Construction Officer Role
Background
This position is for the role of Construction Officer within NjordFrey. We are a registered social enterprise in Rwanda, looking to provide smallholder farmers with high-yield farming solutions, in the form of aquaponics, to significantly increase income while being sustainable.
In 2022, we are launched our flagship farm in Kayonza and expanding the team to support its implementation and expansion across Rwanda/East Africa.
Construction Officer Responsibilities and Duties
As we are developing our aquaponic starter kit (a series of fish tanks, growbeds, filters and pumps) to be a standardised modular kit that can be easily assembled and scaled across Rwanda and the wider Sub-Sahara African region, we require someone with a proactive and creative approach to complete the following tasks:
Design Development and Verification
We are constantly looking for ways to improve the design of our solution to increase reliability, increase ease of installation and operation and reduce costs. Therefore, the role requires someone who can:
- Assess existing designs for ways to improve the quality/output and reduce cost.
- Suggest new designs for existing or new requirements and present them to the team for review; this includes producing sketches or prototypes.
- Cost up designs at a reasonable level to allow cost to be considered as part of the design evaluation and selection process.
- Note, those with experience of mechanical systems with consideration of water circulation and waterproofing is considered an advantage.
Procurement
Once the design has been presented for review and approved, then the next stage is to produce and test the design. This includes:
- Testing materials/equipment to ensure they are suitable for the job required. A hands-on approach/background is desirable.
- Taking ownership and continue development of the ‘supplier register’ that we have internally developed. This documents all the key suppliers and provides scoring criteria to vet them. Building a good understanding of what is available on the market is key.
- Populate and keep up to date all procurement information. Documenting and demonstrating decisions based on evidence is important.
- Provide weekly and monthly reports on procurement items i.e., suppliers engagement, items bought, invoicing requirement. Overall, the person needs to track trends and look to reduce the cost of our solution by 50% within 2-3 years.
- Take meeting minutes/notes of procurement meetings, recording actions and following up as required to manage relationships with third parties.
Build
Once the design and procurement of items is in place, the role requires:
- Managing third parties, technicians, and farm caretaker staff to build items on the farm(s).
- Test and verification that the build quality achieves the required standards agreed. This includes keeping records to demonstrate this e.g., pictures of test, table of results.
- Collect data on site to support the quality of the build e.g., water retention test, circulation checks, filtration checks etc.
- Manage and coordinate maintenance activities required on site e.g., servicing pumps, checking integrity of growbeds each month etc.
General
In addition to the above:
- The company operating language is English, though the role will require speaking and translating English into Kinyarwanda when engaging with stakeholders.
- The Construction Officer will report to both members of the management team though a proactive attitude to manage tasks independently is welcomed in the role.
- Mapping stakeholders, suppliers, technicians that all support the construction and operation of farms.
- This is a non-exhaustive list of duties. The role is dynamic and offers great variety and suits someone who is adaptive, flexible and a positive outlook.
- Critical thinking and problem solving is key to the position, as it is to any position in the company.
Experience/Skills:
We are looking for someone with:
- An Engineering and Construction background or similar.
- Degree background is preferable.
- Some formal construction experience.
- A hands on/practical background is desirable to test materials/equipment bought during procurement.
- Experience developing procurement registers, drawings, and Bill of Quantities.
- Strong communication skills, in terms of written and verbal communication.
- Excellent written and verbal English and Kinyarwanda skills.
- Positive and flexible outlook and interested in working in a team environment.
- Good time keeping and proactively managing tasks is key.
Duration: 6-month assignment, with an initial trial period. If successful, this will be extended into a long-time position.
How to apply
Interested candidates should submit their application by using the button “apply”; until 1st December 2023.
