Reference No. DBJP-TP-001

About the Group:

Key Result Areas (KRAs)

• Plantation Productivity: Achieve agreed targets for yield, FFB production, harvesting efficiency and plantation productivity. Indicative mature-area targets: FFB yield of [18–22] t/ha, palm stand held at [160] palms/ha, and year-on-year improvement against the block-wise yield ramp-up curve.
• End-to-End Operations: Ensure excellence across seed sourcing, nursery, planting, field upkeep, crop protection, harvesting, evacuation and FFB quality. Own an annual planting programme of [2,000–2,500] ha — the rate required to reach 25,000 hectares — and a nursery pipeline of [400,000–480,000] seedlings per annum at [160] palms/ha including nursery allowance, using approved Tenera material only, with full traceability of planting material from seed lot to block.
• Plantation Health: Maintain strong agronomic standards, palm health, soil fertility, pest/disease management and replanting programmes. Run a structured leaf and soil sampling cycle with site-specific fertiliser recommendations, legume cover crop establishment, pollinator (Elaeidobius kamerunicus) population management, and an active Ganoderma, rhinoceros beetle, leaf-miner and rodent surveillance and census regime.
• FFB Quality & Mill Interface: Deliver FFB to the mill at [>95]% ripe bunches, loose-fruit recovery of [>95]%, and within [24] hours of cutting, working to a [10]-day harvesting round, so that the mill’s OER and free fatty acid (FFA) targets are achievable. Jointly own the FFB grading protocol at the weighbridge with the Mill Manager.
• Cost & Budget Control: Prepare and manage annual operating and capital budgets; identify and actively manage major cost drivers and cost-control levers. Cost per hectare and cost per tonne FFB are the primary control metrics for this role.
• People Leadership: Build, lead and develop high-performing teams with clear objectives, accountability, performance management and succession planning, including a deliberate programme to build and promote Nigerian supervisory and management talent.
• Operational Systems: Establish disciplined SOPs, reporting, controls, planning and performance-monitoring systems across the plantation. Digitise block-level records — GIS/block mapping, census, harvesting, upkeep, fertiliser and labour productivity — into a single plantation MIS with a weekly management dashboard.
• Safety & Compliance: Maintain high standards of occupational safety, environmental stewardship, statutory compliance and operational governance, including RSPO-aligned practice, zero-burn land preparation, HCV and peat avoidance, and NESREA and Nigerian labour-law compliance.
• Continuous Improvement: Identify productivity, efficiency and technology opportunities and translate them into measurable operational gains, including selective mechanisation of harvesting, in-field evacuation and fertiliser application.
• Land Development & Stakeholder Relations: Support land identification, survey, titling and host-community agreements; manage day-to-day community, labour and traditional-authority relationships so that field operations are not interrupted.
• Estate Infrastructure: Maintain estate roads, bridges, culverts, drainage, water supply, workshops, stores and labour housing to a standard that sustains harvesting and evacuation through the full wet season.

Reporting & Organisation:

• Reports to: Business Head
• Dotted line: Group technical / agriculture leadership, for standards and audit
• Direct reports (indicative): Estate / Field Managers [2–3] today, rising with the planted area; Agronomist and Plant Protection lead; Nursery Manager; Harvesting & Evacuation Manager; Plantation Engineering & Civil; Plantation HR & Admin; Stores and field procurement
• Key interfaces: Mill Manager (FFB supply, grading and quality), Finance, Supply Chain, Security, Group audit
• Total workforce under management: [600–900] including contract labour today, rising towards [2,500–3,000] as the estate reaches 25,000 hectares

Qualifications & Experience:

• B.Sc. / M.Sc. in Agriculture, Agronomy or Plantation Crop Management, or equivalent; specialist oil palm training or certification an advantage.
• 15+ years in oil palm plantations, of which at least [5] years as Estate Manager, Group Manager or Head of Agronomy on an estate of [5,000]+ hectares.
• Demonstrated experience of greenfield development and of converting immature areas to stable mature yield.
• Experience in West or Central Africa strongly preferred; strong candidates from Malaysia, Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, Latin America or India with a genuine willingness to relocate on a residential basis will be considered.
• Verifiable track record of quantified yield and cost improvement, with references.
• Working knowledge of RSPO Principles & Criteria and of sustainability reporting expectations.
• Fluent English; French an advantage.

Key Skills & Competencies:

• Technical: soil and nutrition management, nursery and planting material, canopy and upkeep standards, plant protection, drainage and water management, replanting strategy.
• Operational: harvesting round discipline, labour and gang productivity systems, contractor management, in-field logistics, selective mechanisation.
• Commercial: bottom-up budgeting, cost-per-tonne discipline, capex justification, basic understanding of CPO price formation.
• Leadership: builds and retains teams in remote locations; effective with a large, largely unskilled workforce; visible in the field rather than office bound.
• Personal: resilience, integrity, cultural adaptability and comfort with the practical realities of a remote West African estate posting.

Candidate Profile:

• A field-first leader who spends most of the working week in the blocks.
• A systems builder rather than a caretaker of an already-running estate — this plantation is still being built.
• Able to deliver through Nigerian supervisors, contractors and host communities.
• Willing to be based on-estate; [family and single status both accommodated — to be confirmed].

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