Burundi Country Director

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

The role will lead the Burundi program from serving 490k clients in 2025 to serving 1M+ farmers directly by 2030, maintaining high impact per farmer levels of >$150 per farmer, while maintaining in-country deficit under $10M per year.

The role will develop multiple high impact, cost efficient and scalable investments to improve the lives of farm families, while developing an enabling policy and supply chain environment to achieve these goals.

This role will also build and oversee the execution of a long-term vision and strategy for the Burundi program beyond 2030, and will contribute to fundraising initiatives that help the program meet its funding needs.

Responsibilities

Strategy setting, execution oversight and problem solving

• With leadership team participation, set multi-year strategy and annual Objectives and Key Results around goals for Farmer impact, Scale, Financial Efficiency, Staff development and satisfaction, and External relations.

• Build and present to the wider team budgets, multi-year models, memos, and presentations to create vision alignment and give program / strategy updates.

• Be responsible for the success of day to day operations by motivating the wider team; fostering a culture of performance and aligned to our core values, integrating strategic goals into short term goals, KPIs, performance evaluations; supporting team members by removing blockers; stepping in directly where necessary.

Team management

• Provide strong leadership to the country team, fostering a collaborative and results-driven culture. Embody the OAF Culture and Values and model them for the team.

• Ensure that every employee is continually mentored, challenged, and supported by the organization. This can include, but is not limited to, regular performance reviews and career conversations, active development/promotion plans and weekly check-ins providing actionable and constructive feedback.

• Manage, develop and retain high-caliber leaders who oversee divisions and departments, directly or through the Deputy Country Director to ensure we have the leadership support to execute on all our ambitious plans.

• Provide strategic direction to People teams to develop and execute a Talent Strategy that is aligned with the overall business strategy.

• Take responsibility to ensure equity among all staff, inclusion in decision making at all levels, and diversity of identity (nationality, race, gender, religion, etc) at all levels of the organization.

Internal stakeholders management

• Sit on One Acre Fund’s Global Leadership Council and participate in shaping the long-term vision for the organization.

• Support roll out of initiatives led by global departments in Burundi.

• Plan for and secure resources required to deliver on the country's vision, be accountable to the broader organization on the good management of these resources and delivery of expected results.

External relations management

• Maintain positive relationships with key actors in government, the NGO community, and the donor community.

• Seek out and develop new relationships and partnerships when appropriate for furthering goals and the mission of supporting smallholder farmers.

• Support the Business Development team in maintaining relationships with existing donors through hosting donor visits, phone calls, presentations; and support efforts to develop relationships with new donors.

• Represent One Acre Fund in various forums to enhance collaboration and support.

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:

Technical skills:

• Project and people management

• Financial planning, modeling and management

• Effective communication to executes, peers, teams and clients

• Negotiation, strategy formulation and portfolio management/ prioritization

• Relationship and partnership management

• Capacity to identify risks and develop thoughtful mitigation strategies

Knowledge:

• Foundational understanding of agriculture, international development, and business administration

• Organizational psychology and internal communication best practices

• Deep understanding of Burundi context, including regulatory environment, rural society, labor market and politics.

Language: Advanced proficiency in English, intermediate proficiency in French.

Preferred Start Date

As soon as possible

Job Location

Muramvya and Bujumbura, Burundi

Benefits

Health insurance, housing, and comprehensive benefits

Eligibility

This role is only open to citizens or permanent residents of Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania, Uganda, Ethiopia, Nigeria, Malawi, Zambia and the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Application Deadline

07 March 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 ([email protected]), but do not send applications or application materials to this email address.

Diversity, Equity, Inclusion (DEI), and anti-racism are deeply connected to our organization’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, color, 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.