AFOLU Carbon Project Development Manager

Company Introduction : Prithu is a leading end-to-end carbon project developer, working with a goal of sequestering 20 million tonnes of CO2e by 2030. We help smallholder land stewards mitigate and adapt to climate change through the development and scaling of Nature Based Solutions (NBS).

 

Thousands of smallholder farmers form the core of our operations, implementing projects in regenerative agriculture, biochar, and afforestation, reforestation, and revegetation (ARR) across the Indian subcontinent. Our model ensures that land stewards receive the majority of project benefits, aligning incentives locally while strengthening the long-term sustainability of our projects.

 

We validate practice implementation, emissions, and removals through our state-of-the-art blockchain-based monitoring, reporting, and verification (MRV) system, powered by remote sensing, machine learning, and biogeochemical modelling, and calibrated using soil samples to accurately quantify and generate premium-quality carbon credits.

 

Position : AFOLU Carbon Project Development Manager

 

Location: Gurugram, with travel to project locations as per the need.

 

 

Required Qualifications & Skills:

 

● Education: Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in Agronomy, Forestry, Environmental Science, Soil Science, Agriculture, Agricultural Engineering, or a related field.

● Experience: 4–8 years of experience in implementing field-based agricultural programs, particularly in regenerative agriculture, forestry or water management initiatives. Experience working directly with farmers and managing large-scale farm-level interventions is strongly preferred. Previous Experience in the carbon credit industry is highly desirable.

● AFOLU Domain Expertise: Demonstrated experience across one or more AFOLU domains: regenerative agriculture, agroforestry, or ecosystem restoration. Understanding of land-use change dynamics, biomass growth, soil carbon processes, and climate mitigation pathways in agriculture and forestry systems.

● Farmer Engagement & Program Implementation: Proven experience working with farmer groups, FPOs, cooperatives, or rural communities to drive adoption of improved agronomic practices. Experience designing and managing farmer training programs, demonstration plots, and field trials is preferred.

● Carbon Projects & MRV Exposure: Exposure to Monitoring, Reporting and Verification (MRV) systems, AFOLU methodologies, carbon accounting, and registry requirements.

● Team & Partner Management: Experience managing field teams and coordinating with implementation partners, NGOs, or agricultural extension networks to implement projects at scale.

● Data & Field Monitoring: Experience analysing farm-level data, including crop management practices, soil health indicators, and water management data. Familiarity with digital data collection tools, GIS, GPS, or farm monitoring platforms is an added advantage.

● Field Work: Ability to work extensively in field conditions, including rural and remote locations, and support on-ground project implementation.

● Language: Fluency in English and relevant Indian language(s) preferred to support farmer engagement.

● Travel: This is a field-oriented role requiring approximately 30–40% travel across project locations.

 

 

Duties and Responsibilities:

● Carbon Project Development & Design: Lead the development of regenerative agriculture, Alternate Wetting and Drying (AWD) and agroforestry carbon projects in line with recognised carbon standards (e.g., Verra, Gold Standard, Isometric). Support project design including boundary definition, baseline assessment, additionality justification, and emission reduction calculations.

● Project Documentation (PDD Preparation): Draft and maintain Project Design Documents (PDDs) and associated technical documentation required for project submission to carbon registries, including project description, baseline methodology application, monitoring plans, and emission reduction quantification.

● Registry & Validation Process Management: Coordinate with carbon registries and Validation and Verification Bodies (VVBs) throughout the project lifecycle, including project submission, validation, registration, monitoring, and verification processes.

● Audit Preparation & Site Visit Support: Support validation and verification audits by coordinating field site visits, preparing documentation, facilitating interactions with farmers and field teams, and ensuring availability of required project records during third-party assessments.

● Monitoring, Reporting & Verification (MRV) Oversee implementation of MRV systems as required under carbon methodologies.

● Field Program Coordination: Work closely with agronomy teams and implementation partners to ensure proper field implementation of regenerative practices, AWD protocols and plantation activities in accordance with carbon methodology requirements.

● Data Management & Carbon Accounting: Maintain project data systems required for carbon accounting, including farm-level activity data, monitoring reports, emission reduction calculations, and documentation for credit issuance.

● Capacity Building & Internal Training: Train internal teams and implementation partners on carbon methodology requirements, MRV protocols, data collection standards, and audit preparedness.

● GHG Accounting & Emissions Quantification: Support GHG emissions and removals quantification across regenerative agriculture, AWD, and ARR projects, including activity data collection, carbon stock estimation, and MRV-aligned GHG calculations.

● Project Pipeline Development: Support identification and development of new regenerative agriculture, AWD and ARR carbon project opportunities and contribute to expanding the organisation’s carbon project portfolio.