Managing Director, Africa

Position Summary

The Managing Director, Africa is a senior, market-facing leadership role accountable for enterprise-wide growth of the Rainforest Alliance across the region and for delivering our 2030 strategy in the region. Reporting to the Rainforest Alliance's senior executive leadership, the Managing Director leads a team of Country Directors and manages a matrix structure to bring maximum impact at regional and country levels. Country Directors are accountable for operational execution and for identifying growth opportunities aligned with the global strategy. The Managing Director retains ownership of the regional P&L, program implementation, and the support departments required to deliver the 2030 strategy in the region.

The Managing Director drives impact and revenue growth by using the Rainforest Alliance's standardized products and programs to build impact both with and beyond certification. This includes leading in-region business partnerships and cultivating potential donors. Additionally, it involves pursuing focused growth across various areas, including regenerative agriculture, climate, bio-economies, and the expansion of new crops where supply and demand align profitably.

What You Will Do

Drive the 2030 Strategy in the Region

• Manage a team of Country Directors to deliver the 2030 strategy, adapted to each respective country.
• Identify and develop opportunities aligned with our value propositions, making an impact with producers and the environment while meeting partner and donor goals.

Drive Impact & Revenue Growth

• Create opportunities that use our products and programs to build impact both with and beyond certification.
• Facilitate and support the transition to regenerative agriculture.
• Advance climate initiatives, including measurement, nature-based solutions, insetting, restoration of degraded landscapes, and sustainable forest management.
• Pursue the expansion of new crops where supply and demand align and are profitable for the Rainforest Alliance.

Certification Enablement

• Support adoption, remove local barriers, and act as a bridge between global product teams and local ecosystems.
• Provide representation and advocacy with senior-level government stakeholders.

Regional Strategic Coordination with Global Functions

• Ensure effective execution across all internal departments.
• Ensure alignment between global strategy and regional execution realities.

Program Delivery & Donor Management

• Manage donor-funded program implementation and relationships, ensuring program delivery remains tightly aligned with the broader regional strategy rather than operating as a parallel track.

Stakeholder Engagement

• Be Rainforest Alliance's ambassador, building and managing relationships with government authorities and regulatory bodies, industry associations and sector leaders, private sector partners across the supply chain, and donors and multilateral organizations.
• Strengthen institutional positioning, advance market relevance, and anticipate political, regulatory, and reputational risks before they become issues.

Strategic Measures of Success

• Impact and revenue growth: Drive significant revenue growth across the Rainforest Alliance's unified value propositions resulting in quantifiable impact.
• Stakeholder relationships: Quality and depth of engagement with government, industry, donors, and supply-chain actors.
• Market adoption: Product and program uptake and positioning in the regional market.
• Global–local alignment: Consistency between global strategy and local delivery outcomes.
• Program performance: Impact delivery and outcome achievement for donor-funded programs.
• Sectoral influence: Active participation and influence in regulatory and industry agendas.

What You Bring

• Bachelor's degree or equivalent in international development, sustainability, business administration, public policy, or a related field.
• 12–15+ years of progressively responsible experience in regional or country leadership, business development, or sustainable development, including P&L ownership and the leadership of senior teams.
• Drive impact and revenue growth in the region, operating with a general manager mindset.
• Experience managing a matrix structure and leading distributed, multi-country teams.
• High-level stakeholder management across government, industry, donors, and supply-chain actors.
• Strong political and regulatory awareness across multiple actor types and markets.
• Experience operating through influence without formal direct ownership of execution.
• Experience managing donor-funded program delivery and managing donor relationships.
• Experience with sustainability, ESG, systems change, and global development market trends; knowledge of conservation, community development, forestry, or agriculture.
• Experience working within global, matrixed organizations.
• Ability to travel domestically and internationally on occasion.