Head of Agri Financing

Nile Ag.; Pretoria; On-site; ZAR 900,000 - 1,200,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Competitive remuneration

Vibrant work environment

Job summary

Nile.ag seeks an Agri Finance & Credit Solutions Manager to lead a new business unit focused on bridging working capital gaps for producers across the agri value chain. You will shape credit approaches, pipelines and the team as we scale the business.

Responsibilities include building credit models, evaluating proposals, and developing funding solutions while coordinating with Nile's commercial, risk and finance teams and external funders.

Qualifications

• Degree in Finance, Accounting, Agricultural Economics or related field.
• Proven ability to build and interpret credit models and analyses.
• Experience with credit analysis, structured finance, or agri-finance is valued.

Responsibilities

• Establish a new agri-finance unit including credit approach, processes and team structure.
• Design and refine credit models and scoring for producers and agri value chain.
• Evaluate financing proposals, prepare data-driven memos and risk mitigations.
• Structure innovative, right-sized working capital financing solutions.
• Monitor portfolio performance and build MIS/dashboards for early warnings.
• Develop relationships with producers, cooperatives, suppliers and partners.
• Collaborate with commercial, risk and finance teams and external funders.

Skills

Credit analysis

Analytical skills

Commercial instinct

Deal making

Energy & drive

Adaptability

Agri value chain understanding

Education

Finance/Accounting/Agricultural Economics degree

Job description

About Nile.ag

Nile's mission is to enhance the livelihoods of both farmers and consumers throughout Africa. By providing a digital ecosystem that streamlines trading and transactions, we help farmers improve their economic viability while ensuring food remains affordable for consumers. Our all-in-one application allows farmers to sell produce, access funds, and manage input procurement and financing.

We are a high-growth company backed by institutional investors, including Naspers and the Dutch Development Bank (FMO). Our founding team brings together experience from world-class organisations such as Amazon, J.P. Morgan, and Luno. Learn more about us at www.nile.ag/about

Our Team & Culture

We are committed to building a high-performing team that is passionate about fundamentally transforming Africa's food systems. Nile's work environment is fast-paced, modern, and fun, reflecting the nature of our high-growth business. We operate daily based on our core values, which form the foundation of all our decisions.

This particular team is young, energetic and building something from scratch — we need someone with real fire in the belly: comfortable with ambiguity, happy to get hands dirty on both the analytical and the deal-making side, and driven by seeing producers succeed because we structured the right solution for them.

The Role

At Nile, we view roles as opportunities for personal development; as our business evolves, so will your role. We are seeking an Agri Finance & Credit Solutions Manager to help us build out a newly established business unit focused on helping producers efficiently bridge working capital gaps through innovative financing solutions across the agri value chain. This is a prominent role in the business unit — you will help shape the credit approach, the deal pipeline and the team as we scale.

The successful applicant will take ownership of the following:

• New Business Unit Build: Play a central role in establishing the business unit — helping define its credit approach, processes, systems and early team structure alongside leadership.
• Credit Model Development: Design, build and continuously refine credit models and scoring frameworks tailored to producers and the agri value chain, accounting for seasonality, crop cycles, commodity price risk and cash-flow patterns unique to agriculture.
• Deal Evaluation & Structuring: Evaluate finance proposals from producers and partners, prepare data-driven credit memos and risk mitigation recommendations, and structure innovative, right-sized financing solutions to close working-capital gaps.
• Portfolio & Risk Monitoring: Monitor the performance of the financing portfolio, build management information and early-warning dashboards, and proactively flag and manage risk to keep the book healthy as it scales.
• Business Development: Originate and grow relationships with producers, cooperatives, input suppliers and value-chain partners, positioning Nile's sustainable, mutually beneficial business model as the go-to source of working capital in the sector.
• Stakeholder Coordination: Work closely with Nile's commercial, risk and finance teams internally, and with funders, auditors and legal advisors externally, to keep deals moving and governance sound.
• Continuous Improvement: Bring a data- and technology-first mindset to underwriting and portfolio management, using automation and AI where it makes the credit process faster and sharper.

• Education: A degree in Finance, Accounting, Agricultural Economics, or a related field.
• Experience: We are open on years of experience and prioritise fit over a fixed number — what matters is demonstrable exposure to credit analysis, structured finance, or agri-finance, and the drive to build a business unit from the ground up. Experience with production credit, trade finance, or input financing within agriculture is a strong advantage.
• Credit & Analytical Skills: Proven ability to build and interpret credit models, read financial statements, and translate analysis into a clear, defensible lending decision.
• Agri Value Chain Understanding: A genuine interest in (and ideally direct exposure to) how producers manage cash flow, seasonality and input costs — or a fast willingness to learn it deeply.
• Commercial Instinct: Comfortable being both analyst and dealmaker — able to originate a relationship, structure a solution, and defend it through a credit process.
• Energy & Drive: Young-at-heart, energetic and entrepreneurial. This role needs fire in the belly: someone who wants to build, not maintain.
• Adaptability: An open-minded approach to embracing new ways of working, including the application of AI to drive efficiency.

Nile offers competitive remuneration, with opportunities to advance your career within a fast-growing company.

We offer a vibrant work environment where you get to collaborate with highly motivated team members.