Sustainability Operations Manager

Johnvents Trading, a subsidiary of Johnvents Group, is a leading Nigerian agribusiness and manufacturing company, driving sustainable growth across the agricultural value chain. With a strong presence in Dubai Multi Commodities Centre (DMCC), we source and trade premium commodities like soybeans, Sesame, Cashew and cocoa products across Africa, Asia, and Europe.

We are seeking talented individuals to join our dynamic team and build a career in international trade and agribusiness in the capacity below:

Job Title: Sustainability Operations Manager

Location: Akure, Ondo
Employment Type: Full-time

Role Purpose

• The ideal candidate is a hands-on operations or project management professional who is smart at execution: someone who takes a defined target, mobilises the right people, tracks progress rigorously, removes blockers, and gets things done.
• The Sustainability Operations Manager - Nigeria is responsible for the day-to-day management, execution, and tracking of all sustainability programmes and projects across commodities and sourcing areas in Nigeria.
• The role holder's job is to make sure the agreed work plans actually get delivered - on time, within budget, with progress visible every week, and with issues resolved at country level before they escalate.

Key Responsibilities
Project & Work Plan Management:

• Own the execution of the Nigeria sustainability work plan across all commodities (cocoa, cashew, palm kernel, soya, sesame) and all workstreams (mapping, certification, CLMRS, farmer programmes, new commodity rollout).
• Anticipate delays and blockers early, resolve them at country level, and escalate to the Group Sustainability Supply Chain Manager with a clear problem statement and proposed solution.
• Break annual and half-year plans into clear weekly and monthly milestones per workstream and per team, with named owners, deadlines, and deliverables.
• Run all workstreams in parallel, ensuring each team is progressing against its own targets every week - no workstream stalls while waiting for another.
• •Maintain a single, up-to-date view of the status of every project, programme, and partner commitment in Nigeria at any point in time.

Progress Monitoring & Tracking:

• Maintain and continuously update trackers for all workstreams, and submit a consolidated weekly progress report every Monday covering progress, deviations, and corrective actions.
• Flag underperformance against milestones immediately with a recovery plan.
• Track weekly field milestones across all commodities (farmer registration, training, GPS / polygon mapping, certification activities, CLMRS rollout), keeping at least 90% of milestones on schedule.
• Ensure all field data and programme records are complete, organised, and audit-ready at all times, working with the M&E / data lead.

Team Coordination & Delivery Management:

• Support onboarding, field planning, and logistics for team activities, including field visit schedules, movement plans, and cost-efficient routing.
• Coordinate the in-country pillar/technical leads and field supervisors day to day, translating strategy into clear task assignments and deadlines.
• Get delivery through others: know who the go-to person is for each pillar (certification, EUDR, CLMRS, data / M&E, community programmes) and hold them accountable for their targets.
• Ensure every team member has defined, tracked KPIs, and support monthly performance reviews with objective, evidence-based input on delivery.

Budget Tracking & Cost Control:

• Prepare and submit the following month's budget and submit a monthly variance report with explanations and corrective actions.
• Verify all per diem, allowance, and field cost claims are policy-compliant, pre-approved, and supported by documentation before payment.
• Drive cost optimisation continuously - challenge transport, logistics, and activity costs, and propose cheaper ways to deliver the same results (cost per farmer, cost per MT).
• Track budget utilisation across all Nigeria sustainability programmes against the approved annual budget, maintaining continuous visibility of spend per workstream.

Procurement & Cross-Functional Coordination:

• Work with procurement to introduce sustainability activities into sourcing areas through the procurement route.
• Act as the primary link between the sustainability team and procurement teams across all commodities.
• Coordinate with finance, admin, and site teams to ensure field operations, payments, and logistics run without delays.
• Coordinate access to relevant internal reports and dashboards (e.g. farm and expense dashboards) to inform planning and cost control.

Compliance & Field Standards Support:

• Support the timely execution of compliance-related activities (certification audits, CLMRS rollout, E&S action plan items) as scheduled in the work plan, coordinating the responsible technical leads.
• Ensure field teams follow agreed protocols for farmer registration, training delivery, mapping, monitoring, and documentation.
• Ensure 100% on-time submission of scheduled internal and external reports.

Regional Support:

• Provide operational support to new country programmes as required - travel, field coordination, tracking, and reporting support - under the direction of the Group Sustainability Supply Chain Manager.

Key Performance Indicators

• Zero missed reporting deadlines (internal, partner, donor, TA).
• Functional working relationship with procurement teams across all commodities, evidenced by joint activities in sourcing areas.
• 100% of projects tracked with up-to-date status, owners, and deadlines at all times.
• Budget variance held within plus or minus 5% with monthly variance reporting; year-on-year improvement in cost per farmer and cost per MT.
• 100% of field data and claims verified before sign-off or payment; zero unapproved claims.
• At least 90% of weekly milestones across all workstreams delivered on schedule; consolidated progress report submitted every Monday without fail.
• Partner and TA coordination issues resolved at country level; escalations only with problem statement and proposed solution.

Requirements
Qualifications & Experience:

• Experience in budget management, cost control, and expense verification.
• Bachelor's Degree in Business Administration, Supply Chain, Agriculture, Engineering, Project Management, or a related field.
• Willingness to be based in Akure and to travel extensively to rural sourcing areas across Nigeria, with occasional regional travel.
• Minimum of 5 years of experience in operations, procurement, field operations, supply chain, or project management - ideally in agricultural commodities, FMCG, agro-processing, or field-based programmes in Nigeria.
• Experience working with or within procurement teams and sourcing operations is a strong advantage.
• Strong experience with planning, tracking, and reporting tools - excellent Excel skills (trackers, budgets, variance analysis) are essential.
• Knowledge of sustainability, certification, or donor-funded programmes is an advantage but not a requirement
• Proven track record of delivering projects or operational targets on time and within budget, and of managing multiple parallel workstreams.

Competencies & Personal Attributes:

• Problem Solving & Resourcefulness - anticipates blockers, finds practical solutions at country level, and escalates with solutions rather than problems.
• Cost Consciousness - treats company resources as their own; constantly looks for cheaper, faster ways to deliver the same results.
• Collaboration - builds practical working relationships across procurement, finance, field teams, and external partners.
• Integrity & Attention to Detail - rigorous with data, documentation, verification, and compliance; zero tolerance for unverified claims.
• Coachability & Willingness to Learn - open to learning sustainability concepts on the job; takes direction well and applies it quickly.
• Organisation & Tracking Discipline - rigorous with trackers, milestones, deadlines, and follow-ups; nothing falls through the cracks.
• Coordination & Follow-Through - works effectively through others, holds people to deadlines, and keeps multiple teams moving in parallel.
• Execution Focus - gets things done; converts plans into delivered results without needing to be chased; comfortable being measured on delivery, not effort.