IT Associate at Bridge International Academies

Bridge began in order to help solve a single, seemingly intractable problem; one-in-two children are not learning. We help children in parts of the world where there is a shortage of learning, by boosting government schools or running complementary community schools. Since 2007, we have reached one million children through hundreds of schools across Africa and India.

We believe every child has the right to high-quality education. We work in partnership with governments, communities, teachers, and parents to support and deliver quality education to for primary and pre-primary children in developing countries.

We are data-driven and evidence-based and our model adapts to the needs of individual governments. We have re-engineered every part of the education system, from teacher training and support, to lesson delivery, construction, and financial administration; making government schools and community schools as effective as possible.

In Nigeria we are supporting the government to improve every public primary school and teacher in Edo State; In Borno State we are part of a tripartite partnership with the Borno State government and the Nigerian Stock Exchange and in Osun and Lagos States we run community schools. In Liberia, we are part of a public private partnership; and, in Andhra Pradesh south-east India we have an infrastructure partnership. In East Africa, we run hundreds of community schools. Our model holds us accountable to governments and families and we are flexible about our approach so long as we can serve more marginalised communities and improve learning outcomes for children.

We are recruiting to fill the position below:

Job Title: IT Associate

Location: Benin, Edo
Employment Type: Full-time

Company Overview
Bridge partners with governments, donors, and parents to ensure that every child has access to an education that develops her full potential and creates the foundation for prosperity for the country. We are dedicated to supporting teachers, empowering school leaders, and ensuring every child has the learning support needed to master the national syllabus and have the confidence to succeed in a competitive world. Each of our project or country teams are supported through expertise and programming from additional offices around the world, combining world-leading expertise in core design areas with locally resident leadership and execution. We leverage experts, data, and technology in order to support and scale every aspect of quality education delivery. Bridge managed and supported schools are technology enabled and data driven to ensure accountability in the classroom for both teachers’ performance and children’s learning.

The Bridge model delivers significant learning outcomes at large scale by combining technology and customized learning materials. At Bridge, we believe innovation and technology can transform learning. Our model – which uses technology to deliver thoroughly researched and carefully designed daily lesson guides to teachers in our academies – is proven to increase learning outcomes for children. We are a solutions-driven, implementation-focused organization, using design principles to work in varied and often highly constrained contexts to ensure learning outcomes and positive development for children. Working in regional and national scales is important to us, as empowering entire generations of children with core knowledge, skills, and confidence is what builds the foundation for a peaceful and prosperous future for us all.

Our mission is to provide our pupils with a life-changing education and we believe that every child should have a right to world-class education regardless of her family’s income. Core to our approach is the conviction that every child can learn, as long as the school she attends is committed to her development and puts her needs to learn at the forefront of all decisions. We have seen teachers and children transform and excel in both government and private schools that we support and manage.

We invite you to join this incredible endeavor that is having world-changing impact across multiple continents. You will join a team of dedicated change-makers committed to ensuring that each decision we make keeps a child’s experience of learning as its guiding principle.

Nigeria
The education crisis is one that requires urgent, collective, and concrete action to surmount.While Nigeria is said to have the largest number of out of school children in the world, the education crisis is not just about out of school children, but also about children who are in school and not learning. In Sub Saharan Africa, statistics say that 88% or almost 9 out of 10 children and adolescents will not be able to read proficiently by the time they are of age to complete primary and lower secondary Education. With Nigeria being the most populous country in Sub Saharan Africa, this crisis impacts us most.

Bridge started operations in Nigeria in 2015, opening its affordable private nursery and primary schools targeted at providing life changing education for families living in low-income areas of LagosState in parts ofIkorodu,Alimosho,Badagry, Ojo,Epe, and other local government areas.In 2017,Bridge further expanded its reach to the most marginalized and vulnerable communities by partnering with the Nigeria Stock Exchange (NSE) and the State ofBornoto set up a public school serving out-of-school children and children from internally displaced communities. In 2018, Bridge became technical partners to the Edo State government in its implementation of the Edo State Basic Education Sector Transformation program to reform its public primary and nursery school system.

Today, Bridge works with both communities and governments to ensure hundreds of thousands of children have access to either a well-run, high achieving affordable private or free public school so that the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 4 of Quality Education becomes a reality for the millions of children in Nigeria quickly.You will join a group of Nigerians taking concrete action to help address the education crisis in Nigeria and ensure a better future for the children of Nigeria.

