Africa Region Director – Operations at PATH

This position will be accountable for leading the development and execution of the region’s operations strategic plan, developing and improving operational procedures and ensure continuous process improvement, and leading the knowledge management and shared learning for scale and impact with particular focus on country offices. Additionally, this position will be responsible for, optimizing efficiencies, re-engineering processes that support critical operations functions across the region, and developing a data-driven culture. The Africa Region Director – Operations should have strong operational leadership skills in a matrixed environment and a developed understanding of the operational needs of a global health organization, along with insights into how to help teams improve efficiency and outcomes. This position will need to demonstrate proactiveness; be strategic as necessary and be willing to overcome resistance and stay the course amongst challenges. The Africa Region Director – Operations must understand the needs of our partners and donors. He/she must understand what defines operational excellence from a country- and project-level perspective.

Specific duties and responsibilities:

Operations Management

Objective: Manage and improve local practices in accordance with PATH policies and procedures, donor requirements, and country-specific government requirements.

• Collaborate with the Africa Region Director – External Affairs to develop, update, and distribute communications materials.
• Partner with the Office of Grants and Contracts (OGC), Legal, and Finance to ensure that outgoing agreements, incoming awards, and procurement practices are implemented in accordance with PATH policies and procedures.
• Ensure regional compliance with all relevant local laws and regulations, including those regarding labor, taxes, human resources management, and registration.
• Oversee regional facilities management and ensure all PATH resources, including office space and equipment, are in good order and adequate for the smooth running of the country program and creation of a conducive environment for staff.
• Partner with the Regional HR business partners and recruiters to ensure that all transactional HR matters are effectively managed.
• Liaise with local accounting/legal firm(s) as required regarding office registration and tax-exempt status; track annual registration renewals and tax requirements; and maintain office registration and required employment documentation.

Leadership

• Seek to find synergies among country offices and identify mechanisms for country teams to share information and operationalize PATH’s strategy and objectives.
• Work closely with the hub leaders to identify talent gaps and build the internal capacity; identify opportunities to develop staff and guide performance leaders to leverage existing tools, such as stretch assignments, promotions, training, etc.
• Provide leadership to country and project administrators to ensure best practices are applied across all teams and efficiencies are gained.
• Participate in recruiting and onboarding of country site administrators and senior project administrators.

Finance and Budgeting

• Work with the Finance Business Partner (FBP) to mentor a team of in-country finance staff, supporting their development and alignment with PATH procedures and systems
• As necessary support development of budgets for proposals, including costing information and liaising with project teams globally.
• Support development of the regional budget and planning process for the Africa region (budgeting, period forecasting, and reporting), in conjunction with regional FBP, local country leadership, finance staff, and local programs.
• Work with the FBP, hub leaders, country directors, and headquarters staff to monitor country and facilities overhead performance.

Business Development and Reporting

• Collaborate with the business development team to update and distribute a pipeline report for the region that informs the region program strategy as well as projects across the region. This report should be flexible and can be cascaded to both the CAR and country teams.
• Define, generate, and analyze a regular set of standard donor financial reports that drive improvements to the donor process and increase regional leadership team knowledge; Oversee the production of customary reports, such as financial, government, and donor reports. Monitor, track, and support external reporting to donors for quality, timeliness, and accuracy.
• As appropriate, participate in the development of grant proposals.

Change Management

• Serve as a visionary partner in identifying country offices with significant pain points, create solutions to improve the program performance, and drive critical change initiatives in partnership with the regional leadership team.
• Apply analytical methods to inform ideas and decision-making approaches to pain points identified.
• Work with regional leadership to define and track KPIs for operations and ensure KPIs are on track and are in alignment with strategic goals.

Required Experience

• Advanced degree (Masters or Ph.D.), preferably in Public Policy, Economics, Public Administration.
• 10+ years of work experience and proven track record of results and commitment to excellent output.
• Proven ability to lead and motivate teams in a dynamic, multicultural environment.
• Willingness to travel up to 50% to the different Africa offices, as needed, and work with remote colleagues.
• Ability to conceive, execute, and lead strategic initiatives, but also high attention to detail and a hands-on approach to running an organization, as appropriate.
• Experience in a well-run global organization. Familiarity with the latest research (in behavioral economics, organizational management, and other fields) on how to develop a best-in-class organization.
• Strong communication skills (ability to be clear, yet tactful).
• Ability to navigate people and policy decisions with nuance and discretion.
• Familiarity with MS Office, and ideally other relevant systems such as ERP packages, and Salesforce.
• Fluency in English (French a plus)