Job Summary:

Reporting to Senior Technical Support Manager, Senior Engineering Specialist will provide Engineering (Maintenance & Projects) support to processors with an objective to assist them to achieve improved effective machine availability, spares & consumables inventory planning, preventive maintenance implementation and local work-shop development to achieve higher productivity, Capacity Utilization & Efficiency. S/he will identify the gaps in existing Engineering systems and suggest a plan to improve to improve it which ultimately lead to better efficient productivity & cost optimization. S/he will support implementation of a tailored action plan with each processing unit to address those gaps as per agreed goals and milestones.

Program/Practice/Department Overview:

Prosper Cashew is a five-year, $26 million project funded by the U.S. Department of Agriculture under the Food for Progress Program that aims to catalyze investment for the West African cashew processing sector. Over the next five years, the project will strengthen and revive existing cashew processing facilities across Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana, and Nigeria and support the development of new processing facilities and other value chain enterprises as part of the project’s overall goal to increase the share of raw cashew nut that is processed in the region from about 8% to 50%. Over five years, Prosper Cashew will improve the capacity of 60 processing units who source cashews from approximately 34,000 farmers, facilitate $497 million of investment in the cashew sector, and generate $1.5 billion in cashew kernel sales. The project expects to create more than 26,000 new jobs (at least 50% for women) and indirectly benefit more than 133,000 women, men, and children in West Africa.

A key component of the project will be to strengthen and increase commercially viable cashew enterprises through technical support. The project will build processor capacity in business management, financial management, investment facilitation, HR and workforce management, marketing, and supply chain development. It will also identify and address specific constraints related to particular sections of cashew processing (raw cashew nut drying, warehousing, calibration, steam cooking, shelling, oven drying, peeling, grading, fumigation, packing, and storage) and provide support to processors to install food safety management systems, support the introduction of traceability, and support the introduction of environmental practices and effective waste management.

Primary Functions & Responsibilities:

• Provide engineering support to a portfolio of five processors to build robust engineering systems to address specific constraints related to particular sections of cashew processing (warehousing, calibration, steam cooking, shelling, oven drying, peeling, grading, fumigation, packing, and storage)
• Assist processors to optimize the effective machine availability, including advising on spares and consumables inventory
• Compile, analyze, and report data on progress of processing units with key internal and external stakeholders
• Lead the training and development programs of processors’ staff as well as key participants of the broader cashew processing ecosystem
• Ensure that women and other disadvantaged groups are sustainably integrated into processing activities
• Support processors to implement improved environmental practices, including effective waste management
• Support the establishment of processing units for cashew byproducts
• Oversight of processing equipment and machine productivity improvements and inventory management.

Basic Qualifications:

These are the requirements that any qualified candidate must meet. Typically includes

• Bachelor degree in (Electronics/Electro Mechanical/ IT) with a minimum of 5 years’ experience in food processing. Alternatively, a minimum of 3 years’ experience with a Masters’ degree.

• Experience should also include at least 3 years in Engineering/ Maintenance as junior manager including managing individuals and teams with diverse backgrounds on Engineering Management Specialist, Processing equipment & machine productivity improvement personnel as well as Inventory Management specialist.
• Experience in food/cashew processing in Nigeria is must.

Preferred Qualifications:

Additional qualifications that would make a candidate more desirable.

• Experience in large cashew processing unit (5-15k MT capacity)
• Experience in Nigeria.

Required Languages Proficiency in English is preferred

Travel Willingness to spend up to 40% of time travelling domestically in Nigeria.

Knowledge, Skills and Abilities:

• Excellent problem solving and analytical skills
• Excellent oral/written communication and presentation skills
• Ability to balance multiple priorities and meet demanding deadlines
• Ability to work both independently and as part of a team
• Strong interpersonal and team-building skills
• Thorough knowledge of Cashew kernel Grades and its various Optimization
• Proficiency in MS Office & presentation skills are required