African Leadership Academy: Chief Operating Officer

African Leadership Academy (ALA) seeks to catalyse large-scale change in Africa by developing thousands of transformative leaders for the continent over the next few decades. ALA’s model for change involves three steps: (1) we identify the most outstanding young leaders across Africa; (2) we develop these young leaders through an innovative, life-long program that focuses on hands-on practice; and (3) we foster powerful, life-long networks for these leaders that position them to achieve large-scale impact in Africa.

ALA seeks to appoint a Chief Operating Officer, based in Johannesburg.

The person will serve as an integral ‘cog’ in the machinery that is needed for the overall Academy ecosystem to thrive. This position will give a dynamic, passionate individual the opportunity to shape and grow the support network of an institution that seeks to transform the African continent by developing its future leaders.

The Chief Operating Officer is a senior management position reporting to the Chief Executive Officer.

This is a full-time position available immediately.

Responsibilities:

• Manage a team of 8-10 people across the following business functions: facilities management, procurement, security, logistics, IT, operations and finance;
• Build world-class systems in each functional area including employee recruiting, professional development, financial controls and management, campus facility maintenance;
• Negotiate contracts with major suppliers and contractors, including foodservice, cleaning, groundskeeping, benefits administration;
• Manage the master planning process for the campus and lead any future new construction, renovations or acquisitions;
• Ensure that all support functions that the various divisions within ALA require are provided to the highest service levels;
• Meet or exceed measurable performance goals.

Requirements:

• MBA or four-year Bachelor of arts degree will be preferred;
• Served as an Operations Manager or Director in a reputable company and/or institution;
• Experience working across multiple functional areas and the ability to rapidly acquire new skills and expertise;
• Excellent people skills - with the ability to understand the unique needs and behaviours of individuals in an academic institution;
• Advanced Excel skills and experience working with enterprise software systems;
• Passionate about Africa and thrilled at the prospect of working with a renowned academic institution that is developing the future leaders of the continent;
• Extremely organised and knowledge on how to prioritise when faced with many pressing challenges;
• Excellent leader who can guide people to achieve results even in areas with limited technical expertise;
• Ability to exceed expectations with minimal resources;
• Excellent relationship-builder and ability to relate to people from various backgrounds;
• Dynamic achiever (a self-starter) to enjoys bringing a vision into reality with minimal guidance;
• Ability to approach unexpected challenges with characteristic optimism and an eye for new solutions;
• Live up to ALA’s values of integrity, humility, compassion, curiosity, diversity, and excellence.

A competitive salary and benefits, commensurate with your experience will be offered.

To apply, submit a CV, contact details of three professional references and motivation letter addressed to the Human Resources Director, Laureen Rwatirera at lrwatirera@africanleadershipacademy.org.

Please quote the source of this advertisement in your application - NGO Pulse Portal.

Candidates will be interviewed on a rolling basis.

Interviews and background checks will occur upon receipt and screening of application.

For more about the African Leadership Academy, refer to www.africanleadershipacademy.org.

For other vacancies in the NGO sector, refer to www.ngopulse.org/vacancies.

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