About Pula

We are an insuretech firm that provides agriculture insurance design and execution services, specialising in index based insurance and are backed by top tier VC investors who have invested more than $25 million in the business. Since 2015 we have provided climate insurance to 15.4 million smallholder farmers, 41% of which were women across 19 markets in Africa and Asia who pay an average of $6.8 per season to insure their crops. So far we've unlocked over $2.22 billion of capital from local and international insurance markets for climate risks since we started in 2015 and paid out $40.8 million to our client farmers.

Pula is a fast-paced space, constantly adapting to new opportunities and challenges and we are made up of a high-performance, multi-cultural team. We expect our team to value performance, results and professionalism.

At Pula, our values are:

• Obsessed with results: We are responsible for our future and therefore we get things done!
• Connect the Dots: We continuously identify different customer needs & business problems and build solutions that deliver value.
• Have a Can do Attitude! We dare to do things differently to make things work.
• We have each others’ back: We look out for each other & we share high quality, timely feedback that makes us better.

According to the UN’s InterGovernmental Panel for Climate Change more than 3.3 billion people globally live in hotspots with high vulnerability to climate change and are now already feeling the impact of climate change through increased temperatures and increasingly erratic rainfall.
Insurance is a tool for vulnerable households in these affected regions to adapt to the effects that climate change is already having today on these households. It is a tool that enables for compensation payment for losses and damages that these households had no part in causing. Insurance compensation enables these households to make adjustments to their day to day livelihoods and practices and therefore allows for an equitable and just transition.

At Pula, we are building the systems that enable farmers worldwide to access insurance, using technology to insure this previously uninsured worldwide. We work in over 17 countries across Africa and Asia, and by 2021, have facilitated crop insurance cover to over 6 million farmers, 30% of which are women, across Kenya, India, Nepal, Pakistan, Rwanda, Uganda, Nigeria, Mali, Senegal, Zambia, Ethiopia, Madagascar, Tanzania, Mozambique and Malawi. We are a for profit, and have raised over $10 million from leading venture and institutional investors as well as developed philanthropic relationships with private foundations and bilateral donors such as the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and German Insure Resilience Solutions Fund that have accelerated investments in our target markets.

Pula is proudly fast paced, constantly learning from the challenges we face and overcome. We are proudly culturally diverse but united in our ambition of continuous high-performance. By challenging ourselves we believe that we can overcome the hard problems we love solving.

At Pula, our culture is defined by our:

1.Obsessed with results: We are responsible for our future and therefore we get things done!

2. Ability to connect the Dots: We continuously identify different customer needs & business problems and build solutions that deliver value.

3. Our Can do Attitude! We dare to do things differently to make things work.

4. Ability to have each others’ back: We look out for each other & we share high quality, timely feedback that makes us better.

What will you be doing

As a Commercial Operations Manager at Pula, you’ll be at the core of our commercial engine, ensuring that our teams operate smoothly and effectively across multiple markets. You will enable Commercial Managers to focus on what they do best by building and refining the systems, processes, and support they need to succeed. If you're organized, solutions-driven, and excited by the idea of making a meaningful impact in agricultural insurance, this role offers a unique opportunity to contribute directly to Pula’s mission of supporting smallholder farmers around the world.

Your responsibilities will include:

• Revenue forecasting and Pipeline Management: Oversee the sales pipeline to ensure accurate forecasts and completeness of client information. Collaborate with Commercial Managers to keep data updated and pipeline stage requirements enforced.
• Commercial Performance Tracking: Track and analyze commercial performance, providing monthly insights and reports to guide decision-making.
• Commercial Systems Development and Management: Support the Commercial Leadership team in refining systems such as commissions, activity tracking, and the CRM. Ensure that SOPs are consistently followed and that the CRM becomes a reliable resource for the team.
• Client-Facing Document Preparation:
  
  1. Proposal writing - Prepare and provide quality control for concept notes, proposals, and tender responses in collaboration with Commercial Managers and Associates.
  2. Marketing Material Development: Coordinate the creation and improvement of sales and marketing materials, such as brochures and presentations, to support the sales team
• Cross functional collaboration: Work with others teams - incl. problem identification, solution development - in the organization to ensure smooth commercial operations across the globe.
• Logistics and Travel Coordination: Lead team to ensure smooth management of all logistical aspects of commercial team travel, ensuring all arrangements are executed as planned and proactively solving any issues that arise.
• Commercial Team Admin Management
  
