Associate General Counsel

About One Acre Fund

Founded in 2006, One Acre Fund supplies 1 million smallholder farmers with the agricultural services they need to make their farms vastly more productive. Our 8,000+ team is drawn from diverse backgrounds and professions. With operations across six core countries in Africa, we make farmers more prosperous by providing quality farm supplies on credit, delivered within walking distance of farmers’ homes, and agricultural training to improve harvests. On average, our farmers harvest 50 percent more food after working with One Acre Fund. 

To learn more about our work, take a look at our Why Work Here blog for more information.

About the Role

The Associate General Counsel (AGC) will be an important contributor to the Global Legal Department and work with country and departmental leadership to identify and manage legal risk for One Acre Fund. The AGC will work with other teams to refine our processes, including contract review and negotiation for procurement and distribution of inputs to our farmers. You will also provide legal and regulatory advice to our innovations teams on new products and programs and help manage our internal investigations team. As part of our Global Legal Department, the AGC will also advise on legal strategy, structure and compliance issues across countries. You will report directly to a senior lawyer on the Global Legal team.

Responsibilities

• Review and draft major contracts and standard commercial agreements across our different geographical and operational areas of work.
• Provide legal advice on regulatory and legal matters for One Acre Fund’s field operations and innovations.
• Support contract negotiation and work with business teams to develop relationships with contractors, vendors and government partners.
• Manage relationships with outside counsel, vendors and other partners.
• Support our internal investigations team.
• Advise human resources teams on employment law requirements.
• Advise on and institute systems for global compliance.
• Develop internal policies and standard operating procedures for managing legal and operational risk across different areas of business and operations.
• Help with other related general legal tasks to meet departmental and organizational priorities.

Career Growth and Development

We have a strong culture of constant learning and we invest in developing our people. You’ll have weekly check-ins with your manager, access to mentorship and training programs, and regular feedback on your performance. We hold career reviews every six months, and set aside time to discuss your aspirations and career goals. You’ll have the opportunity to shape a growing organization and build a rewarding long-term career.

Qualifications

Across all roles, these are the general qualifications we look for. For this role specifically, you will have:

• 5-10+ years of legal work experience preferably with an international law firm or international in-house legal team (lawyers with more experience may be considered for a more senior role)
• Admitted to practice in at least one jurisdiction.
• Can easily coordinate many unrelated projects at the same time. You need to be very comfortable working across all areas where One Acre Fund needs legal support and mixing those areas daily.
• Commercial approach to problem-solving. We operate as a business and need to facilitate transactions efficiently.
• Experience managing complex transactional work in a corporate, non-profit or in-house practice setting.
• Strong work ethic that fosters collaboration within the legal team and across countries and departments.
• You need to be an excellent and concise writer who can explain complex legal issues to non-lawyers in simple plain English.
• Travel: while based in Nairobi or Kigali, you will have some travel within East Africa, but likely no more than 25% depending on where you are based.
• Language: English required, working proficiency in French a plus.

Preferred Start Date

Due to the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic, start dates can vary significantly by role. We are adapting rapidly to Covid-19 and most of our team is now working remotely. Given the changing environment, we will appreciate your flexibility in confirming a start date.

Job Location

Kigali, Rwanda or Nairobi, Kenya

Benefits

Health insurance, housing, and comprehensive benefits

Eligibility

One Acre Fund can support a work permit for this role. However, nationals of (or those with an extensive professional background and work history in) our countries of operation are preferred.

Application Deadline

23 August 2021

One Acre Fund never asks candidates to pay any money or pay for tests at any stage of the interview process. Official One Acre Fund emails will always arrive from an @oneacrefund.org address. Please report any suspicious communication here ([email protected]), but do not send applications or application materials to this email address.

Diversity, Equity, Inclusion (DEI), and anti-racism are deeply connected to our organization’s mission and purpose. One Acre Fund aspires to build a culture where all staff feel consistently valued, represented, and connected – so that our team can thrive as professionals, and achieve exceptional impact for the farmers we serve.

We are committed to equal employment opportunity regardless of race, color, ancestry, religion, sex, national origin, sexual orientation, age, marital status, disability, gender, gender identity or expression. We are proud to be an equal opportunity workplace.