Associate Director, Operations at Evidence Action

Job purpose

The Associate Director, Operations position will be responsible for leading and overseeing the regional Africa operations function at Evidence Action. This will include providing vision and direction to the regional operations, procurement and IT teams. It will also involve liaising closely with country leads and country operations and IT capacity to promote effective service delivery as well as leading the identification and mitigation of operational risks throughout the region. Many of the organization’s locations are field offices whose varied challenges and circumstances require creative problem-solving. The ability to promote efficient and compliant systems and processes which account both for varied country level needs and experiences as well as regional and global requirements and perspectives will be essential. With the organization in an exciting period of rapid growth, this role will play an important role in ensuring the organization's policies, processes, and systems are up-to-date, understood, and roles and responsibilities clear.

The incumbent will interface with Evidence Action’s regional leadership team and key global team stakeholders in designing and advocating for strategic approaches to managing operations, procurement, and IT in the region. A keen appreciation for implementing strong systems and processes at scale and cost-effective solutions will be key.

Duties and responsibilities:

General Management & Leadership

• Lead development of the region’s operations strategy, with a particular focus on enabling growth and mitigating operational risk in close coordination with country leads.
• Lead the development, review, and maintenance of regional operations, IT, and procurement goals, objectives, and operating procedures ensuring that these include clearly defined roles and responsibilities.
• Provide leadership, direction and functional guidance to the operations team including setting team and individual objectives.
• Ensure quality staff hires in the unit with high performance of direct reports
• Promote a culture of high performance, high quality and continuous improvement that values learning and feedback;
• Responsible for developing/refining and regularly reporting on key performance indicators and metrics to management concerning the regional operations support activities and capacity/gaps.
• Work in close coordination with the country and departmental leadership and remain responsive to their needs;
• Provide leadership in identifying, evaluating, and recommending operations related projects to improve process efficiency.
• Foster a culture that encourages creativity, proactive solutions, accountability, and results.
• Ensure team and individual recognition.
• Direct the training of country office administration and operations teams to ensure they remain up-to-date on best practices and company policy and procedure requirements.
• Provide timely inputs to senior management on team performance and highlighting challenges with any team members.

Operations

• Ensure staff are proactively trained on all key operational policies, systems, and processes required to effectively and appropriately conduct their roles and responsibilities. These include policies and practices on information management, inventory management, etc. Seek opportunities to reinforce and monitor adherence to operational policies, systems, and processes as needed.
• Actively work with regional leadership, country leads, and the regional operations manager to assess risk and develop mitigation strategies to operational risks in accordance with the organizations risk framework and practices.
• Provide leadership in managing sensitive relationships and negotiations with key vendors, including landlords, key service providers, etc.
• Guide and support the Regional Operations Manager in liaising with country leads and country operations capacity to ensure:
  • office lease agreements are being tracked and effectively managed
  • office budgets are being tracked and adhered to
  • asset registers are being actively and appropriately managed
  • requisite company insurances are in place and reviewed/updated regularly
  • vehicle pools are actively being managed in a cost-effective manner
  • administrative services are provided efficiently and effectively
  • all requisite workplace safety and security are being adhered to
  • emergency management and threat monitoring protocols are in place
• Work closely with the Regional Director, Finance and Administration to track and actively manage country level registrations and governance requirements
• Work closely with country leadership to review, update, or establish operations systems for all country offices and provide appropriate training on those systems

IT

• Provide leadership to the IT Manager in ensuring understanding of and compliance to the Global IT policy across the region.
• Provide leadership in reviewing and establishing regional IT SoPs for the provision of IT support and maintenance in the region and monitoring their implementation.
• Provide leadership in reviewing and updating SoPs for service and maintenance of IT equipment in the region
• Actively work with regional leadership and country leads to assess the IT needs in the region and develop appropriate plans and budgets to address any gaps in consultation with the global IT team.

Procurement

• Oversee the Procurement Manager in the formulation and updating of existing procurement policies and procedures, and monitoring their implementation.
• Provide leadership in reviewing and establishing robust vendor due diligence procedures.
• Provide guidance to the regional and country operations teams in sourcing cost-effective services and holding vendors accountable.
• Provide leadership and guidance in management of annual procurement planning with a focus on ensuring cost-effectiveness and efficiency.
• Provide leadership in managing sensitive relationships and negotiations with key vendors, including landlords, key service providers, etc. to ensure excellent service provision and cost-effectiveness.
• Provide leadership in continually assessing the organization’s procurement needs for the Africa region and developing plans and budgets to address any gaps.

Requirements

Qualifications:

• Minimum Master’s degree in finance, Business Administration or related field.
• Experience in the of Google Suite applications as well as in handling of web-based management systems is desirable
• A Minimum of 7yrs work experience in a position with similar responsibilities in a multi-national organization.
• 5 years of experience working with international organizations, managing a mid-size team of experienced professionals across locations;
• Self-directed and self-motivating personality, with proven ability to manage demands from multiple clients while adhering to deadlines and priorities;
• Highly motivated to achieve exceptional quality of results, and the ability to manage multiple tasks simultaneously

Skills:

• Strategic and tactical critical thinker with good analytical and problem-solving skills.
• A confident decision-maker who can communicate directions and solutions clearly to both technical and non-technical staff.
• Understanding of the business role of operations functions within the programs and organization, and to set objectives based on that.
• Demonstrated leadership in managing others.
• Metrics-driven performance philosophy.
• Good English - written and verbal competence.

Key performance Indicators:

• High quality, appropriate, and well-managed implementation of operations, IT, and procurement services across the region.
• Over 90% satisfaction rating from both internal and external partners on the efficiency of the operations unit in terms of management of partner relations
• Demonstrated Cost-effectiveness in all lease engagements and logistics management in the region.

Preferred Product Knowledge

• Windows 10, 11
• Microsoft Office 2013-16
• Google Enterprise Apps
• Box cloud storage

Working conditions

• Primary work hours and location must include business hours (9:00 am-5:00 pm), Monday to Friday, in Evidence Action’s Nairobi, Kenya office, adjustments in agreement with the Director, Finance and Administration, Africa.
• Off-hour work may be required as necessary for overseeing/completing planned maintenance, participating in international conference calls across time-zones, or responding to technical emergency response.
• Some travel. The Associate Director, Operations will visit offices across Africa for technical support and for purposes of oversight, training, project management, and meetings of program and country staff.

Direct reports

• Associate Manager, Operations | ESA region
• Associate Manager, Operations and Procurement | WCA region
• Manager, IT | ESA region
• Manager, Procurement | ESA region