Chief Operating Officer

Growing Future Farmers (GFF) is a purpose-driven charitable trust committed to transforming the lives of young New Zealanders and strengthening the future of New Zealand’s Primary sector. GFF do this by delivering practical, on-farm vocational training for young New Zealanders aspiring to build careers in agriculture. Since its inception in 2020, GFF has expanded from 10 students in a single region to over 130 students across 12 regions nationwide.

The organisation collaborates closely with farmers, training providers, sponsors, and rural communities to lift standards, develop talent and open pathways into agriculture. As part of its evolution from a small regional start-up to a maturing national organisation, GFF is focused on ensuring the programme remains relevant, forward-thinking, and aligned with the needs of New Zealand’s food and fibre sector.

GFF operates as a fully remote, national organisation and is now seeking a Chief Operating Officer to support the organisation in its next phase of growth as it evolves from a successful start-up to a sustainable and scalable national programme.

Key Responsibilities:

The Chief Operating Officer will work alongside the Chief Executive to stabilise and strengthen GFF’s internal platform, champion operational excellence, and embed a culture of continuous improvement. With a clear customer-centric mindset, you’ll focus on delivering an outstanding experience for our students, farm trainers, stakeholders, and regional communities — and you’ll love seeing people grow and thrive under your leadership. You will be responsible for supporting the development of team capability and getting the right foundations in place for the business to be able to execute on their strategic goals.

• Provide strategic and operational leadership to build a high-performance culture and mindset, embed fit-for-purpose systems, processes, and tools, ensuring the organisation is set up for long-term success
• Utilise leadership and delivery skills to ensure successful programme delivery while developing and embedding organisational structure and process
• Ensure consistent high-quality programme delivery across all regions, providing exemplary support creating meaningful life-changing and educational experiences for all students
• Lead and develop a small, passionate remote team — supporting their growth, wellbeing, and capability
• Strengthen engagement and retention among students and Farm Trainers, recognising their central role in the GFF model
• Advocate for programme delivery enhancements, support curriculum development, development on new programmes and pathways and assist CEO with pan-sector growth
• Ensure that new CRM and reporting tools are effectively implemented, and deliver meaningful value for the organisation
• Lead operational planning, including resource, workforce management and budgeting, as well as systems and tools required to support delivery
• Drive continuous improvement across operations, delivery, and reporting - making sure GFF is always learning and lifting standards and staying compliant
• Champion stakeholder engagement, working closely with regional training providers, sponsors, partners, and rural community supporters
• Negotiate contracts and vendor management, service level agreements with key providers and contractors

Key skills and experience:

• Strong interpersonal skills to nurture relationships across geographically dispersed teams
• Proven people leadership experience, with the ability to develop growing teams and roll-up your sleeves to get the job done
• A customer/stakeholder-centric mindset — you think about the needs of those we serve at every step of the experience journey
• Comprehensive understanding of effective delivery systems, good planning, management systems and continuous improvement processes, with the ability to adapt to the needs of the organisation
• Prior experience working in, or with the agricultural is required
• Experience in education, training, or primary industries is advantageous
• Prior experience working in startup organisations is preferred
• Resilience and emotional intelligence to navigate challenges and focus on long-term objectives
• Ability to relate to a broad range of stakeholders, including regional sponsors, expert trainers, students and the agricultural sector
• The ideal candidate for this position will be based in the Auckland or Waikato region
  
  

This is a unique opportunity to step into a new role, helping to drive organisational maturity and growth in a meaningful, purpose-led charitable trust. This is a fully remote role with the requirement for regular travel across the regions to connect with the team and key stakeholders.

Check out our candidate briefing pack for further information: https://www.robertwalters.co.nz/content/dam/robert-walters-redesign/country/new-zealand/files/misc/COO-GFF-Candidate-Briefing-Pack.pdf

Robert Walters endeavours to review all applications in a maximum of five working days. If you have not received correspondence within this timeframe please do not hesitate to contact Eden McDonald on 04 471 9719.