Senior Program Manager, Africa - Malengo at Global Development Incubator (GDI)

Responsibilities include:

• Oversee and ensure quality of day-to-day Malengo operations in Uganda, including setting up, tracking, and trouble-shooting to ensure a smooth student journey. Much of this will be working with and managing Uganda-based staff who are the primary liaisons with students and families. Core activities include:
  • Overseeing outreach to students and schools
  • Overseeing receipt and processing of applications
  • Organizing and ensuring quality, consistency and continuous improvement of interview and selection process
  • Communicating student selection
  • Overseeing their support of the students with university applications and TOEFL tests
  • Overseeing visa application process and housing search
  • Organizing and running student orientations and communication with parents/guardians
  • Ensuring consistency and timeliness of student communications about the application and onboarding process
  • Work with senior leadership to make the program scalable as we select 100 students in 2022 and 500 students in 2023
• Co-develop and implement the Malengo’s Africa expansion strategy. Core activities include:
  • Supporting the identification of other African countries (initially primarily in West Africa) for expansion
  • Developing relationships with key partners, including schools, ministries, and embassies
  • Setting up outreach strategy and student selection processes including interviews and tests
  • Developing the student journey, including mentoring, coordination of university applications, tests, visa application, and housing search
• Liaise between the Malengo Research and Operations teams, ensuring that research activities take into account the operational timelines and bridging between the teams as needed
• Liaise and facilitate weekly meetings with full Malengo team, including senior leadership and European country directors
• Oversee the development of Malengo’s Africa team beyond the initial staff members

Qualifications

We seek a highly motivated, charismatic leader who will be the face of Malengo’s programs in Uganda, West Africa, and beyond, and who has the drive to grow the program to serve thousands of students each year. You might be the ideal candidate if you recognize yourself in these descriptions:

About the candidate

• You are inspired by Malengo’s mission and want to create opportunities for thousands of students from low-income countries
• You are passionate about working with students and creating a program that serves them and their families. You can communicate effectively with students, parents, and schools.
• You have an entrepreneurial attitude, can operate as an independent self-starter, and are willing to take on many different tasks
• You have significant project management experience, including experience setting up and adhering to timelines, developing and launching new processes / systems, and working collaboratively with teams to plan out and execute tasks
• You are a natural leader and can create, inspire, and lead Malengo’s Africa team with dedication, intelligence, and kindness. Team management experience is a plus.
• You are collaborative and collegial and excited to work with central Malengo leadership and European country directors
• You have emotional intelligence, cultural sensitivity, and are able to work with individuals of different backgrounds. You can develop and maintain relationships with government partners, embassies, and schools.
• You are solution-oriented and have a continuous improvement mentality, both about yourself and the organization.
• You speak native or near-native English. French fluency is highly desirable.
• Having lived and worked in Africa is a plus, but not required
• You have a strong commitment to evidence and organizational learning
• You are quantitatively minded and interested in continually assessing organizational performance
• You have a Bachelor’s, Master’s, or PhD degree in any subject
• You are willing to be based in Nairobi or Kampala (this requirement is flexible for truly outstanding candidates)