Indigo is a company dedicated to harnessing nature to help farmers sustainably feed the planet. With a vision of creating a world where farming is an economically desirable and accessible profession, Indigo works alongside its growers to apply natural approaches, grow healthy food for all, and conserve resources for future generations. Utilizing beneficial plant microbes to improve crop health and productivity, Indigo’s portfolio is focused on cotton, wheat, rice, corn, and soybeans. The company is headquartered in Boston, MA, with commercial and customer service based in Memphis, TN. www.indigoag.com

Indigo Carbon and the broader Terraton Initiative is the most explicit expression of our sustainability goals yet. The Terraton Initiative is working to remove 1 trillion tons of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, sequester it in agricultural soils, and by doing that, improve the health of the soil, the profitability of farmers, the quality of our food, and the health of our planet. This goal is massive, and it will require a diverse team to make it happen. If you’ve been looking for a disruptive, tech-enabled company with super talented people that is tackling thorny, ambiguous but incredibly inspiring problems, we’d love to hear from you.

This role is essential. A carbon credit or a carbon offset is, fundamentally, a data product. You can’t see it, touch it, or feel it. If we say “this smallholder farmer in India removed 4 tons of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere”, that claim is only as good as the data we have to support it and how easily, accessibly, and clearly we package and communicate those data. The Senior Manager, Carbon Operations will help drive and own the quality, rigor, and credibility of our carbon claims.

She/he will play a critical role connecting (a) the teams that sell our credits (e.g., the teams that sell credits to businesses, consumers, governments, etc.) and (b) the teams that help create our credits (e.g., agronomists, data scientists, soil scientists, satellite/geospatial analysts, product managers, etc.). In a single day, you may ask yourself all of these questions:

• Why is a Fortune 50 company so interested in buying our credits? (i.e., you would work with our carbon offset sales team)
• How can we make our soil sampling more cost effective? (i.e., you would work with our Innovation team)
• How should we design the app that lets growers enter their own data accurately and quickly? (i.e., you would work with the product management team who develops farmer-facing applications)
• What approaches can help earn the trust of a geographically distributed and sometimes risk-averse group of farmers?

In this role, you will be responsible for helping us create the most credible, rigorous, transparent carbon offsets ever. It’s a dynamic role that requires both business pragmatism, technical aptitude, and an optimistic, can-do attitude: the question you will answer every day is “how can we make this work” not “why can’t this work” – and then you will have to build that solution in partnership with your colleagues.

Please note: you don’t have to be an expert in soil science, data science or satellite imagery analytics. We have teams that focus on that. All you have to be is excited to learn about those enough that you can apply a business lens to pressure testing technical ideas.

This role reports to Kari Hernandez, Director of Carbon Operations.

Responsibilities

• Own significant workstreams and strategy within Carbon Operations; oversee the credibility, rigor, and transparency of Indigo’s carbon offsets/credits
• Work across the full Carbon business team to own and constantly improve the end-to-end process for creating carbon credits, including all touch points with the myriad cross-functional teams that contribute (e.g., Soil Carbon Science, Agronomy, GeoInnovation, Data Science, Product Management, Engineering, etc.) to balance accuracy and cost
• Use quantitative and qualitative methods to understand what matters to our growers and ensure that their needs and interests are reflected in all of our processes
• Act as an “owner” of a grower’s cross-functional journey through Indigo to ensure simplicity, clarity, ease, and an overall positive grower experience
• Develop and oversee processes that enable all cross-functional partners to stay informed and aligned, allowing for improvements to effectiveness and efficiency each time
• Develop data-driven operations management tools that are useful to a variety of stakeholders and integrated throughout the relevant operation(s)
• Represent the Carbon Operations team, the Carbon Business, and Indigo at internal and external events

Competencies

• Ability to lead both conceptual and analytical problem solving across a variety of topics and rapidly prioritize based on new information
• Analytical, process-oriented thinker who can look at data, draw insights and implement changes to improve processes and grower experience simultaneously
• Significant attention to detail, organizational skills, and passion for getting it right; ability to “roll up your sleeves to get things done”
• Ability to interact with, mobilize, align, and inspire cross-functional teams, developing deep relationships over time and helping each group understand their critical points of intersection
• Excellent verbal and written communications serving a wide variety of audiences: convey complex messages clearly and simply, raise important issues that need wider or more senior attention, integrate technical and non-technical topics seamlessly
• Team player with a strong bias for action
• Comfort with ambiguity, ability to create structure, creativity in problem solving, sense of “what matters” in every situation, ability to see simplicity on the far side of complexity
• Aligned with our core values and excited about Indigo’s mission

Qualifications

• 6-8+ years’ work experience with both generalist-business responsibilities and technical responsibilities
• Proven ability to build, lead, manage, and empower a high-performing, technical team
• MBA/advanced degree preferred, industrial engineering experience in service-based environment a plus
• Experience with customer experience measurement and tracking systems, e.g., NPS
• Experience with at least two of the following: field operations, front-line enablement, behavioral psychology, cultural & operational transformations
• Experience managing complex and fast-paced projects with a high degree of ambiguity
• Proven track record of working with business partners and technical partners to design, deliver, and improve operations
• Experience with technical modeling
• This role is based in Boston, some travel to be expected

Indigo is committed to living our values, specifically “creating a work environment where everyone feels respected, connected, and has opportunities to learn and grow.” As part of living our values, we strive to create a diverse and inclusive work environment where everyone feels they can be themselves and has an equal opportunity of succeeding.