Senior Lending Operations & Partnerships Officer

Abler Nordic Climate Smart Fund / PlanB Indonesia

PlanB Indonesia is implementing climate-smart smallholder finance models in partnership with the Abler Nordic Climate Smart Fund and Indonesian financial institutions. The program supports smallholder palm oil, coffee, and cocoa farmers through short-term input loans and long-term replanting finance, with the aim of improving productivity, farmer livelihoods, and climate resilience while reducing pressure on forests.

To support implementation and scale-up, PlanB is recruiting a Senior Lending Operations & Partnerships Officer to coordinate day-to-day lending operations, supervise field-based loan staff, maintain portfolio quality, and manage operational coordination with banks, cooperatives, and farmer organizations. The role also includes helping operate and improve the loan management system used for farmer onboarding, workflow, monitoring, and repayment where needed.

This is a practical senior officer/coordinator role for someone who is comfortable working both in the field and with financial-sector partners. The role combines loan operations, borrower onboarding, partner coordination, portfolio monitoring, repayment follow-up, and process improvement across palm oil, coffee, and cocoa portfolios.

Main Responsibilities

1. Lending Operations and Team Coordination

• Coordinate day-to-day implementation of lending activities across palm oil, coffee, and cocoa portfolios
• Supervise and support approximately 3 loan officers/field staff
• Ensure loan onboarding, documentation, and verification processes are completed accurately and on time
• Monitor disbursement readiness and follow up on bottlenecks in the pipeline
• Help maintain consistency and discipline in field implementation

2. Borrower and Cooperative Due Diligence

• Support due diligence on cooperatives, farmer groups, and other delivery partners
• Assess borrower readiness, business feasibility, and repayment capacity
• Review farmer and cooperative data for completeness and quality
• Support land legality, farmer documentation, and other requirements relevant to bankability

3. Portfolio Monitoring and Repayment Quality

• Monitor repayment performance, overdue cases, and overall portfolio quality
• Coordinate follow-up on arrears and delayed repayments with field staff, cooperatives, and partners
• Identify early warning signs and operational risks in the portfolio
• Prepare regular internal updates on disbursement, repayment, portfolio-at-risk, and operational issues
• Help ensure that repayment discipline and portfolio quality are treated as core responsibilities, not only loan disbursement

4. Bank and Partner Coordination

• Act as a day-to-day contact point for partner banks, cooperatives, and relevant field partners
• Coordinate operational follow-up with banking partners on onboarding, documentation, underwriting support, and disbursement
• Engage directly with cooperative leadership on loan rollout, repayment, farmer eligibility, and operational issues
• Support coordination with commodity and implementation partners where relevant

5. Loan Management System (LMS) and Data Operations

• Work with the loan management system used for farmer financing operations, especially where the bank does not yet provide a suitable system
• Help ensure accurate use of the system for farmer onboarding, workflow tracking, loan monitoring, and repayment follow-up
• Support practical system setup, user adoption, troubleshooting, and feedback to the provider or Internal team
• Help improve data quality, reporting flows, and operational dashboards
• Support system integration and data transfer processes with partner banks or other platforms when required

6. Product, Process, and Operational Improvement

• Help improve loan products, onboarding processes, and operational SOPs based on field experience
• Support farmer and cooperative socialization on loan products, eligibility, obligations, and repayment terms
• Work with the team to improve practical systems for loan tracking, partner coordination, and reporting
• Contribute to making the lending model more scalable and operationally efficient

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in finance, economics, agribusiness, business administration, rural development, or related field; equivalent practical experience may also be considered
• Minimum 4-6 years of relevant experience in microfinance, SME lending, rural finance, cooperative finance, agri-finance, or loan operations in Indonesia
• Experience coordinating lending operations and/or supervising field-based staff
• Experience with credit assessment, partner due diligence, or borrower onboarding
• Experience working with cooperatives, farmer groups, rural businesses, or agricultural borrowers
• Good understanding of the Indonesian financial sector, especially banks, BPRs, cooperatives, or multi-finance institutions
• Experience in palm oil, coffee, or cocoa value chains is an advantage
• Comfortable using Excel and operational data/loan tracking systems; experience with MIS or LMS platforms is a strong advantage
• Fluent in Bahasa Indonesia and able to work in practical English for coordination and basic reporting
• Willing to travel regularly to field locations

Preferred Profile

• Practical and organized, with strong follow-up skills
• Comfortable working under field conditions and handling multiple priorities
• Able to coordinate with both farmer groups and senior institutional partners
• Strong attention to detail, especially on documentation and repayment follow-up
• High integrity and commitment to responsible finance
• Results-oriented, but careful on compliance and portfolio quality
• Able to work independently while staying closely coordinated with the wider team

Key Working Relationships

• The Senior Lending Operations & Partnerships Officer will work closely with:
• PlanB field team and loan officers
• Cooperatives and farmer organizations
• Partner banks and financial institutions
• Commodity and implementation partners
• Senior program management

Main Focus of the Role

This role is responsible for helping ensure that lending operations are not only active, but also well-managed, scalable, and disciplined. Success in the role will depend on:

• Smooth borrower onboarding
• Strong coordination with field staff and partners
• Good portfolio monitoring
• Timely repayment follow-up
• Effective use of the loan management system where relevant
• Practical improvement of operational systems as the program scales