  1. Budget Management: Act as the first line of approval for all commercial expenses, implementing cost-saving initiatives for travel and distribution.
  2. Event Management: Lead the organization of client events, workshops, and internal activities / meetings, ensuring seamless execution and alignment with strategic objectives.
  3. Team Onboarding and Training: Oversee the onboarding process for new team members and organize ongoing learning and development sessions.
  4. Commercial Knowledge Management: Develop and manage a database of company knowledge to improve communication efficiency across the commercial team.
• Team Leadership- Manage and coach a team of two Commercial Operations Associates, inspiring them to grow and excel in their roles, and driving the team’s OKRs to success.

What makes a successful Pula Commercial Operations Manager?

Qualifications

• University degree with First Class or Upper Second honors
• Experience leading sales operations teams in a corporate environment
• Experience with proposal development / tenders and event organization

Core Competencies

• Project Management: Strong organizational skills and the ability to manage complex, multi-faceted projects effectively.
• Analytical Skills: Ability to track, analyze, and report on commercial performance, leveraging data for insights.
• Communication Skills: Excellent verbal and written communication skills for interacting with various stakeholders and ensuring clarity in documentation.
• Tech Savviness: Proficient in using digital tools (CRMs) for pipeline management to enhance team performance and operational efficiency.
• Planning and Coordination: Exceptional planning skills for managing fast-paced and changing logistics and activities.

Behavioral Attributes

• Proactive and Solutions-Oriented: Always looking ahead to anticipate issues and resolve them creatively.
• Detail-Oriented: Maintains high accuracy in work, ensuring quality and reliability in all deliverables.
• Independent and Reliable: Works autonomously with a strong sense of ownership and accountability for tasks.
• Customer-Focused: Demonstrates a professional attitude and approach in serving both internal teams and external clients.
• Relationship Builder: Establishes strong working relationships with stakeholders, anticipating their needs and challenges effectively.
• Fast learner: Demonstrates the ability to quickly absorb and apply new information, adapting to changing circumstances and challenges with agility and confidence.

What Pula will bring to the table

• Growth potential: At Pula, we are building the systems that enable farmers worldwide to access insurance, using technology to insure this previously uninsured worldwide. We work in over 19 countries across Africa and Asia, and by 2023, have facilitated crop insurance cover to over 5 million farmers, 40% of which are women. We are a for profit, and have raised over $25 million from leading venture and institutional investors as well as developed philanthropic relationships with private foundations and bilateral donors such as the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and German Insure Resilience Solutions Fund that have accelerated investments in our target markets.
• Market Leader: Not only is the opportunity massive, but Pula is by far the market leader in it’s category with 11m farmers insured as of 2023.
• Solid: Pula has been funded by leading venture capital investors (Omidyar Network, ACCION, MercyCorps) and global philanthropic institutions (MasterCard Foundation, CGAP/World Bank as well as the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation). Pula closed an oversubscribed $20m series B funding despite the economic downturn.
• Respected: Winner of the Singapore FinTech Festival 2019, Winner of The InsureTech of the Award, Africa. Featured on TED talks, The New York Times, The Economist.
• Impact and creation: This is a high-impact role, that offers a unique opportunity to bring the company to the next level, whilst developing new strategies, approaches and ideas.
• Leadership: The founders & CEO foster a culture of transparency, respect, high performance, pragmatism, execution and personal development.
• Purpose: It is rare to find a professional opportunity that offers accelerated professional development and a life purpose. Pula is going through a second phase of accelerated growth that will naturally provide professional development, whilst contributing to the financial stability of small farmers in the emerging markets.
• Remuneration: Competitive base salary accordingly with seniority and experience, commission on closed sales and an employee share option plan that offers an attractive equity upside.

To learn more about Pula you can visit

TED Talk: Crop Insurance, an Idea Worth Seeding
New York Times: He Grew up on a Farm. Now, He Helps Protect Them
The Economist: The Poor, Who Most Need Insurance, Are Least Likely to Have It

How to apply

Fill out the form below, and upload a resume in English.

Pula’s mission is to provide farmer resilience. To achieve this, we put our small holder farmers that use our services and the employees that provide them at the heart of everything we do. For that purpose, Pula was created to be an equal opportunity employer that celebrates diversity and is committed to creating an inclusive environment for all employees.