Head of Operations-ATP– Allied Talent Partners
About the job
Application Deadline: 21 August 2024
Department: Strategy
Employment Type: Full Time
Location: Nairobi
Description
Allied Talent Partners(ATP) is a marketplace that connects experienced professionals and climate
experts, locally and globally, to climate-related projects in emerging markets and developing
economies, with an initial focus on Africa. Project-based work focuses on climate-related
infrastructure (e.g., utility-scale solar & wind), platform businesses (e.g., rooftop solar, e-mobility,
energy efficiency), governmental and regulatory bodies, power and water utilities, nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), donor agencies, and consulting firms.
ATP builds upon a proven model in the US and Europe. These talent marketplaces help a client
scope a project, breaking down work into a set of deliverables to be completed in a discrete amount
of time. These marketplaces then connect independent workers to these projects, representing a
new and efficient way to get work done. ATP’s model leverages global trends in the way that work
gets done, building more flexibility and autonomy into the market, and channelling people to work
on interesting, mission-critical climate and energy projects.
Applying this model in Africa, ATP aims to (1) grow the local and global pools of talent focused on
climate, (2) connect talent more efficiently to projects, and (3) enable the transfer and development
of key skills to local organisations.
The talent marketplace is the first phase of our broader ambition to enhance the talent
development ecosystem across emerging markets and developing economies. Using the
marketplace as a central enabling platform, we intend to expand into the broad and high potential
sector of corporate secondments, retiree and volunteer matches, as well training and local capacity
building.
ATP is an early-stage non-profit entity, looking to build and scale our presence across Africa… Today,
ATP has 7 FTEs based in Nairobi, Lagos, Johannesburg and the US.
Role Description
Allied Talent Partners (ATP) is hiring a dynamic individual to lead ATP’s operations and shape the
future of climate-related talent development across Africa.
This role involves building a new organization – specifically, spearheading cross-organizational processes, building and scaling ATP’s operations, designing marketplace technology and automation, providing thought partnership to the team, assuring quality and consistently service delivery with clients, and leveraging expertise to structure problems and creatively address operational and strategic bottlenecks.
The ideal candidate will possess exceptional leadership, communication, and problem-solving skills, with a passion for culture and fostering organizational development. They will be a strong manager, with experience leading and inspiring growing teams.
With 10+ years of experience, including working across Africa in dynamic, fast moving environments within the service sector, the candidate will be an integral part of the senior level management team and play a pivotal role in driving ATP’s mission and impact mandate.
Location: This role is based in Nairobi (hybrid, 3 days per week in the office), with some international travel expected ~10% of your time.
Key Responsibilities
- Operations: Lead the long-term operational growth as well as oversee, optimize, and
manage the execution of day-to-day needs of the business. The Head of Operations will be a leader in our existing operations team and continue to build a world-class team as we scale.
- Team Leadership, Organization & Hiring: Lead and mentor the talent delivery/operations team.
Foster a positive work environment and organizational culture, ensure clear communication within the operations team and with other departments/roles.
Lead hiring activity to scale the back office in line with project volume.
- Strategic Planning: Collaborate with the management team to develop and execute operational strategies that support the company’s long-term goals and objectives.
- KPIs & Metrics: Identify KPIs that ensure consistent high quality service delivery within the defined time limits; design dashboards, monitor and communicate progress.
- Process, Automation & Technology: Continuously review and refine processes, identifying areas for automation and identify opportunities to leverage our technology stack or add to it to delivery consistent and high-quality projects at scale.
- Marketplace Features & Design: Aggregate and analyse customer, talent, and employee feedback to inform incremental features to our platform and website.
- Operational Partnerships: Drive and/or support the identification, management and optimization of entity building partnerships. Work closely with third-party vendors and providers to provide feedback and enhance our partnerships.
- Quality Control: Create a culture of excellence and ensure consistent quality of delivery, customer and talent engagement across the organization
Requirements
- Leadership Skills: Ability to lead and manage teams effectively
- Communication Skills: Excellent written and verbal communication skills are essential for
effectively conveying information, processes, strategies, and decisions.
- Problem solving: Strong analytical and conceptual problem-solving capabilities, to assess complex situations, identify trends, and make data-driven decisions.
Capacity to identify challenges, develop solutions, and implement strategies to address them. Creativity to solve
bottlenecks efficiently required.
- Strategic Thinking: Ability to think strategically and provide valuable insights to support the
organization’s goals and objectives; able to develop and implement strategic initiatives
aligned with organizational objectives.
- Project Management: Experience managing multiple workstreams and team members,
coordinating and overseeing various initiatives and ensuring they are executed efficiently.
- Cross-Functional Collaboration: Capacity to collaborate with various departments and
stakeholders to drive alignment and execution of strategic initiatives.
- Innovative Thinking: Creative thinking skills to develop innovative solutions and approaches
to achieve strategic goals.
- Adaptability: Flexibility to adapt to changing priorities, handle ambiguity, and thrive in a
dynamic environment.
- Independent: Ability to work independently with minimal supervision, driving initiatives
independently to successful conclusion, leveraging appropriate stakeholders as needed.
- Detailed: Strong attention to detail, ability to track multiple needs and tasks across the
organisation.
Qualifications
- At least 8-10 years of experience in an operations role delivering services at scale ideally, experience working in human capital development and recruiting or building an early-stage start-up.
- Experience working across Africa, with private and public sector stakeholders.