Country Director

Job title : Country Director

The Role

• Nigeria is home to approximately 40 million smallholder farming families - one of the most significant markets globally for scaling trusted, AI-enabled agricultural advisory. Digital Green’s ambition is to reach 5–7 million farmers in Nigeria by 2030 through FarmerChat, its AI-enabled agricultural advisory platform.
• Digital Green is seeking to hire a Country Director - a senior, long-horizon leader who will set strategy, build a small but high-performing in-country team, position Digital Green credibly with senior stakeholders, and translate the Nigerian operating context into how the organisation's product and programs evolve. This is a long-term leadership role, not a short-term consulting or setup assignment.
• The Country Director will report directly to the CEO. Indicative time allocation (will flex with country needs): Partnerships & ecosystem (35%); Program & product adaptation (25%); Business development (15%); Team-building (15%); Country setup, compliance & operations (10%).

Key Responsibilities
Partnerships, Representation & Ecosystem (~35%)

• Serve as Digital Green's primary representative in Nigeria with government, donors, NGOs, private sector, and the broader digital agriculture ecosystem
• Build and steward strategic partnerships with federal and state agriculture ministries, agribusinesses, telcos, technology and distribution partners, and other ecosystem actors that unlock scale, distribution, and sustainability for FarmerChat
• Represent Digital Green in senior forums and policy conversations, with the credibility to discuss both traditional smallholder agriculture and cutting-edge digital and AI-enabled approaches; monitor the evolving policy landscape (agriculture, data governance, AI) and shape Digital Green's positioning accordingly

Program & Product Adaptation (~25%)

• Lead the in-country strategy and delivery of FarmerChat across Nigeria, ensuring quality implementation and measurable farmer-level impact
• Partner with global product, technology, growth, and program teams to adapt FarmerChat to the Nigerian context, going well beyond translation to shape agronomic content, local-language model behavior, user research and field testing, language localization (English, Hausa, Yoruba, Igbo, West African Pidgin), and acquisition and engagement campaigns
• Bring the Nigerian operating reality back into product and program decisions, so what they build is genuinely fit for Nigerian farmers, not a port of work elsewhere

Business Development & Country Strategy (~15%)

• Identify and pursue funding opportunities aligned with Digital Green's strategy and product roadmap, with a particular eye to multi-year, scale-enabling partnerships
• Lead donor engagement and proposal development in Nigeria; shape country strategy and pipeline-building with a strong local point of view on prioritization, sequencing, and scaling pathways

Team-Building & People Leadership (~15%)

• Recruit, develop, and lead a small but high-performing Nigeria team, prioritizing depth, accountability, and cultural fit over headcount
• Foster a Nigeria team culture that reflects Digital Green's values, transparency, learning, humility, and high standards and operates effectively as part of a globally distributed organization

Country Setup, Compliance & Operations (~10%)

• Lead Digital Green's regulatory and compliance footprint in Nigeria, beginning with the path of least operational drag (e.g., data governance / NDPC registration) and advancing to full entity registration if and when warranted by program scale and partner requirements
• Develop and manage the country budget; ensure financial integrity and audit readiness; coordinate with the global operations team on HR, finance, and operational support

Qualifications

• 12+ years in international development, agriculture, or technology-for-development, including 5+ years in country/regional leadership with full accountability for strategy, delivery, and growth
• Strong, current networks with Nigerian government, donors, agribusiness, and development partners; able to influence at senior levels
• Track record of building and leading high-performing teams (small/lean teams especially welcomed), and of fundraising and managing multi-million-dollar program portfolios
• Demonstrated experience with technology-enabled agriculture, ICT4D, digital advisory, or data-driven farmer engagement or clear evidence of the ability to work fluently with product and technical teams. Comfort discussing product, data, and AI choices is essential
• Deep knowledge of Nigerian agriculture and rural livelihoods, with a clear point of view on what works for smallholders and why
• Strategic and operationally rigorous; highly self-directed in a globally distributed, remote-connected organization; culturally fluent across Nigeria's regional and linguistic contexts
• Strongly preferred: experience setting up or operating a country office; multi-state/Northern Nigeria experience; working knowledge of Hausa, Yoruba, Igbo, or West African Pidgin; experience with multilingual or voice-based digital tools
• Advanced degree or equivalent experience preferred