Veterinary Services Officer - Premier Poultry

Premier Poultry aims to be the leading smallholder-focused poultry company in Ghana. Our purpose is to make rural households healthier and wealthier, and we achieve this by supplying them with high-quality, vaccinated, brooded, and affordable improved dual-purpose chickens. 

Reputed international investors back Premier Poultry with a proven track record of success in the poultry industry, including market-leading enterprises in Ethiopia (EthioChicken), Rwanda, and Uganda (Uzima). 

Job Description

• Reports: Managing Director
• Department: Sales
• Location: Kumasi, Ghana with frequent travel across Ghana and beyond

We seek to employ highly motivated, passionate, committed, result-oriented, and self-driven professionals to help us establish our presence in rural and urban communities across the country.

The Veterinary Service Officer will Work closely with the Sales Manager, external veterinary consultants, suppliers, and veterinary service providers. He/she will be responsible for overseeing commercial stock with customers specifically focusing on disease surveillance and controls, biosecurity measures, sampling laboratory specimens, vaccination protocols, diagnostic techniques, and communicating with the field team.

It will also require training the field team to build their capacity and knowledge with current practices of vaccination, brooding, and other technical aspects.

Duties and Responsibilities

• Oversee all technical and veterinary aspects of the commercial chicken’s performance.
• Implement disease surveillance and control protocols, including ongoing regular flock monitoring and sampling.
• Develop, distribute, and implement veterinary-related standard operating procedures (SOPs) and veterinary control documents in all PPL field teams.
• Develop clear veterinary quality control systems including vaccine and medicine transport, storage, preparation, and application.
• Ensure strict biosecurity control policies are in place and implemented across all customers to bring them to industry standards for biosecurity.
• Monitor and revise vaccination schedules and protocols to achieve strong disease resistance and economic performance of commercial flocks.
• Ensure the mortality rate in brooding, rearing, and production is within customer standards and not far from breeder standards.
• Make sure house preparation is done as per the best poultry industry standards to make it pathogen-free before chicks are placed. (includes sampling through swabs to count bacterial loads after house cleaning and disinfection)

Leadership and Development

• Train field team and extension workers on disease diagnosis (postmortem and antemortem), biosecurity, and treatment as well as on best standard veterinary practices and controls.
• Improving customer performance and responding to customer issues in coordination with the field team.
• Carry out coaching, evaluation, and performance management plans for the field team.
• Conduct regular DOC, Feed, and MVD delivery drivers training and evaluation.

Reporting

• Provide regular reports to MD, National Sales Manager, and Production Manager on flock performance, health status, and biosecurity monitoring at customers.
• Report any findings in lab results like clinical or subclinical evidence of diseases after receiving every lab test.
• Provide weekly and monthly flock performance reports including comments of details on flock health, disease surveillance, vaccinations, and medicines/vitamins administered.
• Ensure duties deemed necessary by direct reports are completed on time in consultation with the Production Manager.

Required Skills or Experience

Education Qualifications and Requirements

• Degree in Veterinary Science, Animal Science, and related fields.

Competences

• Good communication skills
• Basic computer skills, especially; MS Office skills (Moderate to high proficiency in Excel will be an added value
• Highly committed personality
• Knowledge of budget preparation and implementation.
• Purchase request planning and monitoring of stocks will be an added value.

Experience

• Served in any sales positions or equivalent positions for a minimum of 3 years in either production or sales departments of the poultry industry.