We're Hiring: Farm Manager
Location: United Arab Emirates (Remote)
Employment Type: Full-Time
Experience Level: Mid-Level to Senior
Work Arrangement: Fully Remote
About Us
We are a globally focused organization committed to operating productive, sustainable, safe, and commercially successful agricultural enterprises. Our teams combine practical farm management, agronomy, technology, resource optimization, workforce development, and responsible environmental stewardship to deliver consistent agricultural performance.
The Role
We are seeking an experienced Farm Manager to oversee day-to-day farm operations, production planning, crop and livestock activities, workforce management, equipment, budgets, resource utilization, safety, quality, and continuous improvement.
The ideal candidate will be a hands-on operational leader with strong agricultural knowledge and the ability to balance productivity, cost control, sustainability, employee performance, and commercial objectives.
Key Responsibilities
- Manage daily farm operations across fields, production areas, facilities, and support activities.
- Develop annual and seasonal farm operating plans aligned with production and commercial targets.
- Establish planting, cultivation, harvesting, livestock, and production schedules as applicable.
- Coordinate land preparation, planting, irrigation, fertilization, crop protection, harvesting, and post-harvest activities.
- Monitor crop or livestock performance and take timely corrective action when issues arise.
- Coordinate with agronomists, veterinarians, agricultural specialists, consultants, and technical advisors as required.
- Monitor soil, water, weather, pest, disease, and other environmental conditions affecting production.
- Implement effective crop, livestock, soil, nutrition, and resource-management practices.
- Optimize the use of water, land, feed, fertilizer, seeds, chemicals, energy, labor, and equipment.
- Monitor irrigation systems and ensure efficient water distribution and usage.
- Maintain soil fertility and implement appropriate soil-improvement practices.
- Establish pest, disease, weed, and biosecurity management programs where applicable.
- Ensure agricultural inputs are selected, stored, used, and documented appropriately.
- Manage farm machinery, vehicles, tools, irrigation systems, buildings, and other operational assets.
- Develop preventive-maintenance schedules and coordinate repairs and servicing.
- Ensure equipment is available and operational during critical production periods.
- Plan workforce requirements based on seasonal and operational demands.
- Recruit, train, supervise, coach, and evaluate farm employees and seasonal workers.
- Establish clear responsibilities, productivity standards, work schedules, and performance expectations.
- Ensure workers receive appropriate training in agricultural practices, equipment operation, safety, and emergency procedures.
- Manage contractors and temporary labor providers working on farm operations.
- Promote a safe, respectful, and productive workplace.
- Monitor employee attendance, productivity, performance, and compliance with farm procedures.
- Manage farm operating budgets and monitor costs against approved targets.
- Track expenditures for labor, inputs, equipment, maintenance, utilities, transportation, and other farm activities.
- Investigate significant cost variances and implement appropriate cost-control measures.
- Coordinate procurement of seeds, feed, fertilizer, crop-protection products, tools, equipment, packaging, and other supplies.
- Manage relationships with agricultural suppliers and service providers.
- Maintain appropriate inventory levels for critical inputs and operational materials.
- Coordinate harvesting and production activities to meet volume, timing, and quality requirements.
- Implement procedures to reduce crop, livestock, product, and post-harvest losses.
- Work with Quality, Supply Chain, Sales, and Commercial teams to meet customer requirements.
- Maintain accurate farm records covering production, inputs, labor, inventory, equipment, irrigation, costs, and yields.
- Use farm-management systems, operational dashboards, and production data to support decision-making.
- Analyze productivity, yield, resource consumption, labor performance, and operating costs.
- Identify opportunities to improve farm efficiency, productivity, quality, and profitability.
- Evaluate and implement appropriate agricultural technologies, automation, sensors, monitoring systems, and precision-farming tools.
- Support field trials, new crop varieties, production techniques, and agricultural improvement programs.
- Ensure compliance with applicable agricultural, environmental, food-safety, labor, and occupational-safety requirements.
- Maintain appropriate records for inspections, certifications, audits, permits, and regulatory requirements.
- Establish emergency procedures for extreme weather, fire, equipment failure, pest outbreaks, disease, water shortages, and other operational risks.
- Lead response to farm incidents and coordinate investigations when necessary.
- Conduct root-cause analysis for production failures, safety incidents, equipment breakdowns, and quality issues.
- Implement corrective and preventive actions and monitor their effectiveness.
- Promote responsible use of water, chemicals, fertilizers, energy, and other natural resources.
- Implement waste-reduction, recycling, soil-conservation, and environmental-protection initiatives.
- Monitor farm environmental performance and identify opportunities for sustainable improvement.
- Benchmark farm productivity and costs against relevant industry standards.
- Prepare regular management reports covering production, financial performance, staffing, risks, safety, and operational priorities.
- Communicate farm performance, challenges, forecasts, and improvement plans to senior management.
- Maintain strong relationships with suppliers, customers, contractors, government authorities, local communities, and agricultural partners.
- Promote a culture of accountability, operational discipline, safety, sustainability, and continuous improvement.
Key Performance Indicators
- Production volume
- Crop or livestock yield
- Yield per hectare or production unit
- Product quality
- Harvest performance
- Production loss rate
- Water-use efficiency
- Labor productivity
- Equipment utilization
- Input-use efficiency
- Fertilizer and feed efficiency
- Pest and disease incidence
- Farm operating cost
- Cost per production unit
- Budget adherence
- Inventory accuracy
- Equipment downtime
- Maintenance performance
- Harvest schedule adherence
- Product rejection rate
- Post-harvest loss
- Employee productivity
- Employee safety performance
- Regulatory compliance
- Environmental performance
- Supplier performance
- Production forecast accuracy
- Continuous-improvement savings
Ideal Candidate
The successful candidate should have strong experience in farm management, agriculture, agronomy, crop production, horticulture, livestock management, agricultural operations, or a related field, preferably within a commercial farming environment.
The candidate should demonstrate:
- Proven experience managing day-to-day farm operations.
- Strong practical knowledge of agricultural production and farm-management practices.
- Experience developing production plans, schedules, budgets, and resource requirements.
- Strong understanding of crop, soil, irrigation, pest, disease, or livestock-management principles as relevant to the operation.
- Experience managing farm employees, seasonal workers, contractors, and technical specialists.
- Strong knowledge of agricultural machinery, equipment, irrigation systems, and farm infrastructure.
- Experience managing agricultural inputs, inventories, suppliers, and operating costs.
- Strong financial and commercial awareness.
- Ability to analyze production data and make timely operational decisions.
- Experience with farm-management software, digital agriculture, or precision-farming technologies is advantageous.
- Strong understanding of workplace safety, environmental management, and agricultural compliance.
- Excellent planning, organization, and problem-solving capabilities.
- Strong leadership and people-management skills.
- Ability to remain effective during demanding seasonal periods and operational disruptions.
- Strong communication and stakeholder-management skills.
- Ability to work with multidisciplinary and international teams.
- Strong written and verbal English communication skills; additional languages are advantageous.
- A degree or diploma in Agriculture, Agronomy, Horticulture, Agricultural Engineering, Animal Science, or a related discipline is advantageous.