Divisional Technical Manager: Ruminants

Astral Foods Ltd; Wes-Kaap; On-site; ZAR 1,200,000 - 2,000,000; Full time

Job summary

Meadow Feeds, part of Astral Foods Ltd, seeks a senior leader to steer ruminant nutrition strategy across dairy, beef and sheep sectors in southern Africa.

The role focuses on technical leadership, cross-unit standardisation, client support and driving innovation while ensuring quality and governance across multiple regional teams.

Qualifications

• PhD in Agric: Animal Nutrition (preferred) or MSc Agriculture: Animal Science/Nutrition.
• SACNASP registration as a Professional Animal Scientist.
• Minimum 10 years’ experience in ruminant nutrition, technical advisory and people management.
• Strong understanding of the SA feed and animal production industry.
• Experience in TMR and pasture dairy systems; beef and sheep production systems.

Responsibilities

• Develop and implement divisional ruminant technical strategy.
• Cultivate technical excellence and a culture of distinction across ruminant units.
• Standardise formulation and technical concepts across business units.
• Support key customers and regional technical teams.
• Drive commercial growth and product innovation.
• Develop technical capabilities and mentor the ruminant team.
• Ensure compliance to technical governance and quality standards.
• Lead strategic and commercial initiatives and stakeholder management.

Skills

Technical leadership

Ruminant nutrition

Strategic thinking

Communication

Mentorship

Education

PhD in Agric: Animal Nutrition

MSc Agriculture: Animal Science/Nutrition

Job description

The successful candidate will provide strategic technical leadership across dairy, beef, sheep and feedlot nutrition programmes, while supporting commercial growth, customer value creation, product innovation and technical alignment across multiple feed mills and regional teams.

Meadow Feeds is More than Just Feed!

We have been supplying safe, high-quality feed to southern African livestock producers for the past 80 years, using our unrivalled experience and expertise in this field to earn the trust of generations of farmers who bring wholesome meat, milk, and eggs to your table. We also supply a full range of technical services to our customers, including advice on nutrition, feeding programmes, animal husbandry, and production techniques.

Our commitment to optimal animal nutrition has made us the largest feed company in Africa and the leading supplier of innovative, high-performance feed solutions.

The Ideal Candidate Would Be Responsible For

• Development and implementation of the divisional ruminant technical strategy;
• Cultivation of technical excellence and a culture of distinction across all ruminant business units;
• Standardisation of formulation and technical concepts across different business units;
• Support to key customers and regional technical teams;
• Commercial growth and product innovation;
• Development of technical capabilities and mentorship to the ruminant team;
• Compliance to technical governance guidelines and quality standards;
• The development of advanced ruminant nutrition expertise and transfer of skills to the ruminant team;
• Strategic and commercial thinking;
• Leadership and stakeholder management;
• Focused application of strong analytical and communication skills in the best interest of the organisation and its stakeholders;
• An innovative approach to a customer-focused and results-driven mindset.

The Successful Candidate Must Meet The Following Requirements

• PhD Agric: Animal Nutrition (preferred) or MSc Agriculture: Animal Science/Nutrition;
• SACNASP registration as a Professional Animal Scientist;
• Minimum 10 years’ experience in ruminant nutrition, technical advisory and people management;
• Strong understanding of the South African feed and animal production industry;
• Extensive experience in:
• TMR and pasture dairy systems
• Intensive and extensive beef and sheep production systems
• Senior leadership experience within feed manufacturing/agri-business;
• Strong commercial, customer engagement and team leadership capability.

If you are passionate about technical leadership, innovation and delivering value to customers in the livestock industry, we would like to hear from you.