Deputy Program Director

Program Description:

The Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands (EKN), Maputo through its Strengthening Food Systems and FNS in Beira Corridor program has given funding to Technoserve Mozambique for a regional food and nutrition security program (Manguana) for the period of 2023-2027. Agriculture is a critical pillar of the Mozambican economy, employing over 80% of the rural population and contributing to 25% of the national GDP. Small and medium farms account for 95% of agricultural production. Nonetheless, productivity is low for the majority of food crops. The project will complement other investments and coordinate with other programs in this sector to address productivity barriers in the Beira Corridor to improve FNS by increasing productivity, incomes, and jobs.

Specifically, the program aims to create:

• Increased sustainable productivity and income for small-scale food producers
• Increased mobilization of capital for a competitive local agricultural industry
• Increased capacity of key stakeholder institutions
• Improved policy and legal/regulatory enabling environment
• Inclusive and sustainable net job creation
• Improved climate resilience
• improvement of Household Food and Nutrition Security

Job Summary:

This  role will support the Program Director in the overall strategic function and daily  management of program implementation. The Deputy Director plays a key role in ensuring effective execution of the program’s workplan, coordinating across all outcome areas, and providing leadership and guidance to the Outcomes and Outcome Leads. This includes supporting planning, monitoring progress, troubleshooting challenges, and ensuring timely delivery of results. The Deputy Director’s role is primarily strategic and leadership-focused, ensuring strong alignment across program outcomes while avoiding duplication of operational responsibilities.

The role will also lead implementation of Outcome 2, focused on creating farming systems that are more remunerative, climate-resilient, and inclusive of smallholder farmers (including women and youth). While the Deputy Director provides strategic guidance, Outcome Leads retain full responsibility for delivering on their respective outcomes.

The Deputy Director serves as both a strategic partner and the most senior TechnoServe staff member under the Program Director.

Primary Functions & Responsibilities:

• Support the Program Director in implementing program strategies and ensuring alignment across outcomes.
• Provide day-to-day management support to Outcome Leads to ensure smooth implementation of the program’s workplan.
• Ensure that Outcome Leads carry full operational responsibility for their areas, with the Deputy Director offering strategic guidance and troubleshooting as needed.
• Together with the MEL team, monitor program progress, identify challenges, and recommend corrective actions to ensure timely delivery of outputs and outcomes.
• Ensure effective internal communication, integration across components, and consistency in program delivery.
• Provide high-quality technical inputs for donor reports, consortium updates, and strategic reviews.
• Promote knowledge-sharing and cross-learning across outcomes and with external partners.
• Represent the Program Director as delegated.
• Lead Outcome 2, focusing on strengthening private sector engagement and market systems development.
• Ensure Outcome 2 interventions complement and reinforce work under Outcome 1 (farm-level productivity) and Outcome 3 (policy/enabling environment).
• Identify, broker, and manage partnerships with agribusinesses, SMEs, financial institutions, and research/innovation institutions to co-create scalable business solutions.
• Guide the Outcome 2 team in developing inclusive, climate-resilient, and profitable farming systems that expand opportunities for SHFs, women, and youth.
• Pilot and scale innovative approaches in aggregation, access to finance and insurance, digital tools, and service delivery models.
• Support the design and rollout of financial products and risk-sharing mechanisms tailored to the needs of SHFs, SMEs, and women- and youth-led enterprises.
• Work with consortium partners to facilitate investment readiness of SMEs and link small commercial farmers to finance and markets.
• Supervise the Grant Fund Manager, ensuring the €6M grants facility is aligned with program strategy and contributes to systemic change.

Basic Qualifications:

  Bachelor's Degree in economics, management, Business administration, agriculture or other related field + 10 years experience, or Master's Degree + 7 years experience in senior management role;

  Proven expertise in private sector development, market systems approaches, or agricultural value chains, ideally in emerging or frontier markets.

  Strong leadership and team management skills, with experience supervising diverse, multi-disciplinary teams.

  Demonstrated ability to build and manage partnerships with private sector actors, financial institutions, governments, and NGOs.

  Solid experience in program strategy, planning, and cross-functional coordination for large-scale, complex programs.

  Excellent communication, negotiation, and stakeholder engagement skills.

  Strong analytical and problem-solving skills, with the ability to make sound strategic decisions under pressure.

  Good command of in English and Portuguese required.