Job Description

• The IT Department is responsible for supporting and maintaining the company’s IT systems and for providing efficient desktop and mobile support to all business users.
• The department is also responsible for resolving any IT-related faults quickly and efficiently, including a broad range of queries from how to set up an email account to system diagnostics, plus enhancing and developing the IT provision throughout the business.

About the Role

• The Associate, IT Operations will ensure the provision of superior customer service throughout the business, through the maintenance, enhancement and efficient operation of IT functions. Additionally, the role will include responsibility for ensuring the security and integrity of IT operations and systems.
• The flexibility to work outside normal business hours is integral to this role, as is the ability to work under broad direction and minimal supervision

What You Will Do

• Provide first point of IT Support contact for all Bridge staff, covering all PC hardware, software, smartphones and tablets, as well as any associated peripherals.
• Deploy computers and associated peripherals including new installations and redeployment of existing equipment.
• Install and configure operating systems and software to agreed standards under the direction of the IT Manager and other immediate supervisors.
• Maintain existing equipment to standards determined by the IT Manager, by performing upgrades, new installations and carrying out routine procedures.
• Assist in the compilation and maintenance of an accurate inventory of hardware and software, and ensuring that records are kept up-to-date within the service desk system.
• Troubleshoot technical issues to resolution and/or escalate to colleagues, suppliers or partner organizations as required.
• Log all incidents and service requests in Bridge’s designated service desk system, where necessary login on behalf of Bridge staff.
• Manage service desk tickets, planning and prioritizing systematically to minimize backlog and ensure operational efficiency.
• Ensure system and data security is maintained at a high standard, ensuring the integrity of the Bridge network is not compromised.
• Expedite the repair of hardware faults and software configuration problems, notifying or forwarding to the relevant suppliers in a timely manner.
• Work with colleagues to monitor performance of Bridge systems, ensuring that issues are appropriately escalated and resolved.
• Provide technical assistance to project teams and undertake technical project roles when required.
• Demonstrate commitment to and promotion of a culture of service excellence and continual improvement within the IT Department.
• Maintain and develop excellent working relationships with key suppliers, conducting dealings in a professional and appropriate manner.
• Provide at all times a professional, courteous and rapid response to individual users.

You’re also:

• A detailed doer:You have a track record of getting things done. You’re organized and responsive. You take ownership of every idea you touch and execute it to a fine level of detail, setting targets, engaging others, and doing whatever it takes to get the job done. You can multi-task dozens of such projects at once and never lose sight of the details. Likely, you have some experience in a start-up or other rapid-growth company.
• A creative problem-solver: Growing any business from scratch comes with massive and constant challenges. On top of that, Bridge works in often fragile, sometimes volatile low-resource communities and with complex government systems. You need to be flexible and ready to get everything done effectively, quickly, and affordably with the materials at hand.
• A relentless advocate: The children we serve and teachers we empower never leave your mind. You know them, get them, have shared a meal with them (or would be happy to in the future). You would never shrink back from shaking a parent’s hand or picking up a crying child, no matter what the person was wearing or looked like. Every decision you make considers their benefit, experience, and value.
• A malleable learner: You believe you can always do better. You welcome constructive criticism and provide it freely to others. You know you only get better tomorrow when others point out where you’ve missed things or failed today.
• A data-driven decision-maker: When making decisions, you don’t rely your intuition alone. You collect data, you analyze it and make decisions with clear justifications.
• A curious investigator: You ask why a lot. You don’t just take what you see and accept it. You wonder why it is that way, and are aware that the world we see is created by human choices and actions – and it could be different. You wonder, and see the world as wonderful even when you want to change a part of it that is unjust.

What You Should Have

• A Degree from a recognized university with top marks in Computer Science or a related discipline
• 1-3 years relevant IT/industry work experience
• Excellent technical knowledge of PC/Mac hardware
• Working technical knowledge of current protocols, operating systems and standards
• Software and hardware troubleshooting
• Windows desktop (7/8) experience
• Microsoft Office 2010/2013 support
• Active Directory administration
• TCP/IP
• Experience working and training on a variety of IT subjects and applications
• Excellent Writing and oral communication skills
• Good research skills, including ability to identify and propose solutions to issues/crisis
• Knowledge of Android technologies, Smart Phones, LAN and Wi-Fi configurations
• Experience working within a fast-paced environment
• Relevant Microsoft certification

Desirable:

• Experience with admin of Microsoft systems such as Exchange, Navision, IIS, or SharePoint.
• Routers, switches and firewall experience

Application Closing Date
13th January, 2021.