Senior Rural Market Systems Specialist

About the Role

As a Senior Rural Market Systems Specialist at GIDA, you will be at the forefront of orchestrating transformative, private-sector-led market systems interventions across rural communities. You will collaborate directly with smallholder producer cooperatives, aggregators, off-takers, and digital financial service providers to de-risk agricultural transactions and stimulate sustainable wealth creation.

Key Responsibilities & Duties

• Design and execute MSD (Market Systems Development) strategies tailored to northern agricultural corridors.
• Structure commercial partnerships between smallholder farmer clusters, bio-input suppliers, and institutional off-takers.
• Supervise field assessments on post-harvest aggregation, cold-chain logistics, and digital traceability systems.
• Co-create catalytic de-risking mechanisms, including blended finance tools and micro-guarantee facilities for female agri-entrepreneurs.
• Conduct periodic market analyses, price monitoring, and regulatory reviews affecting smallholder market participation.
• Work closely with the Safeguarding and One Health teams to ensure market development initiatives adhere to ecological integrity and gender-equity benchmarks.

Required Qualifications & Experience

• Master's degree or advanced degree in Agricultural Economics, Agribusiness Management, Development Finance, Rural Development, or closely related field.
• Minimum of 6–8 years of demonstrated experience implementing donor-funded (FCDO, USAID, World Bank, AGRA) MSD or M4P market systems programs in Nigeria or Sub-Saharan Africa.
• Proven track record of structuring market agreements with commercial agribusiness off-takers and financial institutions.
• Deep knowledge of northern Nigerian rural economies, cultural nuances, and farmer cooperative governance structures.
• Excellent analytical, interpersonal, and stakeholder-brokering capabilities in English and Hausa.

Core Competencies

• Systems Thinking: Ability to identify underlying market failures rather than addressing superficial symptoms.
• Collaborative Leadership: Demonstrated success mentoring multidisciplinary field teams and local enterprise partners.
• Data-Driven Adaptation: Skillful application of Monitoring, Evaluation, Research, and Learning (MERL) findings for agile pivot decisions.

Safeguarding & Ethical Standards

GIDA is dedicated to preserving a zero-tolerance environment regarding sexual exploitation, abuse, and harassment (PSEAH), child protection, and financial fraud. All appointed personnel undergo exhaustive background checks, criminal vetting, and reference verification, and must strictly abide by the GIDA Code of Conduct and Anti-Extractive Development Mandate.