Operations Manager

Guided by the remarkable legacy of its co-founder, Helen Keller, Helen Keller Intl partners with communities that are striving to overcome longstanding cycles of poverty. By delivering the essential building blocks of good health, sound nutrition, and clear vision, we help millions of people create lasting change in their own lives. Working in 20 countries – across Africa, Asia, Europe, and the United States – and together with a global community of supporters, we ensure every person has the opportunity – as Helen did – to reach their true potential.

We are seeking an Operations Manager to coordinate administrative, procurement and award management processes for a diverse and impactful multi-country program portfolio being implemented in Sub-Saharan Africa and Asia: Transforming Lives through Nutrition.

This comprehensive program delivers five life-saving health services: supplementing women with essential vitamins during pregnancy, supporting optimal breastfeeding, improving diets for infants and young children, screening children for acute malnutrition and getting treatment to them as early as possible, and delivering Vitamin A.

This is a local hire position: salary and benefits will align with local terms and conditions in Kenya or Nigeria. All candidates must be work authorized in the country where they are applying.

Functional Relationships

Helen Keller has a matrixed reporting structure. Regular communication and a spirit of teamwork are essential to make this structure thrive.

Reporting to the Associate Director Operations and Finance, the Operations Manager will collaborate with technical experts and managers across program and operations in global management and in country program offices to achieve efficient and effective program delivery.

The Transforming Lives portfolio is managed by a central Program Management Team (PMT) with support from technical experts from across the organization. The PMT and the Operations Manager provide guidance to and coordinate the activities of country office teams. This position will liaise with country project teams and their operations colleagues to facilitate the integration of all facets of the program work with the common goal of ensuring that project objectives are met.

Key Responsibilities

Administration & Procurement

• Act as central point of contact for country office operations colleagues to guide the efficient and compliant procurement of program commodities and equipment and manage supply chain logistics.
• Coordinate and track processes conducted by country office teams; troubleshoot matters arising; support teams by conducting research and providing information to support compliance with Helen Keller policies and procedures.
• Facilitate import customs clearance and warehousing solutions when required.
• Flag potential problems and bottlenecks to senior staff, as needed.
• Manage procurement of services on behalf of the central program team.
• Coordinate international travel and necessary documentation for the central team.
• Liaise with People & Culture on recruitment processes, staff learning and development activities, and other Human Resources actions, as needed.

Coordination

• Organize and manage logistics of global Transforming Lives gatherings and events. Liaise with counterparts on other program teams, as needed.
• Continually refine and document coordination processes among implementing country offices, the central team, and relevant global units regarding portfolio administration. Document workflows, develop job aids, and train colleagues, as needed.
• Model collaboration for your matrixed team: effectively consult and inform colleagues to maximize efficiency and knowledge sharing; and integrate guidance and direction from subject matter experts in your team and elsewhere in the global organization to maximize performance.
• Ensure accountability to clients, partners, colleagues and donors by providing ongoing feedback in a context of mutual respect.

Award Management and Donor Relations

• Guide country office colleagues to prepare and manage sub-awards and review for quality and timeliness. Provide training, as needed.
• Coordinate scheduling and track work assignments to support the PMT to prepare and submit high quality donor reports and track donations in a timely manner.
• Maintain award and program management systems. Contribute to the ongoing improvement of those systems. Document workflows, develop job aids, and train colleagues, as needed.
• Establish clear agendas and protocols for donor visits to project sites. Liaise with country offices to coordinate logistics.

Required Qualifications and Competencies

• Demonstrated experience and ability to:
• Prepare subawards that comply with donor and organizational requirements.
• Arrange complex travel and meeting logistics.
• Procure goods and services in accordance with donor and organizational requirements.
• Collaborate across departments and program partners to integrate all aspects of operations with the work of program teams to meet program outcomes and fulfill objectives established in awards.
• coordinate and supervise administrative, and operational staff. Experience working with remote teams across multiple project sites a strong plus.
• Continually improve processes and systems to achieve greater efficiency and collaboration.
• Train colleagues on processes and systems and support them with clear documentation and job aids.
• Very good oral and written English language skills sufficient to prepare routine business correspondence and status reports.
• Ability to communicate in French a strong plus.
• Excellent interpersonal skills, including an ability to communicate effectively across cultures.
• Highly computer literate including knowledge of Microsoft office suite or equivalent and advanced Excel skills.
• Well-established and practiced organizational and planning skills.
• Ability and willingness to:
• Flex schedule to accommodate availability of colleagues in other time zones.
• Travel occasionally to project country offices and/or to program workshops.
• NOTE: All staff must be vaccinated against COVID-19 in order to travel internationally.
• Collaborative, flexible and solution oriented. An ability to maintain balance when under stress.
• Demonstrable respect for all persons regardless of religion, ethnicity, class or gender, with a high comfort level working in a diverse environment with a demonstrated commitment to high professional ethical standards.
• Personal commitment to Helen Keller’s mission and the values embodied by our namesake and co-founder: courage, integrity, rigor, and compassion.

Qualifications

• Master’s degree in business administration, financial management, logistics, or a relevant field; plus

Minimum of 6-8 years of directly relevant experience or equivalent combination or education and experience