Field Operations Director

Field Operations Director

Position detail

Approved / proposed arrangement

Role title

Field Operations Director

Department

Commercial / Field Operations and Supply Generation

Location

Field-based across Complete Farmer operating territories, with extensive travel to regional offices, grower communities, commercial farms, aggregation points and fulfilment centres

Grade

Director / Head-of-Function level; final internal grade and band subject to the approved job-grading framework

Reports to

Chief Commercial Officer

Direct reports

Regional Commercial Managers, Commercial Operations Manager(s) and Crop Sourcing Manager

 

Role purpose and strategic context

PRIMARY MANDATE  Build and execute a reliable, scalable and competitively priced supply portfolio that meets Complete Farmer's approved crop, volume, timing, quality, traceability and unit-economics requirements across every operating territory.

 

Detailed responsibilities

Field supply strategy and operating plan

• Translate the company strategy, approved buyer-demand plan, crop priorities and financial guardrails into an annual and quarterly field supply strategy by crop, region, channel, source type and season.
• Define regional supply targets, acquisition targets, coverage ratios, service levels, cost envelopes and leading indicators that reconcile to the approved enterprise plan.
• Design the optimal supply mix across commercial farmers, cooperatives, Grower Agents, Aggregation Agents, aggregators and other approved partners, balancing scale, reliability, cost, quality and concentration risk.
• Maintain a national field capacity model covering territories, manager spans, agent density, crop lanes, agronomy coverage, travel, digital adoption, aggregation access and seasonal workload.
• Recommend entry, expansion, redesign or exit of territories and crop lanes using demand, supply density, performance, cost-to-serve, risk and route-to-market evidence.
• Own the function budget and operating plan within delegated authority and ensure resources are concentrated on approved commercial priorities.

Demand-supply planning and S&OP

• Convert approved demand into a time-phased supply requirement by crop, variety, grade, specification, quantity, delivery window, territory and confidence level.
• Chair or lead the field-supply workstream of S&OP and ensure Regional Commercial, Commercial Operations and Crop Sourcing plans reconcile to the single approved demand and trade plan.
• Set and govern clear supply-funnel stages from identified source through qualification, verification, mapping, commitment, production or sourcing readiness, harvest, aggregation and internal handover.
• Review crop, acreage, yield, harvest-window, source-capacity, quality, pricing and execution assumptions and challenge unsupported forecasts before they enter company planning.
• Maintain primary, secondary and contingency sources for critical demand lines and trigger recovery action when coverage, timing, quality or cost falls outside tolerance.
• Escalate demand-supply gaps, oversupply, working-capital constraints and trade-offs with quantified impact and options early enough for an executive decision.

Regional commercial growth and CF Grower adoption

• Direct Regional Commercial Managers to build buyer-demand-led territory plans for growers, commercial farmers, cooperatives and approved agents.
• Cascade acquisition, verification, land-mapping, activation, demand-matching, productive-use and retention targets by region, crop, cohort and channel.
• Ensure onboarding records are unique, consented, complete, current and auditable and that duplicate, inactive, ghost or unsupported records do not receive performance credit.
• Drive meaningful CF Grower adoption by diagnosing trust, literacy, language, connectivity, workflow and value-proposition barriers and coordinating product, marketing and assisted-channel responses.
• Build regional partnerships with credible cooperatives, associations, community leaders, commercial growers, aggregators and institutions under approved commercial and conduct standards.
• Review funnel conversion, acquisition cost, time-to-value, product usage, retention, complaints and grower outcomes and require corrective action where growth is low-quality or uneconomic.

