Agri-Tech Inter-Disciplinary Manager

Job content

Agri-TechE is a leading business focused membership organisation, supporting the growth of a world-leading network of innovative farmers, producers, scientists, technologists and entrepreneurs who all share a vision of increasing the productivity, profitability and sustainability of agriculture. Together we aim to help turn challenges into business opportunities and facilitate mutually beneficial collaboration.

Agriculture is evolving rapidly, with robotics, sensor technology, software engineering and earth observation technologies becoming as commonplace on farms as the more “traditional” innovations around breeding, agrochemicals and machinery.

To further assist our membership and our networks, we are looking to source an individual to join us in the key role of Agri-Tech Inter-Disciplinary Manager to spearhead Agri-TechE’s further development in these new sectors.

You will be a passionate, enthusiastic individual who will want to join our small-but-mighty team with the key aim of making it easier for different technologies and tools, both from existing and “new-to-agriculture” sectors, to enter the rapidly evolving agricultural arena. This is an unprecedented opportunity to help embed fresh thinking and innovation into the industry, facilitate new collaborations between our members and help expand Agri-TechE’s increasingly global membership.

Key Responsibilities For the Role:

You’ll work with businesses from across a range of sectors and assist them to understand more about the Agri-Tech opportunities, the routes to market, the possible impact of their potential tool, product or service and the potential long-term success that can be created. Even more excitingly, you will be presented to – and seek out – businesses who are aiming to gain a foothold in the agricultural industry – both from the UK and internationally. This is with the key aim for those connections to understand the dynamics of the industry, the potential and as part of that introduce them to the key players across the innovation ecosystem to create groundbreaking partnerships.

As part of this all, you will manage key relationships with global businesses – ranging from technology companies to large players across the agri-tech ecosystem. You’ll also be working with our smaller members to help foster a culture of open innovation and identify opportunities for mutual technology interests and development.

We are looking for you to make a difference and assist the rapid acceleration of this area of global agricultural by your expertise and business development skill set.

What We Want to See From You:

We need you to have an open mind about the role and the potential of what we are looking to create with this appointment – so we have an open mind about the kind of person who we are looking for! You will be educated at least to degree level and will need to have a defined and broad technical knowledge of agriculture and / or the FMCG sector. This is so you can appreciate the difference that can be created with a vision of the direction of travel for agricultural innovation. As such, you may have a background in policy or funding, or you might be from a technology development company; you might be from the practical side of the industry, or perhaps have expertise in ICT or engineering and want to join this exciting journey of discovery with us all at Agri-TechE.

We expect you to be able to speak with a high level of credibility about the agricultural industry and even more so as you progress within the role. You will be comfortable working with senior leaders in major global agri-businesses, and with companies from other sectors (including FMCG), as well as having an understanding of the process of innovation management and ideally how collaborations work between businesses and between industry and academia. Key to this all and to the role is that you see the potential for introducing, joining and collaborating differing technologies with differing business and differing groups to make a significant difference in global agriculture ongoing.

Next Steps:

This is a two-year role in the first instance, with the full potential for renewal. We are a small but multi-award-winning team working on an UK and International basis with very large aspirations. You will be looking to join an energetic and highly innovative team and to assist us gain the aspirations we have set ourselves and to make an ongoing positive difference to the Agri-Tech sectors by bringing your fresh ideas and fresh thinking to Agri-TechE.

Our well-equipped offices are based in the Hauser Forum in the City of Cambridge. We also embrace remote and flexible working, and travel across the UK and Internationally will potentially be part of the exciting role remit. We are an equal opportunities employer and welcome applications from diverse backgrounds.

If this exciting role sounds of interest, we would be very keen to hear from you. Please apply on a confidential basis by submitting a CV with covering letter. Closing date is 15th February 2022, with the expectation of conducting first interviews online the following week, and second interviews in person at our offices in Cambridge on the 25th February 2022.

Contract length: 24 months

Job Types: Full-time, Fixed term

Benefits:

• On-site parking
• Work from home

Schedule:

• 8 hour shift
• Day shift
• Monday to Friday

Application question(s):

• Please submit a covering letter with your cv, or tell us why we should hire you below.

Work remotely:

• No