Country Lead - Laos

Employment type: Full-time

About Mitti Labs

Mitti Labs is building the infrastructure layer to scale climate-smart rice farming, starting with methane reduction, water replenishment and stubble burning reduction. We combine AI-based dMRV, satellite data and deep on-ground operations to verify practices and aggregate farmers at scale across India and South East Asia. Rice farming is responsible for 12% of total methane emissions and consumes 30% of the world's irrigated freshwater.

Our customers trust Mitti to deliver measurable impact across climate, water and food systems. They include some of the world's most sophisticated carbon credit buyers, such as Google and Cool Effect, and leading agri-businesses such as Ebro Foods and Syngenta. Since launching in 2023, we have scaled to 100,000 smallholder rice farmers and become a leader in high-quality credits. Our projects are certified by Gold Standard and Isometric and rated 'A' by Sylvera.

We are a team of 200+ data scientists, agronomists, engineers and operators across Europe, the US and India, and we are now aggressively expanding into South East Asia. We are backed by $12.5 million from investors including Lightspeed India, Aramco Ventures, Voyager Ventures, Godrej Industries Group, Cisco Foundation, Francis Family Fund and Volta Circle. Click here to watch a video on Mitti's work on the ground.

The Role

The Country Lead – Laos is a founding role. You will design, launch, and scale Mitti Labs’ initial projects in Laos. You will lead the team from our first pilot cohort of farmers to a multi-province, high-impact programs. You will wear strategy and operations hat and build a capable team from scratch.

1. Market Entry

• Design and own Laos’ operations roadmap: regional feasibility, budget planning, and building partnerships
• Develop localized farmer onboarding strategies that reflect regional value chains, community power structures, last-mile realities, and seasonal farming calendars
• Navigate Laos’ carbon regulatory landscape: DENR carbon registry, Republic Act 9513 (RE Law), PCAF, and emerging voluntary carbon market pathways

2. On-Ground Operations

• Design and manage district specific operational playbooks -SOPs, training manuals, QA/QC frameworks
• Build genuine trust with farming communities at the grassroots level — understanding local power dynamics, working with village heads, FPO leaders, and community mobilizes

3. Team Building & Leadership

• Hire and develop a high-performing in-country team
• Build a culture that reflects Mitti’s ethos
• Manage external implementation partners and field agent networks

Requirements

• +8 years in operations, agriculture, or rural development with clear evidence of building programs from scratch and scaling
• Direct experience managing agricultural field operations in Laos - preferably rice
• Track record with government department and related NGO relationships is a bonus
• Experience in agri-input distribution or farmer community leadership is strongly preferred
• You speak Lao fluently. English proficiency is essential for internal collaboration
• Willingness to travel 40–60% across provinces and in remote farming areas

Benefits

• Build projects that matter: a first-of-its-kind climate and food-security program in one of the world’s most important agricultural nations
• Founding role: genuine ownership, genuine impact. You will be Mitti Labs in Laos
• Work with a world-class team combining the best of science, product, business, and operations — with a culture of openness, direct collaboration, and unbiased decision-making
• Backed by leading climate investors with the resources to build for the long term
• Direct relationship with founders and leadership in a fast-scaling, mission-driven organization