Purpose of the role
BerryWorld SA (BWSA) seeks a Technical Manager to drive blueberry fruit supply planning and fruit security (technical support) in South Africa, working within a team of technical advisors. This will include activities such as:
- Manage and coordinate the efforts of technical advisors in specified regions, to effectively manage grower technical queries and secure the crop supply.
- Pre-harvest visits to provide technical (agronomic and harvest) support to growers, generate estimates, and update estimates for supply planning in Zimbabwe and South Africa (Western Cape, Highveld and Lowveld areas).
- Advise growers/ marketing in conjunction with the post-harvest team on the impact of climatic/ practices on fruit supply and quality.
- Identify regional agronomic issues and improvement opportunities – propose these opportunities for commercial or academic research.
- Act as the link between BWSA and the primary variety company in terms of plant census & new planting updates.
- In collaboration with the variety development team, facilitate training of the BWSA Fruit Supply team and BWSA growers on new variety agronomics.
- Prepare post-season review reports identifying improvement areas and lead post-season review sessions with growers.
- Grower relationship management.
- Manage technical advisors, by driving a consistent leadership experience and human resource development.
- Drive the Fruit Supply Technical information and systems strategy.
- Submit, track, and report on personal and team operational budgets.
Formal qualification
- BSc Masters (Desirable)
- BSc Horticulture/Agronomy/Viticulture/Soil Science
Job-related experience
- Technical agronomic advisor to growers (any export crop): 5-10 years
- Team management: 2-5 years
- Project management: 2-5 years
- Mapping and implementing systems and processes: 2-5 years
Job-related knowledge
- Drivers of value in agriculture
- Export fruit quality
- Export fruit crop industry
- Strong Agronomic and Horticultural background
Job-related skills
- Driver’s license
- Computer literacy (MS Excel, Word & PowerPoint)
- Critical thinking skills
- Management skills
- Creating strategies/ goals for teams considering company objectives
- Mapping and implementing processes
Competencies
- Integrity
- Creativity
- Logical and analytical
- Interpersonal skills
- Resilience
- Planning and organising
- Quality orientation
- Energy and drive
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