Role Summary

Most of the projected growth in meat, fish, dairy and egg consumption over the coming decades is expected in low- and middle-income countries, particularly in Africa and Asia. In many of these places, intensive animal farming, supply chains and animal-heavy dietary norms are still taking shape. Once that infrastructure is built and those norms set, they are hard to reverse.

That makes the next ten years a rare window. Helping countries meet their food security goals through plant-rich and alternative protein pathways, rather than replicating the industrial animal agriculture model, could be one of the highest-leverage ways to reduce future harm to animals, people and the environment. Yet this work receives a small fraction of the attention and funding directed at high-income markets.

Billions in global development aid and national budgets are already flowing into animal-focused food security. By applying catalytic leverage, a small strategic effort can redirect existing capital flows, steering funds into plant-rich, resilient and healthier food systems, representing an extraordinary return on investment and a powerful counterfactual shift.

As Strategic Advisor on Food Security you will lead our work in one of the following regions: Sub-Saharan Africa, South/SE Asia, or Latin America and build ProVeg's strategy in this space from the ground up. Working with our programme staff and country teams, you will use food security – a priority governments already hold – as the entry point for shaping how countries meet their growing demand for protein in a sustainable way. You will develop strategies and directions on where we focus, test what works, and scale what does. Over time your role might develop into the Lead of a new Global Programme focused on Food Security.

Job Details

Reports to: Global Strategy Director
Location: Remote – ideally based in or near one of our focus regions, with regular overlap with CET working hours
Hours: 30-40 hours per week
Salary: Competitive NGO benchmark, depending on experience and location
Contract: Flexible. Employment or freelance contract, depending on what suits you and your country. Ideally an initial 12 months freelance contract (shorter is possible), with the option to become permanent.
Application deadline: 12.11.2026
Start: ASAP, or on 04.01.2027

Please note that we only accept applications in English.

Key Responsibilities

Strategy and prioritisation

• You set the programme's strategy: identify the interventions and regions where ProVeg can have the greatest counterfactual impact, based on projected growth, policy openness and our existing presence (working with our country teams in Nigeria, South Africa, India and Brazil).

• You weigh options rigorously and transparently, using evidence, cost-effectiveness reasoning and clear theories of change, and be willing to advise to drop what isn't working.

• With our Impact team, you define how we measure success and help build the cost-effectiveness case (an estimate of animal suffering averted per dollar) for a geography where that case barely exists yet.

Country advisory

• You work with Country Directors to shape interventions that strengthen food security, nutrition and resilience through plant-rich food systems and help prevent the rise of animal product production and consumption in their regions.

• You help country teams identify the policy, investment and market decisions (e.g. factory farming expansion plans, public procurement, protein strategies) where early engagement can shift outcomes.

Policy and systems influence

• You build coalitions with local civil society, research institutes, farmer groups and international partners.

• You work alongside ministries of agriculture, environment, and health in target LMICs to integrate plant-rich food security priorities into National Adaptation Plans (NAPs) and Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs).

• You partner with our Policy & Advocacy team to translate complex agricultural, trade, and nutritional policies into actionable advocacy agendas that eliminate structural barriers for plant-rich value chains.

Funding and research

• In cooperation with our Development team, you shape proposals for foundations and impact-focused funders.

• You commission and use research and narrative work that strengthens the case for this approach in each context.

Qualifications

• You have several years’ experience in food systems, agricultural development, public policy, global health or a related field, including leading programmes or strategy.

• You bring lived and professional experience in at least one of our focus regions: Sub-Saharan Africa, South or Southeast Asia, or Latin America.

• You’re an exceptional strategic thinker who bases priorities on evidence and expected impact, makes decisions with incomplete data, and changes course when the evidence does.

• You have experience working in the field of government policy or working with multilateral institutions.

• You explain complex reasoning clearly in English to very different audiences – from ministries and UN agencies to funders and local partners.

• You bring a strong interest in doing the most good with limited resources: you think in terms of scale, neglectedness and tractability, and you change your mind when the evidence does.

• You are comfortable working with uncertainty: building a programme from scratch, making decisions on incomplete data, and communicating your reasoning clearly.

Benefits of working with us

Our Application Procedure

The recruitment process includes:

1. Online interview with People & Culture Team

2. Online trial task

3. Interview with hiring manager

4. Once you received an offer, we will ask you to share 2 - 3 references of former employers with us.