Crop sourcing and strategic source development

• Lead the Crop Sourcing Manager in building a qualified, diversified portfolio of commercial farms, aggregators, cooperatives and alternative sources for every priority crop lane.
• Approve source-development priorities and ensure due diligence covers identity, capacity, land or crop evidence, historical performance, compliance, quality, commercial terms, reputation and concentration risk.
• Ensure sourcing plans specify crop, grade, volume, location, availability window, price basis, logistics handover, traceability, inspection, rejection and documentation requirements.
• Develop multi-cycle relationships and preferred-source programmes that improve reliability, quality, data visibility, bargaining position and cost without creating unmanaged exclusivity or dependency.
• Track source performance across confirmation, quantity, timing, quality, claims, documentation, responsiveness, price and corrective-action closure and adjust allocations accordingly.
• Ensure commercial farmers and aggregators are integrated into the same supply visibility, traceability and forecast controls as platform-enabled growers.

Supply pricing, market intelligence and unit economics

• Build and maintain evidence-based farm-gate and origin-cost benchmarks by crop, grade, region, season, source type and delivery point using approved market-intelligence methods.
• Develop the supply-side cost build-up covering produce price, agent or aggregation fees, field service, handling, first-mile movement, expected loss, quality risk and other origin costs.
• Recommend sourcing prices and negotiation ranges that secure supply competitively while protecting grower viability, approved gross-margin floors, working-capital limits and buyer commitments.
• Identify cost advantages through source mix, density, forward planning, aggregation design, partner terms, productivity, loss reduction and better information rather than through delayed payment or weakened standards.
• Monitor market movements and competitor activity, quantify exposure and recommend repricing, source substitution, demand reprioritization or escalation before margin or supply is lost.
• Prevent unauthorized field commitments, side agreements, unsupported advances, price manipulation, collusion and circumvention of procurement, contracting, payment or delegation-of-authority controls.

Field execution and commercial-operations control

• Direct Commercial Operations to convert supply plans into campaigns, pipeline actions, field journeys, task assignments, source follow-ups, readiness gates, reporting cadences and escalation routines.
• Establish weekly regional reviews and daily control-tower routines during critical production, sourcing and aggregation windows, focused on actuals, forecast, variance, risk, recovery owner and deadline.
• Ensure Regional Commercial Managers maintain current territory, grower, farm, agent, crop, source, pricing and supply records in approved systems rather than in disconnected personal files.
• Set evidence standards for visits, mapping, onboarding, crop progress, source confirmation, harvest readiness, quantity, price and handover and conduct risk-based field audits and spot checks.
• Standardize playbooks, SLAs, checklists and exception paths across regions while allowing controlled crop- and territory-specific adaptation.
• Review cost per verified, activated and retained grower; cost per mapped hectare; cost per verified tonne; field productivity; travel; agent commissions and campaign return and correct inefficient deployment.

Trade readiness and cross-functional execution

• Represent field supply in trade and delivery readiness reviews and confirm whether the proposed volume, source, timing, cost, crop condition, traceability and handover plan are supported by evidence.
• Coordinate Agronomy, QA, Supply Chain, Product, Sales and Finance owners around the approved supply plan, ensuring dependencies and acceptance criteria are explicit and time-bound.
• Ensure growers and sources receive the correct specifications, production or handling requirements, collection windows, documentation and commercial instructions from authorized owners.
• Monitor field-to-aggregation execution and ensure quantity, condition, lot identity and custody are accurately handed over to Inventory and Supply Chain at the defined control point.
• Lead recovery of field-controlled supply failures and contribute evidence to root-cause analysis, claims, supplier action and post-trade learning.
• Do not permit commercial urgency to override Agronomy protocols, QA hold/release decisions, traceability, safety, grower consent, payment controls or approved buyer commitments.

Data, product enablement and performance visibility

• Define the operational data required to manage the supply funnel and ensure common definitions, ownership, timestamps, confidence rules and source-of-truth systems are used across territories.
• Maintain an executive field-supply dashboard covering demand coverage, funnel conversion, forecast, cost, quality risk, product adoption, team productivity, capacity, exceptions and recovery.
• Work with Product and Data teams to digitize high-friction field workflows, improve CF Grower self-service, reduce manual coordination and embed controls at the point of work.
• Prioritize product changes using quantified field impact, affected cohorts, operating cost, commercial value and control risk and verify adoption after release.
• Ensure critical bad news, data gaps, forecast changes and control failures are surfaced promptly and are never softened or hidden to protect reported performance.

