Director of Strategic Initiatives at TalentintheCloud

A Bit About The Role

The Director of Strategic Initiatives is a complex and multifaceted role that leads the office of the Chief Executive of business. He/she will have authority over a wide range of strategic and operational initiatives that are critical to organization’s success. The Director will build processes and dashboards that allow the CEO and the management team to make informed decisions regarding the business’s strategic priorities and relationships with external stakeholders. He/she will play a critical role in streamlining information flows to the Chief Executive’s office thereby enabling the CEO to focus on key decisions while ensuring the many of organization’s important, but day-to-day activities and decisions are executed in a timely manner. He/she will also play an integral role in the business’s cohesion and culture by planning team retreats and maintaining standards for onboarding new hires. The Director of Strategic Initiatives will also oversee the Chief Executive Officer’s other staff including but not limited to the Strategic Initiatives Analyst and the business’s Operations Manager.

Requirements

Your mission:

Strategic Advising and Support to the Chief Executive

• Serve as thought partner and sounding board to the CEO
• Prepare agendas and provide a summary of discussions and action items resulting from each meeting to attendees, with appropriate follow-up; Occasionally attend such meetings in lieu of the CEO
• Maintain bird’s eye view across the various teams and connect the dots to influence outcomes
• Collaborate with the CEO and Deputy CEOs to identify and prioritize business strategies
• Develop and update dashboards to monitor business activities
• Communication and Information Sharing
• Manage the bi-directional flow of communication in and out of the CEO’s office to ensure consistent and responsive message delivery to key internal and external stakeholders, including other executives, staff, donors, and government officials
• Communicate frequently with the executive team to ensure that critical questions and issues are proactively addressed
• Develop and maintain clear and efficient methods of information sharing with key consultants and partners including the business’s fiscal sponsor
• Work with Communications and Knowledge Management Lead to help prepare press releases and provide high-quality inputs to media organizations
• Management and Culture
• Own the onboarding process and standards for new hires
• Leading the development of team retreats, gatherings
• Spearhead annual strategic planning in consultation
• Manage and provide guidance to the business’s Operations Manager and the Strategic Initiatives Analyst
• Build and maintain mutually supportive culture within all tiers of the business

A Bit About You

Skills and experience

• A Master’s Degree in Public Administration/Policy, or any other related discipline. A higher post graduate qualification or an additional professional diploma in the above areas will be preferred
• At minimum 10yrs of experience in strategy and operations with at least 2 years working closely with a senior management or a chief executive
• Excellent analytical capabilities (particularly economic/quantitative analysis), written and oral communication
• Experience working with government and non-governmental stakeholders in the digital financial services space; Experience working in payments is highly desirable
• Experience managing staff preferably in a startup environment
• Proven experience in research, stakeholder management or partnership portfolio management
• Good understanding of digital financial services in Africa, including awareness of key actors in the ecosystem and their roles
• Good computer skills (Microsoft Office Suite) – strong planning, organizational and reporting skills
• Full professional proficiency in English and another language, preferably French or Arabic
• Personal attributes
• Sound commitment and a passion to further financial inclusion on the African continent
• Excellent interpersonal and problem-solving skills, representation, negotiation, and diplomacy skills
• Exceptional communication skills, both oral and written, including multi-party communication
• Versatility and adaptability to the workload of multiple projects and clients
• High accuracy and attention to detail
• Strong analytical skills
• Independent and the ability to apply sound judgement to decisions
• Sound time management skills and the ability to prioritize
• Agile with the ability to deal with structured change
• Comfortable in a multicultural environment and able to manage pressure well