Senior Project Execution Manager

About Pula

We are an insuretech firm that provides agriculture insurance design and execution services, specialising in index based insurance and are backed by top tier VC investors who have invested more than $25 million in the business. Since 2015 we have provided climate insurance to 15.4 million smallholder farmers, 41% of which were women across 19 markets in Africa and Asia who pay an average of $6.8 per season to insure their crops. So far we've unlocked over $2.22 billion of capital from local and international insurance markets for climate risks since we started in 2015 and paid out $40.8 million to our client farmers.

Pula is a fast-paced space, constantly adapting to new opportunities and challenges and we are made up of a high-performance, multi-cultural team. We expect our team to value performance, results and professionalism.

At Pula, our values are: 

• Obsessed with results: We are responsible for our future and therefore we get things done!
• Connect the Dots: We continuously identify different customer needs & business problems and build solutions that deliver value.
• Have a Can do Attitude! We dare to do things differently to make things work.
• We have each others’ back: We look out for each other & we share high quality, timely feedback that makes us better. 

According to the UN’s InterGovernmental Panel for Climate Change more than 3.3 billion people globally live in hotspots with high vulnerability to climate change and are now already feeling the impact of climate change through increased temperatures and increasingly erratic rainfall. 
Insurance is a tool for vulnerable households in these affected regions to adapt to the effects that climate change is already having today on these households. It is a tool that enables for compensation payment for losses and damages that these households had no part in causing. Insurance compensation enables these households to make adjustments to their day to day livelihoods and practices and therefore allows for an equitable and just transition.

At Pula, we are building the systems that enable farmers worldwide to access insurance, using technology to insure this previously uninsured worldwide. We work in over 17 countries across Africa and Asia, and by 2021, have facilitated crop insurance cover to over 6 million farmers, 30% of which are women, across Kenya, India, Nepal, Pakistan, Rwanda, Uganda, Nigeria, Mali, Senegal, Zambia, Ethiopia, Madagascar, Tanzania, Mozambique and Malawi. We are a for profit, and have raised over $10 million from leading venture and institutional investors as well as developed philanthropic relationships with private foundations and bilateral donors such as the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and German Insure Resilience Solutions Fund that have accelerated investments in our target markets.

Pula is proudly fast paced, constantly learning from the challenges we face and overcome. We are proudly culturally diverse but united in our ambition of continuous high-performance. By challenging ourselves we believe that we can overcome the hard problems we love solving. 

At Pula, our culture is defined by our: 

1.Obsessed with results: We are responsible for our future and therefore we get things done!

2. Ability to connect the Dots: We continuously identify different customer needs & business problems and build solutions that deliver value.

3. Our Can do Attitude! We dare to do things differently to make things work.

4. Ability to have each others’ back: We look out for each other & we share high quality, timely feedback that makes us better.

About Pula: 

According to the UN’s Inter Governmental Panel for Climate Change more than 3.3 billion people globally live in hotspots with high vulnerability to climate change and are now already feeling the impact of climate change through increased temperatures and increasingly erratic rainfall. 

 

Insurance is a tool for vulnerable households in these affected regions to adapt to the effects that climate change is already having today on these households. It is a tool that enables for compensation payment for losses and damages that these households had no part in causing. Insurance compensation enables these households to make adjustments to their day to day livelihoods and practices and therefore allows for an equitable and just transition.

 

At Pula, we are building the systems that enable farmers worldwide to access insurance, using technology to insure this previously uninsured worldwide. We work in over 10 countries across Africa and Asia, and by 2022, have facilitated crop insurance cover to over 15 million farmers, 40% of which are women, across Kenya, India, Nepal, Pakistan, Rwanda, Uganda, Nigeria, Mali, Senegal, Zambia, Ethiopia, Madagascar, Tanzania, Mozambique, Ethiopia and Malawi. We are a for profit, and have raised over $45 million from leading venture and institutional investors as well as developed philanthropic relationships with private foundations and bilateral donors such as the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and German Insure Resilience Solutions Fund that have accelerated investments in our target markets.

 

Pula is proudly fast paced, constantly learning from the challenges we face and overcome. We are proudly culturally diverse but united in our ambition of continuous high-performance. By challenging ourselves we believe that we can overcome the hard problems we love solving.

