Vice President – Operations
Role Overview
Farmers for Forests (F4F) is seeking a full-time employee for the Vice President – Operations position to manage field operations in the organization. The VPO will be responsible for supporting the COO in managing the operations team and supporting the VPRC in field data collection. We are looking for someone with 3–6 years of experience in a similar role.
About Us
F4F is a hybrid social enterprise working to protect and increase India’s biodiverse forest cover in close collaboration with rural communities. Founded in December 2019, F4F is one of the few organizations in India working in the forestry sector and using a payment-for-ecosystem-services model for its environmental protection and restoration activities.
F4F was incubated at Mulago, Fast Forward, NSRCEL-IIMB, The Nudge Institute and Shakti – The Empathy Project. Our work has been supported by several organizations, including Accenture, ACT Grants, Opus Software Solutions, Rainmatter Foundation and Rohini Nilekani Philanthropies.
We have also featured on DW TV and Scroll’s Eco India series, as well as DW Hindi. We have also been selected as one of India’s top innovators working in the ecosystem restoration and conservation sector by the World Economic Forum.
Position
The Vice President – Operations will be based in Jabalpur, Madhya Pradesh, and will be responsible for ensuring that F4F’s field operations across Madhya Pradesh run smoothly and efficiently, with travel to field locations across the state as required.
The day-to-day job will involve managing field teams, procurement, inventory management, quality implementation, SOP adherence, government relations, etc. There is significant travel involved in this position. We will only consider applicants able to travel or spend at least 70% of their time in field locations.
You will also be working closely with local implementation partners and our government partners in district administrations and the forest department.
Primary Responsibilities
Project Budgeting: Prepare block-wise project budgets for agroforestry implementation, ensuring alignment with project scope, targets and available resources.
Plan vs. Actual Tracking: Monitor project progress and budgets against planned targets, identifying deviations and ensuring timely corrective actions.
Quality & SOP Compliance: Ensure field implementation is carried out as per defined SOPs, quality standards and project-specific requirements.
Stakeholder Coordination: Act as the key coordination point between donors, investors, operations, field and technology teams to ensure smooth project execution.
Expense Management: Track project expenses end-to-end against approved donor budgets, ensuring effective utilization and timely reporting of variances.
Team Performance & Reviews: Conduct regular team reviews to assess progress, identify operational bottlenecks and drive timely solutions and corrective actions.
Procurement & Inventory: Ensure timely procurement, availability and distribution of project inputs while maintaining appropriate inventory levels and controls.
Vendor Management: Coordinate with vendors for quotations, agreements, invoices, documentation, payments and timely delivery of project requirements.
Implementation Partner Management: Coordinate with implementation partners and field agencies to ensure adherence to project timelines, quality standards and agreed deliverables.
Field & Project Monitoring: Conduct regular field reviews and audits to assess plantation progress, farmer engagement, survival rates and overall project performance.
Project Reporting & Escalation: Consolidate operational updates, highlight key risks and deviations to senior management, and ensure timely project reporting to internal and external stakeholders.
Requirements
- Someone who is entrepreneurial, self-motivated and operates with a growth mindset.
- Someone who doesn’t give up easily—the work we do is full of challenges and requires a fair amount of out-of-the-box and jugaad thinking.
- Someone who functions well in an unstructured, start-up environment.
- Someone who is excited about building a company and a team.
- Someone who is passionate about rural development, ecological restoration and fighting climate change.
- Someone who enjoys working with a diverse set of people and managing large teams, and is collaborative.
- Someone who is comfortable taking on all types of tasks (including the unglamorous and menial ones) and is humble, generous and kind.
- Someone with an MBA (Operations, Agriculture, Rural Management).
- Someone with 5–8 years of experience overall and with extensive experience working in rural India.
- Someone who has valid driving licences for both two-wheelers and four-wheelers.
- Someone who is willing to be based in Jabalpur and travel to field locations across Madhya Pradesh, as required by project and field operations.
Benefits
The salary band for this position starts at INR 12 lakhs per annum.