Technical Manager Fruit Supply

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