Head of New Program Launch (NawiriPro Kenya) at Educate!

Performance Objectives
Program Implementation & Execution Strategy (40%)

Serve as a thought partner to the New Product Strategist in shaping the initiative's vision and trajectory, and lead the effort to operationalize that vision.

• Deliver a high-impact Out of School Youth program model
• Owning the execution of the program roadmap, prioritizing building what matters most to achieve the strategic goals and initiatives behind the program.
• Lead the development, implementation, and evaluation of strategic, tactical and operational youth engagement plans, marketing strategy and initiatives to align with Educate! vision and strategies
• Monitor program and youth engagement metrics to measure and manage customer service effectiveness.
• Develop user incentive and retention strategies to ensure user loyalty.
• Act as a program evangelist to build awareness and buy in throughout the team
• Create a strategy to recruit thousands of Out of School Youth to participate in the blended learning program
• Manage the team's capacity to research, respond to, and execute on new opportunities
• Encourage and build on a culture of user-centricity in the entire team.
• Drive the overall operating capabilities to surpass youth satisfaction, retention and strategic goals.
• Develop and establish an implementation process for new program rollout and delivery of recent program changes to customers.
• Works closely with the New Product Strategist to understand the program's nuances and design decisions to inform the development of suitable implementation process and practice.

Team Leadership (25%)
The Head of New Program Launch is accountable for leading a cross-functional team to advance the NawiriPro mission, including maintaining a high level of communication and collaboration across the unit's staff.

• Manage the team to achieve program objectives
• Establish and maintain a strong, positive and engaged team culture
• Maintain oversight of work allocation and capacity
• Conduct and participate in hiring processes as needed
• Mentor, coach & develop staff using a supportive and collaborative approach: ensuring transferable skills are learnt to ensure we hit our business goals.
• Review customer data on program engagement with global leadership for annual and strategic planning sessions.
• Drive the ongoing development of a user-centric culture across the team, supported by process frameworks and responsive customer service systems to embed best practice customer-centric behaviors.

Learning & Impact (20%)

• Provide leadership on conducting research and experiments (prototyping, development, iteration and piloting).
• Coordinate the team to learn quickly and maximize data usage for informed decision-making.
• Identify new market opportunities and support program vision in line with the larger Out of School Youth strategy.

Budget & Proposals (15%)

• Oversight of program-specific finance and administration activities including creation of budgets and drafting of funding proposals.
• Provide support for grant-writing when needed, and lead interactions with local partners.
• Align program strategies with available funding opportunities to expand organizational impact.

Qualifications

• Experience in and enjoys managing teams, including training and coaching.
• Enjoy operating at all levels, staying connected to the details, audit frequently, and are skeptical when metrics and anecdotes differ. No task is beneath you.
• Very comfortable working with and adapting to new technologies (this product has a meaningful tech component).
• Passionate about user, customer, and/or youth experience: Knows how to seek feedback and use it to inform product or program improvements
• Enjoy making many decisions and actions because speed matters, but ensure you are taking calculated risks.
• Understand that constraints breed resourcefulness and innovation.
• The ideal candidate has led a new program within a startup, social enterprise, or sub-part of a larger organization.
• Minimum of a Bachelor's degree with 7+ years of work experience
• Familiarity with the lean startup approach is an asset
• A good fit with our Five Cultural Tenets (see "What is Educate! About?" Below; learn more by looking at Educate!'s culture deck here.