FARM MANAGER – CROP PRODUCTION
About The Role
This is a hands‑on senior leadership role with real influence. You’ll own the end‑to‑end performance of our Gisborne crop production, from strategy and planning through to yield, quality, cost and delivery.
Leading a team of Crop Managers, you’ll work closely with Operations and the wider business to ensure our fully integrated field‑to‑market operation delivers, season after season. The role is essentially responsible for all crop production at our Gisborne Farm and has a heavy agronomic and strategic planning focus. This role is also a key part of our future leadership pipeline, with scope over time to grow, take on broader responsibility and influence as the business continues to expand.
You’ll be accountable for:
- Delivering crop production strategy across multiple vegetable lines
- Leading, coaching and developing a crop produ-ction leadership team
- Delivering results across yield, quality, cost, and programme reliability
- Driving innovation, sustainability, and continuous improvement
- Owning production budgets and long-term- financial viability
- Working closely with processing, supply chain, distribution and sales to ensure delivery expectations are exceeded.
About You
- Has experience leading large‑scale farming, horticulture or cropping operations
- Brings strong commercial judgement and confidence in decision‑making
- Leads with curiosity and a coaching mindset, developing capability in others
- Can influence and work effectively across different parts of the business
- Has energy and passion that leads from the front and inspires those around them
- Has a real growth mindset and is rooted in continuous improvement and agility in an everchanging environment.
- Experience in agribusiness, horticulture or production leadership with strong farming exposure will be well regarded.
- A degree in Agriculture, Horticulture or a related field is preferred
About LeaderBrand
At LeaderBrand, we’re passionate about evolving fresh food for a healthier world. As a proud family-owned business, our goal is to be New Zealand’s most innovative and consistent fresh food producer. We farm across three key growing regions, process and pack in state-of-the-art post-harvest facilities, and are supported by a nationwide sales team delivering fresh produce to every corner of Aotearoa. Our 400+ people are central to our success. We’re always on the lookout for new talent with energy, passion, and a drive to learn – people excited to help shape the future of fresh food.
Gisborne is the heart of our business and the place where LeaderBrand was founded more than 50 years ago. Over that time, LeaderBrand has become integral to the story of our community, with the next generations of those who started with us returning to shape the future alongside us. We also have farms in Pukekohe and Chertsey.
We have a strong vision for the future of our business, our people, and our industry. We’re constantly pushing the boundaries of what’s possible. Our continuous improvement mindset grounds us as one of New Zealand’s leading horticultural businesses. We seek, harness, and develop the best people, technology, land, and machinery to shape the future of food.