 

At Pula, our culture is defined by our: 

• Obsession with results: We are responsible for our future and therefore we get things done!
• Ability to connect the Dots: We continuously identify different customer needs & business problems and build solutions that deliver value.
• Our Can do Attitude! We dare to do things differently to make things work.
• Ability to have each others’ back: We look out for each other & we share high quality, timely feedback that makes us better.

 

Pula is seeking an experienced Senior Project Execution Manager. She/he must have a love for building partnerships across commercial and public sector, profits and nonprofits, probing into project management, developing and reviewing financial reports, solving challenging multi stakeholder project management problems, and structuring complex processes, while also being comfortable working in a fast-changing ag-tech startup environment.

She / he will have full accountability for the full set of contracted projects and lead a modest team to deliver on these projects in close partnership with the Pula business units and external stakeholders to ensure the timely, successful and high-quality delivery of grant-funded projects and initiatives at Pula. Such initiatives are supported and supervised by non-commercial partners, such as NGOs, IGOs, UN agencies, government bodies, research organizations and other third sector stakeholders, to expand Pula’s market reach and impact, create growth and revenue opportunities and meet business and social impact goals. The Senior Project Execution Manager will report to the Head of Partnerships and Consulting, and work in close collaboration with the partnerships, product, commercial, actuarial and operations teams.

 

A detailed job description and roles & responsibilities for the position is as follows:

External relationships management (30%)

• Lead the team to manage stakeholder relations, including donors and private/public sector partners
• Guide the team to plan and hold regular meetings with donors and other stakeholders to discuss progress
• Lead the team to identify and manage project risks, issues and remediation and ensure these are communicated and coordinated with the donors
• Hire and manage external consultants as needed to execute to specific project deliverables

 

Project Progress Reporting and Financial Reporting (30%)

• Lead the team to ensuring timely monitoring and report on progress to external stakeholders (donors, partners)
• Review, author or contribute to project reports (evaluations, assessments, mapping exercises)
• Assure quality and compliance in deliverables by editing/proofreading
• Create and/or share project documentation with team leads and staff
• Provide information/training to your team and staff on grant deliverables and reporting requirements
• Oversee invoicing, accounting, financial reporting, paperwork, grant records and other administrative functions to ensure successful execution of the grant process
• Any other duties required to support the delivery of grant-funded projects, including preparation of funding proposals

Project Planning and Execution (10%)

• Lead the team in planning, scheduling and implementation of Pula’s grant-funded projects
• Lead the team to define project scope, goals, deliverables, tasks and resource requirements
• Guide the team to develop full-scale project plans, including task sequences and interdependencies
• Work with internal Pula team leads and management to ensure sufficient project resource allocation
• Lead the team in tracking project deliverables and performance of teams using appropriate tools e.g. Gantt charts, task lists, workflow management software
• Guide direct reports to ensure internal Pula staff is informed about upcoming deadlines, milestones and deliverables
• Guide and ensure the team holds project meetings and drive task completion to meet delivery timelines with project teams (Tech, Sales, Actuarial, Operations), including progress tracking, risk management, initiating changes to the original scope of work and reviewing checkpoints or milestones

 

Team Management and Thought leadership (20%)

• Guide and coach your direct reports to deliver on the projects assigned to them in terms of project execution, reporting and financial management
• For selected projects you will take the lead on execution and project and financial management of selected those projects
• Coordinate with other departments to gather data and support them in producing analysis that may need to be part of the progress, interim or end line reports
• Work with external consultants and agencies who may be contracted to work on research initiatives and ensure there is a clear scope of work, research questions, etc
• Work with our communications team to organize presentations, webinars and other events to communicate the insights externally

 

Aligning projects with Pula’s strategy and objectives (10% of the time)

• Work with Pula department heads and team leads to ensure that projects align with and contribute to the company’s strategy and goals
• Work with different departments to understand their priorities and find ways to leverage projects to achieve them.
• Proactively work with your team to discuss project prioritization, business drivers, and potential or actual risks with the Partnerships team and senior management
• Proactively work with your team to offer recommendations for changing prioritization, required escalations, and suggestions for new project initiatives

 

The right applicant would have the following skillset:

