Ethiopia Chief of Staff

About the role

The Chief of Staff acts as a strategic and execution partner to the Country Director, ensuring strong people operations, internal systems, and cross-functional initiatives that enable the country program to deliver on its strategy. The role combines line management of enabling functions (People Operations, HSS, Communications) with leadership of high-priority, cross-functional initiatives at the country level. The Chief of Staff ensures clarity of priorities, clarity of execution, and effective coordination across teams, allowing the Country Director to focus on strategy, external relationships, and organizational leadership. As Chief of Staff, you will work at the intersection of people systems, internal operations, and inter-departmental coordination: You will lead the People Division by managing the People Operations, Finance admin, and Corporate Operations team, as well as the Communication and Health, Safety, and Security (HSS) teams. You will lead implementation on important initiatives related to risk, compliance, team culture, and communication, as well as other cross-functional initiatives. You will support the Country Director with briefs and internal reviews. This role does not replace specialized HR technical functions; it focuses on leadership, integration, prioritization, and culture, with technical execution led by the People Operations team and global support functions.

Responsibilities

• People Operations, HSS, and Communications Leadership
• Manage the People Operations Lead (managing HR admin, Finance admin, compliance, and Corporate Operations), HSS team, and Communication team, ensuring:
• Clear goals, accountability, and performance management
• Strong delivery on core administrative, compliance, and support functions
• High-quality HR administration, policies, and compliance
• Continuous improvement of systems, processes, and staff experience
• Support the People Operations Lead in driving improvement projects within the people function (e.g., onboarding, performance management, staff engagement)
• Provide senior oversight of HR risk and employee relations
• Act as country-level owner for organizational culture and people experience , including:
• Strengthening a healthy, inclusive, and high-performance culture
• Advancing Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) priorities at the country level
• Monitor staff satisfaction and strengthen the use of data to drive HR performance
• Act as country-level coordinator for talent and development priorities , including:
• Overseeing country-level learning and development (L&D) priorities and annual plans
• Partnering with department heads to support long-term staff development and career pathways
• Ensure HSS systems effectively support staff safety, risk management, and duty of care
• Ensure Communications supports country priorities , internal alignment, and external messaging, including planning staff retreats and internal events; managing company-wide communication
• Cross-Functional Initiative Leadership (Country Priorities)
• Lead high-priority cross-functional initiatives on behalf of the Country Director, such as regulatory or policy studies, Innovation or pilot projects, organizational change and improvement efforts.
• For each initiative: Define scope, objectives, timelines, and success metrics, coordinate across teams and manage external partners or consultants, drive execution, unblock constraints, and ensure delivery of high-quality outputs
• Country Execution, Governance & Leadership Support
• Support the Country Director in driving country-level execution:
• Co-lead OKR cycles, business reviews, monthly staf

Benefits

Additional Information

About One Acre Fund Founded in 2006, One Acre Fund equips 5.5 million smallholder farmers to make their farms more productive. Across nine countries that together are home to two-thirds of Africa's farmers, we provide high-quality farm supplies, tree seedlings, accessible credit, modern agronomic training, and a wide range of other agricultural services. On average, this model enables any farmer to increase their income and assets on supported land by more than 35 percent, while permanently improving their resilience. This is all made possible by our team of 9,000+ full-time staff, drawn from diverse backgrounds and professions. To learn more, please see our Why Work Here blog post. In Ethiopia, we engage farmers in agroforestry and community-based seed multiplication to increase farmers' incomes and make farming systems more resilient. Engaging with local actors at every step but bringing innovative ideas from outside, we are making rural farming more market-friendly and environmentally sustainable. The farmers we work with in Ethiopia have planted more than 30 million trees, produced over 1,500 metric tonnes of improved teff seed, and improved the futures of nearly 200,000 community members. Our country headquarters are in Addis Ababa, and we have a large program office in Bahir Dar, plus several smaller field offices.

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