Our client :

Since 2011, Livelihoods Venture has been working with rural communities worldwide to restore ecosystems and promote sustainable farming practices, improving livelihoods while enhancing biodiversity, soil health, and carbon sequestration. At Livelihoods Venture, we manage two types of impact-driven businesses: carbon beyond the value chain and sustainable sourcing within the value chain (learn more: www.livelihoods.eu). Each project connects us with thousands of smallholder farmers for up to 20 years, working alongside exceptional local organizations and building strong coalitions between corporations, brands, local suppliers, and NGOs. Over the years, we’ve funded nearly 40 projects, including agroforestry, rural energy, ecosystem restoration (mangroves), and agriculture.

Job description :

We are seeking a passionate and results-driven Senior Agroecologist to join our Impact team. Reporting to the Head of Nature and Socio-Economic Impact Solutions, you will work closely with a team of senior agroecologists with complementary expertise on annual & perennials crops and livestock in both tropical & temperate climates to design and implement regenerative agriculture projects, focusing on soil health, water management, and biodiversity enhancement. You will be instrumental in shaping Livelihoods’ agroecological strategy and supporting the technical success of projects in Europe. This position will require approximately 20% travel to the field.

This is a highly visible and influential transversal role that will regularly interact with executive leadership and director-level teams. It requires an individual to embody exceptional integrity, optimism, expertise, and collaborative spirit amongst both internal and external stakeholders to help advance Livelihoods’ mission toward sustainable agriculture management, socioeconomic autonomy and resiliency through income increase and diversification.

Focusing on regenerative agriculture and agroecology projects, key responsibilities include:

• Shape and continually update Livelihoods’ Regenerative Agriculture and Biodiversity strategies within the company to ensure continued alignment with offtakers, corporate partners (eg, OP2B platform) and international standards & frameworks (eg, SAI, SBTi FLAG).

• Propose solutions to overcome social and economic barriers to innovative & regenerative agricultural systems deployment within projects.

• Co-design technical models with project managers to ensure suitable and relevant solutions with high potential of adoption by farmers and convince corporations to invest.

• Build capacity on agroecological practices to support project managers in all life cycle of a project.

• Ensure a technical watch relating to all projects and innovation in agroecology (including Management Internal System and Monitoring, Reporting and Verification tools) and disseminate findings and methodology within Livelihoods.

• Manage (Design, implementation, and monitoring) new or existing field projects (20% of the time).

REQUIRED QUALIFICATIONS

• ​​​​​​​Master’s Degree in agricultural or agronomy sciences or related field and continuous training in agroecology / regenerative agriculture.

• Over 7 years of hands-on experience working on annual crops and livestock systems with rural communities, demonstrating tangible achievements.

• Strong understanding of (agro-)ecosystems, biodiversity, and environmental processes is crucial for evaluating the impact of projects on nature.

• Strong understanding of rural sociology or rural development can provide insights into community dynamics, stakeholder engagement, and the socio-economic impact of projects.

• Field experience in Nature-Based-Solutions / sustainable supply-chain solutions or similar projects, preferentially with non-for-profit organizations, close to smallholder farmers, rural communities, demonstrating tangible achievements over years.

• Proficiency in both quantitative and qualitative analysis & research methods (though systemic/holistic approaches).

• Having worked in a variety of climatic and cultural contexts is a serious plus.

• Positive track record to drive commitments within large-scale project management and directly with farmers.

• Ideally additional knowledge in livestock and grazing system.

• Fluent in English (French and Spanish or Portuguese are a strong plus).

If you’re excited about this role but don’t meet every single requirement just yet, we still encourage you to apply — your unique experiences and perspective could be just what we need.

KEY COMPETENCIES & SKILLS

• Ownership: Entrepreneurial spirit, passionate about your job, and accountability for the quality of your work.

• Pragmatic & Result-oriented: deliver on objectives, including in changing situations/contexts.

• Assertive: confidently interact with internal and external stakeholders, able to say in a direct and constructive way how you can support the project manager.

• Mentoring experience: Propose relevant changes/solutions to improve practices & support the project managers in implementing said change. Be able to engage all stakeholders on the proposed solutions.

• Empathetic: Know your stakeholders, speak their languages, listen to their points of view and hone in on their interests.

• Change-embracing: Be open to- and keep a curious eye on- innovation, climate initiatives, regulatory environment, and debates in a fast-evolving policy context; willingness to learn.

• Didactic: Clear and concise communication skillset, able to adapt content & delivery method to the public and facilitate informed decision-making.

• Multi-tasker: Prioritize, keep track of the progress of several tasks simultaneously, and be able to rearrange priorities in response to new information.

• Intercultural skills: able to collaborate with and adapt to a multicultural working environment and with our international project partners.

ADDITIONAL DETAILS

• Long term position

• Location: based in Paris or nearby, with a flexible work-from-home policy. Travel expected 3-4 times a year within Europe.