Ethiopia: Corporate Operations Associate

Private-sector style career development in a growing social enterprise An excellent career development opportunity

Industry: Nonprofit/International Development
Function: Operations management
Employer: One Acre Fund
Job Title: Corporate Operations Associate
Job Location: Bahir Dar, Ethiopia

Duration: Minimum 2 years commitment, full-time job

Organization Description

Most of the world's poor are farmers, representing the largest and most uniform group of poor people in the world. One Acre Fund is a growing NGO in Kenya, Rwanda, Burundi, and Tanzania that is innovating a new way of helping farm families to achieve their full potential. Instead of giving handouts, One Acre Fund invests in farmers to generate a permanent gain in farm income. We provide farmers with a "market bundle" that includes education, finance, seed and fertilizer, and market access. Our program is proven impactful – every year, we weigh thousands of harvests and measure 50-100% average gain in farm income per acre. We have laser-like focus on generating better lives for the people that we serve.

We are growing quickly. In eight years, we have grown to serve 180,000 farm families with more than 2,000 full-time field staff. Our approach has won widespread validation, winning grants from The MasterCard Foundation and Gates Foundation.

Website: www.oneacrefund.org.

Job DescriptionOne Acre Fund is a rapidly–growing organization, and is increasingly building up operational support for that growth. We are looking for someone to provide operations support to a single country program initially, and eventually across all One Acre Fund Africa programs.
This is a wonderful opportunity to take on a challenging management role. You will be responsible for operational management (including areas such as expansion, security, donor relations, support staff management), operational systems innovation, and staff development and capacity building:

Corporate operational management: You will be responsible for managing our program operational support in one of our countries of operation. You will have immediate management of the corporate operations team, and will be responsible for the below areas:Donor & visitor relations: Arrange all logistics of donor & interview candidate visits including hosting donors in the field. You will be the outward face of One Acre Fund, and will be responsible for hosting influential world–thinkers as well as multinational donors.Operations expansion: Our staff numbers are growing by 30% each year. There is a huge need to build new offices and residential houses – you will be in charge of managing these projects.Security management: You will be in charge of One Acre Fund security in a specific country. This includes staff trainings, infrastructure, information flows, emergency procedures, health and safety advice, and managing outsourced security contracts.Support staff management: We have a strong team of operations support staff that forms the backbone of our operations. Qualified staff may be managing each of the following departments: vehicle fleet management, property maintenance, administration, construction, security and housekeeping.Each of these departments may in turn have a large team of staff – for example, in Kenya there may be 50 construction staff working at any one time, 20 security guards, etc.You will be responsible for directing and mentoring these department managers and ensuring an excellent quality of service across the department.Corporate culture: We have an amazing and unique team who live a fulfilling life in rural areas. You will be responsible for ensuring the wellbeing of all staff, and promoting a positive working culture that everyone is proud to work in.Global operational management: You will be responsible for improving the operations that translate across our branches in East Africa – for example emergency procedures and onboarding.Operational systems innovation: You will be responsible for improving and innovating our operations systems and processes to become more efficient and impactful.Staff development: We have fantastic local staff. You will be responsible for further training of our staff, and building the team capacity to run a smooth and sustainable operation. This will include staff training, constant mentorship, and feedback.Regional operations support: You will provide operational support to our other branches, working closely with the Corporate Operations Associate for each country, with opportunities to travel between these sites.

Possible promotion to Corporate Operations Manager (multinational) with good performance:

Regional department development/creation: You will be responsible for developing, and in some cases creating, corporate operations departments in our new branches in East Africa. This will involve systems, processes and staff development in various regions.Regional management (systems): You will be responsible for creating, maintaining and improving operational systems across our branches in East Africa. You will tailor the operational support to the various regions and to the nature of the program and staff in those areas.Regional management (staff): You will establish and train strong teams to build operational capacity, including managing Operations Associates in our branches across East Africa.

Possible promotion to Corporate Operations Director (multinational) with exceptional performance:
One Acre Fund will grow to 10–15 times its current size in the next eight years. Every large organization eventually relies on a strong Operations Director, managing dozens of staff worldwide. This is one of the most important positions within the entire organization and there is literally unlimited scope for this role. We are looking for someone with the talent, attitude and skill to perform this crucial function.

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 professionals with 2 to 5+ years of work experience, and a demonstrated long–term passion for international development. They will serve in a career–track position that combines both field and management experience.
We are looking for truly extraordinary candidates that will help take our organization to the next levels of impact and scale. This is a competitive posting for a career-track role with minimum initial commitment of two years. Candidates who fit the following criteria are strongly encouraged to apply:

Strong work experiences. Examples include a demanding professional work experience, or successful entrepreneurial experience (e.g. starting a field program, leading a conference, starting a business, solid Peace Corps accomplishments).Leadership experience at work, or outside of work.Top–performing undergraduate background (please include GPA and test scores on your resume).Prior administration/operations/management experience is ideal, but mostly we are looking for a smart generalist.Humility and personal stability. We have a fantastic and likeable team. We are looking for passionate professionals that combine strong leadership skills with good humor, patience, and a humble approach to service.A willingness to commit to living in rural areas of East Africa for at least two years – this is a long–term, career–track role.Ability to cook/laugh – desirable.Language -- English required, Swahili and/or French nice to have.

Preferred Start Date

Flexible

Compensation

Starts modest. However, this is a career-track role with fast raises for performance, paying a meaningful salary for long-term placement in developing nations.

Benefits

Health insurance, immunizations, flight, room and board.

Sponsor International Candidates

Yes

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