Skills-Based Education Strategist (Director-level) at Educate!

Performance Objectives

Product leader

• Define product vision, framework, roadmap and positioning with Group Strategist's guidance and in collaboration with cross-functional teams
• Drive conversations to connect the dots between the organizational goals and the product work to unearth implicit and explicit assumptions
• With the Group Strategist explore and align on the best strategic approach to deliver on a product vision that is built around solving your users highest priority problems
• Understand your funder priorities in relation to responding to how the strategy you set and drive will achieve the organizational and product goals

Strategy setting and coordination

• Align product strategy with programs and operations leads to the strategic context of the solution line through a process of unearthing assumptions, information or values that are causing misalignment
• Lead product retrospectives to align on areas of success, divergence, gaps and way forward on set strategy
• Lead product development stage strategy retreats in collaboration and coordination with cross-functional teams
• Communicate timelines, strategy updates clearly indicating implications for impact, program implementation and field operations
• Collaborate with cross-functional teams and guide the decision making process through dialogue ensuring alignment on the expected outcomes you are collectively working towards
• Set up product teams at early product stages to run sprints and hand off process to program implementation and field operations team at later stages
• Coordinate product strategy check-ins, key agenda items and related outcomes with product, programs and field operations leads and teams
• Develop clear documentation of processes and activities, and systematic organization of the same using organizational tools provided for institutional memory and future reference

Build The User Experience

• A good understanding of user centered design to understand users needs and the ability to discern the biggest problems to solve in addressing them through the product
• Ensure the user experience and user focus is kept central across the product, program implementation and operations strategies
• Guide user research and the appropriate methodologies to do this when running discovery activities, analyse user feedback and how it informs iterations to product design and development

Learning Experience Design

• Have oversight of the design and iteration of products ensuring high quality learning experiences for the end user (this includes but is not limited to informing the design of the structure, flow and required resources for meetings, trainings and workshops, as well as actual curricula, guidelines and other materials)
• Set strategy and provide oversight of experimentation and iterative design during the product development and implementation cycle
• Establish feedback loops and communication lines across and within teams, as well as with end users
• Clearly communicate decisions and work with teams to explore options and the logic behind them to achieving success on product design

Characteristics and traits

• User-centric: always thinking about the user experience, seeking the users voice in your product development process, and working with your users to build a responsive product that meets them at their point of need
• Excited about influencing behaviour change through developing strategies that lead to long-term behaviour change
• Collaborative and astute communicator able to connect, communicate with and establish good working relationships with (often remote) cross-functional teams across different levels of the organization and across geographies
• Decision maker: experience making decisions at a leadership level, getting buy-in and steering the teams you work with to implement them

What else do you need to know?

• As an education systems strategist you will lead product strategy that is focused on behaviour and policy change through working with an education system and the stakeholders within it.

Qualifications And Profile

• Dynamic experience highly preferred, with demonstrated ability to operate well in complex and fast-changing environments
• 8+ years work experience, with 5+ years of management and/or leadership experience
• Experience working with governments in East Africa preferred
• Understanding of education system and education reform theory
• Experience managing medium to large size teams and balancing multiple priorities
• Passion for Educate!'s mission is a must, but past work in education or youth development is not required. We value diverse perspectives and encourage applications from people with a variety of backgrounds.
• Fits our Five Cultural Tenets (see What is Educate! About? below); Learn more by looking at Educate!'s culture deck here

Terms

• Compensation will be competitive and commensurate with experience
• Benefits include medical insurance