Senior Manager, Internal Consulting at Food For Education

About the role

As our inaugural Senior Manager, Internal Consulting, you’ll help to launch a high-impact consulting unit to tackle Food4Education’s thorniest growth and impact challenges—from kitchen efficiencies and menu improvements to strategic planning and org redesign. Your ultimate goal? Help us reach 1 million daily meals by 2027—and many more beyond then. In the short term, the Senior Manager will work with the COO and her Chief of Staff to design many of the processes and approaches that this team takes so that it can grow and thrive. You will also lead the design and management of the first projects this team does, from filtering client requests through project scoping and execution. Over time, you will help to pinpoint the most valuable approaches this team can take to ensure the team grows into a high-impact support unit within the organization. This role calls for a creative, ambitious, proactive strategist who is ready to influence and grow along with Food4Education. A generalist who feels comfortable executing in a number of topics and can build relationships to achieve success will thrive in this role.

Key Duties & Responsibilities 

Team set-up and leadership (~25%):

• Help establish and set up Food4Education’s internal consulting team, including providing input on strategy and processes for soliciting, selecting, and executing projects.
• Inform the design of internal team processes to ensure coordination, common standards, and continual improvement.
• Create, test, and improve tools to enable team management and growth (e.g., project trackers, impact dashboards).

Project management (~60%):

• Lead or co-lead projects that address critical areas of need or opportunity for the organization, from scoping through execution and handover.
• Support the design and implementation of select organizational pilots, innovations, or growth projects to accelerate impact.
• Manage internal client relationships to build demand for the team’s work and ensure work is effective and well-received.
• Create and use project implementation tools that help set the standard for this team’s operations in the long term.

Ecosystem scanning and engaging (~15%):

• Maintain an understanding of critical dynamics in the markets and environments relevant to Food4Education’s work, including school feeding, nonprofit strategy and operations, and technological innovation.
• Maintain collaborative relationships with select peers, partners, and supporters to enable and sustain information-sharing and growth (e.g., think tanks, businesses, similar non-profits).
• Formulate Food4Education’s Internal Consulting function to be best-in-class relative to peers in field, utilizing industry knowledge and expertise.
• This role will be based in Nairobi and require 10-20% domestic travel to facilitate project execution.

Desired Candidate Profile 

• Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration, Management, Economics, Engineering, or a related field; Master’s degree preferred.
• 7+ years of experience in consulting, finance, engineering, or similar strategic and analytics-heavy roles in fast-paced, client service environments.
• Experience managing people and teams, preferably on client-service projects.
• Experience with operating model, organizational design analysis, and transformation.
• Strong organizational and project management abilities.
• Exceptional strategic thinking and problem-solving skills.
• Ability to create order and find insights amidst ambiguity and excessive information.
• High emotional intelligence and the ability to navigate sensitive situations with tact and diplomacy.
• Excellent presentation, communication, and interpersonal skills, including expertise in Excel and PowerPoint. Optional expertise with statistical software (e.g., R, Stata) and project management tools.
• Proven track record of managing complex projects and driving organizational change.
• Self-motivated, proactive, and results-oriented.
• Strong sense of integrity and commitment to the organization’s mission and values.