Global Director of People Operations Job at One Acre Fund

Job Location

E. Africa rural field site or capital city, with up to 25% travel (initial 6 months will require 50% time in rural East Africa)

Duration

Minimum 3 years commitment for full-time career role

Job Description

Our Global Director of People Operations will be one of the most important people in the organization, and will quickly join the organization-wide leadership group. S/he will be a key deputy of the Global Director of Operations, and will lead all human resource and talent management functions in our 4,000+ person organization, spanning several departments.

This is not a typical HR management role, since we think of HR differently than most companies. We take pride in our innovative approach to talent and team; our creative recruitment strategies drive more than 35,000 international and 100,000 country national applications per year; we retain top professionals in field postings far longer than most organizations and companies; we are building a high-performing, mission-driven team that is primarily based in rural areas, so that they can learn from our customers on a daily basis. Our team matters more than anything else, and we are seeking an exceptional, innovative leader who can help take our HR and talent functions to the next level as we continue to scale rapidly.

The overarching goals for this role are to

• Continue building best-in-class people functions to help us recruit, develop and retain top global and country-national talent across more than 10 countries. We have a team of dozens of experienced staff members working on innovative People solutions and are seeking an innovative leader to help push the team and our progress even further.
• Make One Acre Fund the best place to work in the world for development professionals looking to build a career in social impact
• Drive innovation across all HR and talent functions
• Help us maintain our unique culture as we scale

Specific responsibilities include

Setting Vision & Strategy

• Work with senior leaders to collaboratively set and execute on long-term vision for all HR and talent functions, under the ‘People Division’ umbrella
• Work with leadership on organizational design and change management, to help maintain a high-performing, motivated, and impactful team
• Build and maintain strong collaborative working relationships across several global departments, and amongst key leaders in all countries
• Identify and execute on key areas for strategic innovation

Building Team

Day-to-day management of multiple director-level staff, with a total team size of several dozen staff

• The following teams fall under the management of the Global Director of People Operations (HR):Global Director of HR will be responsible for rapidly growing the careers of the leaders of these departments through weekly check-ins and workshops, ongoing development feedback, and bi-annual career reviews.
  • Global Recruitment and HR, Country-based Recruitment and HR, Training and Development, People Innovations, and Corporate Operations (health, safety, facilities, visitors)

Executing on Key Organizational Initiatives

• Deliver results on key organizational initiatives related to all aspects of HR and talent management, including working with our outstanding team of department directors in the following areas

Recruitment

• Help strengthen and diversify our recruitment pipeline from global and in-country talent pools, and streamline hiring processes
• Build a strong internal and external brand to attract and retain top talent in our field
• Help recruit top talent to fill leadership positions
• Continually monitor and (when necessary) improve upon compensation and benefits package to remain competitive

Development

• Collaborate with leadership to identify and address training and development needs to roll out to our global staff.
• Design and implement scalable professional development services to build the careers of our amazing staff members in 10+ countries.

Retention

• Maintain our unique organizational culture across a growing number of country operations
• Develop an innovative approach to retaining talent, particularly in rural postings
• Build practical systems to ensure health and safety of staff across several field and capital city sites

Data and Compliance

• Improve collection and use of data using HRIS and other systems
• Use data to make educated decisions about people strategy
• Work closely with Legal team to minimize HR and compliance risks

Generally – design and implement innovative and impactful systems that can scale across several countries in E. Africa, Europe, North America, and Asia

Note

Most work will be done through our incredible team of key deputies and department directors, but direct involvement in sketching, creating, and editing of key deliverables will be required.

Leading Innovation in HR and Talent Management

Drive innovation across all HR and talent management functions, by thinking creatively and outside the box. We are not looking to build a run-of-the-mill HR department. Example focus areas include

• Creatively expand our global reach into untapped talent pools, and attract the best people available (E. Africa, W. Africa, Asia, etc.)
• Continue designing creative solutions to retaining top talent in rural field locations
• Use technology to cost-effectively deliver professional development services across several countries
• Continually raise the bar and create an exceptional ‘customer experience’ for all staff

Communication

• Serve as the global voice for all HR and talent-related issues, to the organization and top leadership. Help all HR teams work and communicate together to provide the most impactful results to our staff and clients.

Career Growth and Development

One Acre Fund invests in building management and leadership skills. Your manager will invest significant time in your career development. We provide constant, actionable feedback delivered through mentorship and through regular management consulting-style career reviews. We also have regular one-on-one meetings, where we listen to and discuss career goals, and work collaboratively to craft roles that each person can be passionate about. Because of our rapid growth, we constantly have new high-level roles opening up and opportunities in many functions. This results in fast career growth for our staff.

Qualifications

We are seeking exceptional candidates with 7-10+ years work experience as a general manager/ leader in a fast-growing organization, and a propensity for innovation – C-level executives or co-founders would be ideal candidates. Prior HR experience preferred but not required if the candidate has held a senior-level position at an innovative organization that places a strong emphasis on People.

Candidates who fit the following criteria are strongly encourage to apply

• Passion for building teams, finding talent, building relationships and tackling challenging people-related issues
• Proven ability to manage teams and develop leaders; experience in remote management a plus
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills
• Strong data and analytical skills; advanced Excel a plus
• Experience working in a multi-cultural work place in a developing country, ideally in East Africa, a plus
• Creativity and strong problem solving skills
• Top-performing educational background; related Master’s Degree is an asset, but not strictly required
• We are looking for passionate professionals who combine strong leadership skills with good humor, patience, and a humble approach to service.
• A willingness to commit to living in East Africa for at least two years – this is a long-term, career-track role.
• Language: Fluent English required; Swahili, Kinyarwanda and/or French a plus