Head of Methodology & R&D

Amsterdam, Netherlands

Acre is proudly supporting Meridia in their search for a Head of Methodology & R&D.

About Meridia

Meridia is an AgTech company specialised in software solutions for field data within complex agri-commodity supply chains.

Meridia Verify®, a SaaS product, verifies supply chain field data against regulatory and voluntary sustainability frameworks in minutes and provides hands-on guidance for risk mitigation. Procurement and sustainability teams eliminate commercial and reputational risk, prevent supply-chain disruptions, and shift from guesswork to confident, evidence-based decisions.

Meridia's mission is to improve the veracity of datasets that drive decision-making in global agri-commodity supply chains, with the purpose of building transparent and inclusive supply chains.

The Role

As Head of Methodology and R&D, the successful candidate will lead the development, governance, and continuous improvement of the methodologies that underpin Meridia's products and services. They will ensure that complex sustainability frameworks, scientific evidence, regulatory requirements, and field realities are translated into clear, practical, auditable, and defensible prescriptions that can be understood and applied by both technical and non-technical audiences.

The role involves setting the strategic direction of Meridia's methodology and research agenda while remaining hands-on in the development and review of methodologies. The Head of Methodology and R&D will lead a methodology function, manage direct reports, and build the team's capabilities over time.

The position collaborates closely with Product, Engineering, Commercial, and Management teams to ensure methodological requirements are implemented effectively.

This role is based in the Netherlands, working closely with Meridia's teams in the Netherlands, Indonesia, and Brazil, as well as local country teams. The position reports directly to the CEO in the Netherlands.

Responsibilities

Methodology Translation and R&D

Convert regulatory requirements, voluntary frameworks, standards, scientific evidence, and stakeholder expectations into clear methodological rules, decision criteria, procedures, and guidance.
Produce methodology documentation that is consistent, auditable, implementable, and suitable for both internal and external use.
Ensure alignment of methodologies with regulatory and industry requirements (e.g. EUDR, DCF, Scope 3 and other voluntary commitment frameworks and standards, legislation).
Explain complex methodological choices in language that is clear and convincing to non-technical colleagues, customers, suppliers, auditors, and other stakeholders.
Turn research insights, scientific advances, and field learnings into scalable methodologies, products, and an R&D agenda.

Product and Cross-Functional Collaboration

Work closely with Product, Commercial, and Management teams to ensure methodologies are embedded correctly into products and are scalable across profiles, commodities, and origins.
Engage with and translate external stakeholder requirements (input from partners, clients, industry experts, and regulatory and voluntary frameworks) into concrete methodology and product decisions.
Make pragmatic methodological decisions that optimise for commercial benefit: finding the right balance between scientific depth and speed of delivery, given the resources at hand.
Translate methodological complexity into clear internal guidance and external documentation that supports customer value propositions.
Ensure feedback from clients, partners, and implementations feeds back into continuous methodological improvement.

External Engagement

Act as Meridia's most senior expert counterpart to partners when aligning on and discussing methodology details, proposals, changes, and results.
Represent and defend Meridia's methodology decisions vis-à-vis customers, particularly their technical and scientific staff.
Bring an established professional network to Meridia, and keep investing in expanding it, plugging into the organisations and individuals that keep Meridia abreast of scientific, regulatory, and industry developments, and that build credibility in scientifically-minded commercial settings and beyond.
Represent Meridia at technical conferences, expert panels, and industry working groups.
Contribute to publications, whitepapers, toolkits, and guidance materials.

Team Leadership and Capability Building

Lead, manage, and develop Meridia's methodology team, including direct reports and regular performance, development, and prioritisation conversations.
Set clear objectives, standards, ownership, and ways of working for methodology and R&D activities.
Build internal capability in methodology design, framework interpretation, validation, documentation, and communication.
Recruit, mentor, and retain methodology professionals as the function grows.
Create an environment in which scientific challenge, peer review, practical judgement, and continuous learning are expected.
Allocate team capacity across strategic research, customer needs, methodology maintenance, and urgent regulatory or commercial priorities.

Qualifications

Required Qualifications

A PhD or an MSc combined with an equivalent applied research track record in a relevant scientific discipline (e.g. ecology, remote sensing, geospatial or environmental science, agronomy, forestry, or a related quantitative field).
At least 10 years of combined experience in applied research, methodology development, and scientific leadership in sustainability, land use, deforestation, agri-commodity supply chains, or earth observation.
Demonstrated experience developing, governing, reviewing, or implementing methodologies, frameworks, standards, assessment systems, assurance approaches, or decision rules.
Demonstrated ability to translate complex scientific, regulatory, or sustainability frameworks into clear, practical, auditable, and actionable prescriptions for non-technical users.
Proven line-management experience, including managing direct reports, setting objectives, providing feedback, supporting development, and making prioritisation or performance decisions.
Experience acting as a senior technical counterpart to external partners, clients, auditors, or regulators, including defending methodological choices under scrutiny.
Pragmatic and decisive, with the ability to balance scientific or methodological rigour, usability, speed, and commercial reality; comfortable making defensible decisions with imperfect information.
An established professional network across academic institutions, standard-setting bodies, and industry initiatives in sustainability and supply chains, alongside the drive to keep expanding it.
Excellent scientific writing and communication skills in English, with the ability to make complex methodology understandable and convincing for non-expert audiences.

Preferred Qualifications

Field experience in tropical commodity-producing landscapes (e.g. West Africa, Southeast Asia, Latin America), including designing or commissioning ground-truthing studies.
Domain knowledge of one or more key commodities: cocoa, coffee, palm oil, rubber, soy, or cattle.
Experience in or with organisations bridging science and industry, such as supply-chain transparency initiatives, certification bodies, or environmental data platforms.
Experience applying machine learning and AI techniques to earth observation, crop detection, or land-use classification.
Experience engaging directly in regulatory dialogues or standard-development processes.
Working proficiency in additional languages relevant to operations (e.g. Portuguese, Spanish, French, Bahasa Indonesia).

Benefits Package

Market rate salary commensurate with skills and competencies
Four-day work week
7% pension contribution
A computer or laptop for work
A hybrid working position, with 2 out of 4 days at the Amsterdam office
Up to 5 weeks allowance of fully remote working per year
Annual employee-led Learning & Development budget
Office travel compensation

Acre is supporting Meridia with this strategic hire, if the role is of interest, please apply directly!