DS Group - Farm Operations Excellence Lead

POSITION: Farm Ops Excellence Lead

BUSINESS: AGRI

Location: Noida

PRIMARY OBJECTIVES OF POSITION:

Looking for a senior leader in the role of Farm Ops Excellence Lead to build out a Centre of Excellence in Farm Operations across multiple sites and collaborate with business unit teams to run the farms in the most efficient method

JOB PROFILE:

1. The candidate will be part of a fast-paced start-up like team and will have the chance to create best-in-class farm management practices

2. Work closely with the R&D lead and AGRI Business unit head

3. The business aspirations are to create a 500+Cr company with a global footprint within the first 2-3 years of operations and will require an entrepreneurial and dynamic leadership team to take on the mandate for the business build.

KEY ACCOUNTABILITIES:

Planning and Strategy:

- Prepare a detailed annual crop calendar for each land parcel under management, in line with the annual business strategic and operating plans

- Prepare POP (Package Of Practices) containing crop calendars, plan for plant upkeep etc. for all land parcels

- Oversee farm operations planning in line with best-in-class farm management practices

- Prepare roadmap for implementing latest technological developments on farms

- Forecast yield of each crop to support P&L planning for each business unit

Achieve target operating metrics:

- Monitor on-field operations and compare the same against the plans

- Identify the best practices and gaps and revise plans based on benchmarks across site locations

- Codify learnings and translate them into actionable insights for field operations teams

- Support in commercial deployment of R&D of compelling technological solutions that optimize costs and yields

Knowledge sharing:

- Oversee training of farm teams on the latest developments agronomical practices, technological advances, etc. to ensure best-in-class farm management

- Work with various agriculture research agencies (companies, universities etc.) and vendors of new age AGRI technologies to explore & adopt best-in-class farm management practices

Collaborate across team:

- Understand requirements of business and work with R&D to operationally think through the best practices and methods to achieve yield, cost, results

- Ensure farm practices are being consistently adhered to across sites

- Advise and collaborate with business unit teams to implement planned farm activities

REQUIRED SKILLS & EXPERIENCE:

- 10-15 years of work experience in AGRI business with practical experience of managing multiple farms

- Proven track record of delivering best-in-class farm output and yields

- Experience of working with multiple teams

- Awareness of Indian AGRI landscape soils, crops, weather etc.

- Comfortable with travelling across farm sites

EDUCATION:

PhD in AGRI science from tier-1 institutes (IISc, ICAR etc in India and others abroad)