Assistant Manager - Certifications and Research

Tatu Coffee Company Limited is one of Kenya's leading specialty coffee producers, with a heritage spanning more than 100 years.Owned by Rendeavour, the developer of Tatu City, the company cultivates premium Arabica coffee across more than 6,500 acres of Rainforest Alliance Certified estates in Kenya's fertile highlands.

Tatu Coffee supplies specialty coffee to leading roasters and buyers across Europe, North America, the Middle East and Asia-Pacific, combining sustainable farming practices with world-class processing to produce award-winning Kenyan coffee. The estates also play a significant role in supporting local communities through employment, environmental stewardship and responsible agricultural practices.

This role manages coffee production at estate level, from cultivation through to processing and dispatch, while leading certification compliance (Rainforest Alliance, Café Practices, Nespresso AAA, 4C, Organic), quality control, budgeting, and R&D trial oversight. It combines technical agronomy with people management, compliance and financial discipline to keep the estate productive, certified and profitable.

Key Responsibilities

• Knowledge of Certifications such as RA, Cafe, Nespresso AAA,4C and Organic.
• Certification Scope, requirements, application on portals, assist with leading and implementing certification at farm level with follow up and closure of NC’s.
• Obtain valid certifications and monitor audit cycle requirements.
• Knowledge of Farm Level SOP’s covering all aspects of growing coffee, harvesting, processing, drying, sorting, storage, and transport, ensuring adherence to best practices and industry standards.
• Adhere to established environmental sustainability initiatives, including responsible land management, water conservation, and ethical farming practices.
• Ability to identify pest and diseases and escalate or implement timely control measures.
• Build, layout and/or operate, conduct, manage and take periodic scientific statistical data ,share observations to team on 15th MLY on each and every R&D Trials on-going in the various estate location.
• Mobilise workers for field work if required and to harvest in time.
• Follow and implement Safety Standards 100% within boundary of the estate and scope of entire workday including transport outside farm areas.
• Implement and maintain stringent quality control systems throughout the production process, guaranteeing the exceptional quality of the final coffee product.
• Manage budgets, avoid/control wasteful costs, identify areas for efficiency gains, drive profitability across the coffee estate.
• Good control of stocks of chemicals, all farm inputs, coffee stocks and manpower.
• Complete daily/weekly/monthly data capture and reporting without errors.
• Check and ensure to complete all payment payrolls in time.
• Foster positive relationships with local communities, government agencies, and other stakeholders within the coffee industry.

• Bachelor’s degree in agriculture, Horticulture, Agribusiness.
• Minimum of 5+ years of progressive experience in agribusiness management, with at least 3 years of direct experience in coffee production.
• Good knowledge of coffee cultivation, processing techniques, quality standards, and Familiarity with sustainability certification programs is an advantage.
• Good leadership skills with the ability to lead teams, manage daily works, and enable result.
• Demonstrate financial management skills, including farm level budgeting, cost control.
• Satisfactory verbal and written communication skills, including fluency in English and Swahili
• Good problem-solving skills with a flair to escalate potential future problems well ahead of time to management