Leadership, organization capability and culture

• Set clear outcomes, roles, territory accountabilities and performance standards for Regional Commercial Managers, Commercial Operations and Crop Sourcing.
• Run disciplined weekly 1:1s and operating reviews, monthly performance reviews and quarterly talent and capacity reviews with documented actions and consequences.
• Coach managers to plan, delegate, use data, surface risks early, solve root causes and develop their teams rather than depending on director-level intervention for routine execution.
• Build succession and emergency coverage for critical territories, crops and sourcing relationships and address persistent capability or conduct gaps promptly with People support.
• Model Complete Farmer's leadership standards of Clarity, Ownership and People-First leadership and reinforce customer love, trust, learning, disciplined teamwork and smart efficiency.
• Create a field culture that respects growers and communities, rewards truthful performance and protects whistleblowers and employees who surface legitimate risks.

Risk, compliance and grower protection

• Maintain a field commercial risk register covering supply failure, fraud, ghost records, land conflicts, mis-selling, bribery, collusion, data misuse, safeguarding, safety, quality, weather, concentration and community risk.
• Ensure growers, agents, cooperatives and sources receive accurate authorized information and are not promised prices, finance, inputs, purchase, acceptance, volume or payment terms beyond approved authority.
• Enforce contracting, consent, KYC, traceability, grievance, data-protection, cash-handling, commission, expense and conflict-of-interest controls across the function.
• Investigate or escalate suspected misreporting, diversion, unauthorized sourcing, price manipulation, retaliation or fraud and preserve evidence without compromising independent investigations.
• Ensure material incidents are contained, reported and closed through root-cause corrective and preventive action, with learning built into systems and training.

Required experience, qualifications and technical capabilities

Required experience

• At least seven years of progressive commercial, field operations, marketplace, agribusiness or distributed-network leadership, including at least five years directly driving growth and adoption in a fast-moving technology-enabled platform.
• Demonstrated ownership of substantial supply, acquisition, sourcing or marketplace targets across multiple regions, with evidence of improving conversion, reliability, cost, forecast accuracy and team productivity.
• Experience leading managers and dispersed field teams and governing contracted agents, cooperatives, aggregators, commercial farmers or channel partners through targets, digital evidence, coaching, audits and consequences.
• Proven ability to scale adoption in informal economies or underserved markets where trust, literacy, connectivity, identity, land and transaction data may be inconsistent.
• Strong practical experience in agricultural sourcing, crop production cycles, aggregation, commodity or fresh-produce supply chains, quality requirements and buyer-linked supply planning.
• Experience building evidence-based prices or origin-cost models, negotiating supply, protecting margin guardrails and managing supply continuity under seasonal and market volatility.
• Hands-on experience running demand-supply or S&OP cadences, confidence-rated forecasts, performance dashboards and recovery plans across cross-functional teams.
• Evidence of partnering effectively with Product, Data, Agronomy, QA, Supply Chain, Sales and Finance while respecting independent controls and decision authority.
• Track record of building operating systems, management routines and leadership capacity that reduce dependence on heroic individual intervention.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree or equivalent demonstrated capability in agribusiness, agriculture, business, economics, supply chain, marketing, operations, technology or a related discipline.
• A postgraduate qualification or recognized professional certification in agribusiness, commercial leadership, supply chain, project management, analytics or a related field is advantageous but does not replace proven results.
• Strong numerical, analytical and written communication capability, including executive-level plans, forecasts, commercial recommendations, operating reviews and performance narratives.
• Fluent professional English; French and relevant local-language capability are advantageous or required according to assigned operating territories.
• Readiness for extensive field travel and work across rural and cross-border operating environments with variable infrastructure, connectivity and seasonal intensity.
• Valid driving eligibility and ability to meet company field-safety and travel requirements where applicable.