• At least 7-10 years’ experience managing complex, projects in social enterprise, NGO, UN or similar organization
• Strong financial reporting, quantitative and data analytics skills, as well as report writing and presentation skills
• Skills and experience in working with diverse set of stakeholders and building strong relationships with philanthropic partners
• Strong collaborative skills, ability to work with multi cultural and multi disciplinary teams to deliver to our clients
• You have the ability to translate complex and challenging concepts into detailed action plans
• Ability to prioritize work, meet inflexible deadlines and produce timely, high quality results
• Exceptional work ethic and integrity: the ability to self-manage assigned tasks/deliverables
• Bachelor’s degree with an outstanding academic record
• You are comfortable with GSuite applications (Google Sheets, Google Docs, G-Slides, etc.) and are able to adapt to new systems easily (e.g., ClickUp, Slack, Jira, Metabase, CommCare)
• You are comfortable and willing to travel (20% of the time) to customer sites across Africa, Asia and Latin America
• Fluency in French and/or Portuguese is a plus.

 

What Pula will bring to the table:

• Growth potential: With an untapped market of 1.5 billion smallholders worldwide, on track to doubling the number of farmers insured in 2023 and Pula’s global leadership in Agriculture Insurance, the Senior Project Execution Manager has a tremendous upside growth potential.
• Join the Global Market Leader: Not only is the opportunity massive, but Pula is by far the market leader in its category with 15m farmers insured as at the end of 2022.
• Personal Development: We have a strong culture of constant learning and we invest in developing our people. You’ll have weekly check-ins with your line manager, and receive regular feedback on your performance. We hold career reviews every six months and set aside time to discuss your aspirations and career goals. You’ll have the opportunity to shape a growing organization and build a rewarding long-term career.
• Impact and creation: This is a high-impact role, reporting to the Head of Partnerships and Consulting, that offers a unique opportunity to bring the company to the next level, whilst developing new strategies, approaches and ideas.
• Remuneration: Competitive base salary accordingly with seniority and experience, commission on closed partnerships and an employee share option plan that offers an attractive equity upside.

 

To learn more about Pula:

• TED Talk: Crop Insurance, an Idea Worth Seeding
• New York Times: He Grew up on a Farm. Now, He Helps Protect Them
• The Economist: The Poor, Who Most Need Insurance, Are Least Likely to Have It

What Pula will bring to the table

• Growth potential: At Pula, we are building the systems that enable farmers worldwide to access insurance, using technology to insure this previously uninsured worldwide. We work in over 19 countries across Africa and Asia, and by 2023, have facilitated crop insurance cover to over 5 million farmers, 40% of which are women. We are a for profit, and have raised over $25 million from leading venture and institutional investors as well as developed philanthropic relationships with private foundations and bilateral donors such as the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and German Insure Resilience Solutions Fund that have accelerated investments in our target markets.
• Market Leader: Not only is the opportunity massive, but Pula is by far the market leader in it’s category with 11m farmers insured as of 2023.
• Solid: Pula has been funded by leading venture capital investors (Omidyar Network, ACCION, MercyCorps) and global philanthropic institutions (MasterCard Foundation, CGAP/World Bank as well as the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation). Pula closed an oversubscribed $20m series B funding despite the economic downturn.
  
   
• Respected: Winner of the Singapore FinTech Festival 2019, Winner of The InsureTech of the Award, Africa. Featured on TED talks, The New York Times, The Economist.
• Impact and creation: This is a high-impact role, that offers a unique opportunity to bring the company to the next level, whilst developing new strategies, approaches and ideas.
• Leadership: The founders & CEO foster a culture of transparency, respect, high performance, pragmatism, execution and personal development.
• Purpose: It is rare to find a professional opportunity that offers accelerated professional development and a life purpose. Pula is going through a second phase of accelerated growth that will naturally provide professional development, whilst contributing to the financial stability of small farmers in the emerging markets.
• Remuneration: Competitive base salary accordingly with seniority and experience, commission on closed sales and an employee share option plan that offers an attractive equity upside.

To learn more about Pula you can visit

TED Talk: Crop Insurance, an Idea Worth Seeding
New York Times: He Grew up on a Farm. Now, He Helps Protect Them
The Economist: The Poor, Who Most Need Insurance, Are Least Likely to Have It

How to apply

Fill out the form below, and upload a resume in English.

Pula’s mission is to provide farmer resilience. To achieve this, we put our small holder farmers that use our services and the employees that provide them at the heart of everything we do. For that purpose, Pula was created to be an equal opportunity employer that celebrates diversity and is committed to creating an inclusive environment for all employees.