Precision Agriculture for Development - Senior Data Architect

Precision Agriculture for Development, Inc. (PAD) is an early stage global technology enterprise using rich data and smart algorithms to help smallholder farmers make better production decisions. We are advised by top academics at Harvard and Brown Universities and backed by global funders.

Background :

- It's possible to boost production of major crops by 30% and reduce environmental impact simply by managing agricultural inputs better. Part of this promise has already been achieved in developed countries, where precision agriculture technologies have improved targeting of inputs to local conditions.

- PAD is adapting precision agriculture for smallholder farmers in the developing world. We are building an intelligent platform that provides individualized production recommendations based on theory and data. Our vision is better livelihoods for the poor, drawn from a more productive, environmentally-friendly landscape.

- In a rigorous randomized controlled trial in India, the alpha version of our voice-based service increased yields by 8.6-28%, with a social benefit to cost ratio of 10/1 (Cole and Fernando 2016). We have scaled up our pilot, growing from 200 to 53,000 users over the past 16 months in Gujarat. We are also operational in Odisha and are exploring new opportunities in Karnataka and Uttar Pradesh.

Our ambitions are large : our funders include Silicon Valley venture capitalists and technology entrepreneurs, and we believe that technological innovations create new scope and opportunities to address rural poverty and close the global food production gap. We aim to improve the lives of 100 million farmers in developing countries. To reach our goals, we will tap new technologies (like microsatellites, drones, smartphones, and machine vision), which have the promise to vastly improve the intelligence of our service and the quality of recommendations we provide to farmers.

- PAD's senior leadership team includes professors and global experts in technology and development with considerable combined experience in sub-Saharan Africa and India as well as deep expertise in data sciences and monitoring and evaluation. The board includes Professor Michael Kremer (Harvard University), Professor Shawn Cole (Harvard Business School), Professor Daniel Bj- rkegren (Brown University), and Heiner Baumann (Harvard Business School alum, former McKinsey).

- PAD's India team consists of alumni from IIM-Ahmedabad, IIT-Kanpur and Delhi College of Engineering with experience in management, research, and building start-ups.

Opportunity :

- Based on the success in Gujarat, and the pilot in Odisha, PAD has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Government of Odisha and reputed international funders to bring the digital agri-advisory solution to at least one million (1,000,000) farmers by the end of year 2020. PAD will integrate and use some of the most cutting-edge technologies in agricultural domain while collaborating with top international and national research organizations.

- The project would involve handling multiple data streams for millions of farmers. For the seamless integration of data sets and to make use of the data to its maximum potential, PAD is looking for an experienced - Data Architect- with the necessary skills to work on a high profile, high potential project.

- We offer highly competitive compensation, a signing and relocation bonus, international work experience, and the opportunity to apply - Big Data- and Technology based problem solving skills in a high-growth, impact-oriented environment.

Interested applicants should submit their CV and a cover letter

Job Description :

- Supervise and implement setup of data systems suitable for more than two million farmers, including: o Integration with push call and - Interactive Voice response- system o CRM for all clients, suitable for use by low-tech-literacy call-center operators.

- Deep dive into the existing datasets of the government, perform data cleaning, and evaluate the quality of different fields o Integration of existing datasets indexed by individual or by geography, to make them easily accessible for analysis and operations o Establish processes for periodic data quality checks o Advise on best approaches to develop the system going forward and on how the data can be harnessed to better serve our users.

- Work with multiple stakeholders and understand their needs: government and their allied bodies, professors, agronomists, field officers, research associates.

- Evaluate different options to host/store the datasets and suggest the optimum solution that could facilitate different use cases for stakeholders, while maintaining the security and integrity of data

Desired Qualifications :

- 2+ years of hands-on experience devising and implementing solutions to practical problems of data storage, flow, setup.

- Familiarity with various technologies, and ability to learn other required technologies yourself.

- Ability to think well on your feet and deal with unexpected situations.

- Team player. Ability to communicate well with various colleagues with different areas of expertise, especially different from your own.

- Experience with communications technology and telephony is desirable, but not required.

- Ability to assess technologies and propose the best solution to integrate with existing systems, prioritizing the practical over the cutting edge.

- Experience in Big data analytics & data modelling preferred

- Passion to give great service to your colleagues and to our farmers, surmounting all challenges that stand in our way.

Location: Bhubaneshwar/Bangalore, India

Compensation: We offer highly competitive compensation according to experience

Start Date: Immediate