Operations Manager at Street Child Nigeria

Street Child is a UK charity working to protect vulnerable children and improve access to education in some of the poorest communities in the world. We work in Sierra Leone, Liberia and Nepal and since November 2016, Street Child has been involved in the Humanitarian response in North East Nigeria.

Street Child works in the fields of education, child protection and livelihoods, working to deliver sustainable solutions and create maximum impact. Our work combines counselling, family mediation, business support, school building, teacher training and child protection. We were a key player in the Ebola crisis and led the global response for children orphaned by Ebola in Sierra Leone and Liberia. We deliver all our programmes through local partners and, since 2008, together we have built/renovated over 200 schools and are now helping to educate over 40,000 young people.

We are recruiting to fill the position below:

Job Title: Operations Manager

Location: Maiduguri, with frequent travel within Nigeria as required
Reporting to: Country Representative
Hours: Monday – Thursday 8:30 to 17:15; Friday 8:30 to 13:30
Status: Initial one-year contract, with potential extension

Background
Street Child believes that every child deserves the chance to go to school and learn. Our projects focus on a combination of education, child protection and livelihood support to address the social, economic and structural issues that underpin today’s education crisis. We partner with local organisations and communities to deliver our locally rooted programmes, using evidence to drive learning and the refinement and scale up of programmes to create maximum impact for the most children at the lowest cost. We pride ourselves on being willing to go to the world’s toughest places where others won’t, including remote, hard-to-reach areas and fragile, disaster-affected states across sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia. Since 2008 we have helped over 250,000 children to go to school and learn, and supported over 25,000 families to set up businesses so they can afford the cost of educating their children.

Street Child Nigeria: Street Child started in Nigeria in early 2017 and implemented major humanitarian programmes in the North East to respond to the protection and education needs of children affected by the crisis. We have been supporting over 40,000 children to access quality and safe education, formal and non-formal, by providing spaces and building the capacity of teachers and communities. We work with families and the government to overcome the barriers that undermine the development and wellbeing of children, ensuring parents and caregivers have financial resources and livelihoods to sustain their education, health and other needs, and providing child protection services. Street Child in Nigeria has ambitions to expand beyond the North East and is a reliable partner for UNICEF, UNOCHA, GIZ and other institutional donors and a member of the national Education in Emergencies, Child Protection and Early recovery and Livelihood sectors.

Role Purpose

The Operations Manager will have responsibility for operations, financial oversight, administration, logistics and the security processes of Street Child in Nigeria. He/she will manage the Maiduguri Office, and other field offices if required, ensuring internal and donor compliance, analyzing and improving organisational processes, quality, productivity and efficiency.
He/she is a key part of the management team and oversees HR duties, such as attracting talent and setting training standards and hiring procedures.
He/she will support the Programmes Managers by organizing the coordination of resources, equipment and information for our on-going projects.
He/she will be responsible for providing timely information on the finance situation of programmes and operations to the Country Representative by managing the Finance Manager. The position will also directly manage the Security Officer, Admin/HR Officer and Procurement and Logistics Officer.
The Operation Manager is responsible for organising regular spot-checks internally and with partners, reviewing all processes and ensuring alignment with organization policies. He/she will contribute to the capacity building of local partners in his/her area of responsibilities.
He/she is also the Street Child focal person for the INGO Forum in Borno State, as well as coordination with the security forum.
He/she ensures the organisation is always aligned with government guidelines and legislation.

Key Responsibilities
Operational Manager (50%):

Operational management of the Maiduguri office, sub offices, aiming at improving the operations systems
Responsible for HR related issues including facilitation of programme related recruitment.
Supervision of procurement process compliance within Street Child and partners
Ensure that adequate internal control mechanisms are in place
Compliance with UN agencies regulations and Nigerian Ministries’ regulations
Oversee partners compliance and accountability
Conduct internal and partners spot check as part of transparency and capacity building
Support in policies review (HR, security, procurement, finance)
Represent Street Child at Maiduguri level INGO fora

Programme and Finance (50%):

Ensure adequate mechanisms are in place for budget monitoring and review and minimize significant expenditure variances
Ensure Programme Compliance in all processes with support to Head of Programmes
Ensure adequate mechanisms are in place for budget monitoring and review and minimize significant expenditure variances
Supervise Finance manager monthly bank reconciliation & updating of Budget vs. Actual
Support Proposal development
Facilitate programme implementation in terms of logistic, finance, admin and security planning
Ensure the preparation, accuracy and timely submission of financial reports that comply with grant or contract agreements and ensure compliance with Street Child policies and donor funding
Support worker communication with the management team.

Person Specification

Education / Qualifications
Essential:

Educated to Bachelor degree level or higher

Desirable:

Master’s degree in Operations Management or related field.

Experience and Knowledge
Essential:

Demonstrable work experience in in international development
Demonstrable experience in office leadership and operations, logistics and administrative management roles
Experience in finance and budgeting
Staff management experience

Desirable:

Previous experience in emergency context with training on HEIST and Risk management.

Skills and Abilities
Essential:

Excellent spoken and written English skills.
Excellent interpersonal, listening and communication skills;
Ability to positively influence others;
An energetic team player who can effectively collaborate;
Demonstrated ability to work under pressure and tight deadlines.
Ability to build consensus and relationships among managers, partners, and employees.
Solid understanding of financial management.

Other: