advantage.
• Comfortable with frequent travel across multiple project locations and working in rural and remote areas.
• Self-driven, adaptable, and capable of working effectively in fast-paced, dynamic, and multicultural environments.
• Demonstrates high integrity, accountability, professionalism, and alignment with the mission and values of Farmers for Forests.

BENEFITS

• Salary Range: INR 4.8 – 7.2 LPA