Bridge International Academies Jobs; Programme Officer, Development

Job Title:    Programme Officer, Development
Job Location:    Nairobi, Kenya
Employer:    Bridge International Academies

About Bridge
Bridge International Academies is the world’s largest chain of primary and pre-primary schools.   We democratize the right to succeed by giving families living in poverty access to the high-quality education that will allow their children to live a very different life.  We leverage experts, data, and technology in order to standardize and scale every aspect of quality education delivery, from how and where academies are built to how teachers are selected and trained, and how lessons are delivered and monitored for improvement. We are vertically-integrated, tech-enabled, and on our way to profitability.

Job Overview:
Bridge is growing rapidly – with over 300 functional academies, we have plans to add 100 more academies in Kenya in 2014 alone, and will continue to expand for years to come. Our Development group (research, real estate, legal, physical planning, construction) owns the entire life cycle of academy expansion, from door-to-door research in target communities through to constructing academies, sometimes several dozen at a time. The Development Programme Officer (DPO) is the “glue” that keeps everything together – managing inter dependencies and working with managers and individual contributors alike to ensure that targets are met and processes are followed.

This is a position that requires extreme attention to detail/speed and the organizational/strategic savvy to manage stakeholders effectively. You will be in a highly visible position in a high-pressure environment where targets and deadlines matter, and where you will need to understand the nitty gritty of how a physical planning permit is obtained, and the general framework/milestones for academy construction. You will need to be extremely responsive and systems-minded. Ultimately, you will be a part of every single academy that is constructed and launched at Bridge as the person that guided the process every step of the way.

Job Description:

•     Team Coordination: The role holder will be at the heart of the entire development pipeline, coordinating the development tracker and seeking updates from managers across various departments including Research, Real Estate, Planning, Legal, Recruiting and Training and Construction.
•     Ground work coordination: This involves cooridnating ground work with field staff as well as external suppliers like land surveyors. the role holder will be responsible for getting them all the information and tools they need to perform within target.
•     Administrative assistance: This involves becoming the right-hand for the Development Director by providing assistance in taking minutes, tracking files, work flow and targets.

Job Requirements:

•     BA/BS from a top university with top marks.
•     Project management experience in fast-paced environments with clear cut targets.
•     Experience managing projects within Real Estate, Research, Physical Planning, or Construction preferred.
•     Experience working in startups/fast-growth companies a HUGE plus.
•     Tech/systems savvy; great with Microsoft Office and learning new tech products.

Personal Attributes and Specifications

•     Organisational task-masters – You live for structure and systems; you’ve always been the sort of person that instinctively takes notes in every meeting. You understand how to drill down into one process, but you also get how each process adds up to a much greater whole
•     Detailed doers – You have a track record of getting things done, with at least several years of post-undergraduate experience.  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
•     Creative problem-solvers – Growing any business from scratch comes with massive and constant challenges. You need to be flexible and ready to get everything done effectively, quickly, and with the tools at hand.
•     Continuous improvement – 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.

Deadline Date: 14/06/2014

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