Field Associate Manager

Position: Field Associate Manager

Location: Addis Ababa 70% Field Travel

Engagement: 1 Year with the possibility of extension

Preferred start date: As soon as possible

About Pula:

At Pula, we are building the systems that enable farmers worldwide to access insurance, using technology to insure this previously uninsured worldwide. We work in over 10 countries across Africa and Asia, and by 2022, have facilitated crop insurance cover to over 20 million farmers, 40% of which are women, across Kenya, India, Nepal, Pakistan, Rwanda, Uganda, Nigeria, Mali, Senegal, Zambia, Ethiopia, Madagascar, Tanzania, Mozambique, Ethiopia and Malawi. We are a for profit company, and have raised over $45 million from leading venture and institutional investors as well as developed philanthropic relationships with private foundations and bilateral donors such as the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and German Insure Resilience Solutions Fund that have accelerated investments in our target markets.

Pula is proudly fast paced, constantly learning from the challenges we face and overcome. We are proudly culturally diverse but united in our ambition of continuous high-performance. By challenging ourselves we believe that we can overcome the hard problems we love solving.

At Pula, our culture is defined by our:

• Obsession with results: We are responsible for our future and therefore we get things done!
• Ability to connect the Dots: We continuously identify different customer needs & business problems and build solutions that deliver value.
• Our can-do Attitude! We dare to do things differently to make things work.
• Ability to have each others’ back: We look out for each other & we share high quality, timely feedback that makes us better.

Why the role matters:

Every year, Pula runs a series of operational activities including farmer sensitization campaigns,farmer registration, farmer profiling/data service projects, training of clients and Crop Cut Experiments (a survey designed to measure the yield of different crops).

Working under the vision, guidance and direction of the Director of Field Operations, Pula is seeking the services of an experienced Field Associate Manager in Ethiopia who will be responsible for overseeing and executing all the operational activities within the country. The ideal candidate will be results driven, good at people and operations, project management, and shifting comfortably between strategy and execution. The ideal candidate learns quickly, is resourceful and has experience managing teams and running a field project.

Reporting to the Director of Field Operations, you will directly manage Senior Field Coordinators (SFCs) and Field Coordinators (FCs) and indirectly lead a team of Field Agents (FAs) who will be doing the day to day data collection. You will focus on building team capacity, managing performance, and fostering a high-performance culture centered on accountability, operational excellence, and quality outcomes. You will also serve as a senior client-facing leader, providing regular updates, addressing delivery or data quality concerns, and ensuring clear alignment on scope, methodology, and deliverables. This role requires close cross-functional collaboration with teams across Insurance Operations, Data team, Technology, and Commercial Management to ensure seamless execution and continuous improvement across the full project lifecycle.

What you will be doing:

Project Delivery & Accountability: lead project budgets development, recordkeeping for expenses and reconciliation against the budget, field audits with insurers and support in planning for insurance payout events. Assist in product experiments and launches when required.

People and Performance Management: Lead Senior Field Coordinators, Field Coordinators and Field Agents recruitment, selection and training, assign, schedule, coach, counsel and discipline direct reports, Identify good performers, transparently and honestly report on non-performing staff. Assisting in product launches when required. Clear and consistent communication up and down the reporting lines.

Quality Assurance and Process Improvement: Manage and provide oversight on data collection and management through rigorous testing of data collection tools, monitoring data collection exercise through available dashboards and resolving any data quality concerns raised within 48hrs

Client & Stakeholder Management:
Serve as the field associate manager contact for assigned projects, owning client communication on delivery performance, risks, data quality, and scope decisions. Lead client trainings, mobilization and workshops., and manage escalations to resolution to maintain strong, trust-based client relationships and sustained satisfaction.

The Right Candidate Will Have:

• A BSc degree in Project Management, Agricultural Economics, Agribusiness or a degree in Business/ management related field.
• Experience with (5 years) and proven skills in working with clients, project teams, farmers, field teams and agro dealers.
• Experience in data collection and data management.
• Skills to interact with clients, farmers, field teams and agro dealers.
• Ability to work independently in a multi-disciplinary, multi-institutional, and multicultural environment
• Excellent communication and organizational skills
• Intermediate Excel skills is an added advantage
• Fluent in English and Setswana

Some more expectations:

• Our team is deeply field based. We hire from the areas that we are working, rather than focusing on hiring only from capital cities or major metropolitan areas.
• The individuals best suited for these positions are those who are comfortable speaking in relevant local languages and moving around rural areas.
• Everyone needs to be able to work “on the go”: staff are expected to call into conference calls multiple times a week, and to submit communications on email and other mediums throughout the week. While it is difficult to keep a phone and other devices charged while working in rural areas, the best employees plan their movements well enough to ensure being in contact at the right times.