Technical Program Manager - Agromet Services

Tomorrownow

15h•Remote

About The Position

The Technical Programs Manager is a pivotal role within TomorrowNow’s technical function, responsible for supporting the design, execution, and delivery of our agrometeorological value chain — from first-mile research and technology development through to operational service delivery. This role sits at the intersection of science, technology, and impact, ensuring that cutting-edge weather intelligence is translated into practical tools and advisories that reach farmers at scale. The role combines product and geospatial expertise, program implementation leadership, technical content development, and direct engagement with donors and partners. The successful candidate will drive programs from first-mile R&D through to operational implementation and institutional adoption by National Meteorological and Hydrological Services (NMHS) and National Agricultural Research Systems (NARS) partners across Africa. We are looking for a mid-career professional with a geoinformatics and applied science background and demonstrated experience delivering operational weather, climate, or agricultural programs. We strongly encourage applications from candidates based in East or Southern Africa. This is not a purely coordination role — it requires genuine hands-on technical capability to develop new content, prototype new indices, and collaborate directly with engineers to bring innovations into production.

Requirements

5-10 years of professional experience in geospatial programs, applied meteorology, climate services, agricultural technology, or a related operational field
Demonstrated experience taking data products or services from R&D prototype through to operational deployment — not just academic delivery
Demonstrated experience implementing new programs or products from concept through operational delivery
Track record of working with geospatial, weather, climate, or agricultural datasets in operational (not purely academic) settings
Direct experience working with NMHS, NARS, or equivalent institutions in sub-Saharan Africa in operational settings
Experience managing or coordinating across distributed technical and engineering teams
Working familiarity with smallholder crop systems and the agronomic basis of farmer decision-making
Intermediate Python proficiency — able to write, modify, review, and debug analysis scripts, geospatial workflows, and data pipelines
Familiarity with geospatial and climate data formats (NetCDF, GeoTIFF, CSV), GIS tools, and earth observation platforms
Demonstrated willingness and ability to adopt new tools rapidly, including AI-assisted coding and analysis workflows
Able to bridge scientific requirements and engineering implementation effectively
Self-Directed & Accountable: Owns outcomes, not just tasks. Structured and reliable in a remote, fast-moving environment.
Clear Communicator: Confident and effective across technical, non-technical, and donor audiences — written and verbal.
Collaborative: Comfortable leading in a small team with broad responsibilities, while managing upward and outward to keep leadership and partners informed.
Adaptable: At ease operating in a startup environment with evolving requirements and wide scope. Thrives on initiative.

Nice To Haves

Direct experience delivering agricultural weather advisories or decision-support systems at farmer scale in Africa
Experience running geospatial programs at scale (earth observation, remote sensing, spatial analysis, geospatial platforms)
Product management or product development experience in a technology or data services organization
Working relationships with NMHS or NARS institutions in East or Southern Africa
Familiarity with WMO/FAO agromet frameworks, DCAS, or climate services value chains
Experience with forecast verification, validation methodologies, or ensemble forecasting
Experience managing donor relationships with major foundations, government agencies, or international organizations

Responsibilities

Implement new agromet programs and services from design through operational delivery
Develop and maintain delivery plans, timelines, budgets, and task tracking
Lead coordination across engineering, product, geospatial, and external contributors
Work closely with the platform engineering team to ensure R&D outputs are integrated into production systems
Proactively identify risks, dependencies, and execution bottlenecks, and drive resolution
Manage multiple concurrent programs with minimal supervision
Design and develop new agromet products, indices, and advisory content for farmer-facing delivery
Lead first-mile R&D: forecast product evaluation, geospatial analysis, ensemble methods, and decision-support algorithm design
Evaluate new datasets, models, tools, and approaches, and make adoption recommendations
Design validation frameworks and ensure methodological soundness across forecast and geospatial products
Translate R&D outputs into production-ready products and services
Contribute to technical reports, conference papers, and donor deliverables
Write, modify, and review analysis scripts, geospatial workflows, validation pipelines, and data processing code using intermediate Python proficiency
Develop new agromet content independently: advisory algorithms, index calculations, geospatial analysis workflows, and data products
Leverage AI-assisted coding tools (e.g., LLMs) to accelerate development, prototype systems, and extend capabilities beyond core expertise.
Work with the engineering team to translate prototypes into production-ready platform features.
Prepare and present clear technical documentation, status updates, and strategic summaries
Develop donor-facing materials (slides, reports, progress summaries, proposals)
Represent TomorrowNow in external meetings with donors, NMHS partners, and academic collaborators
Build and maintain relationships with key technical partners and stakeholders.