Chief Operating Officer

Background

Innovation: Africa (iA) is a non-profit 501(c)(3) organization is a team of dedicated problem solvers with a mission to bring solutions and know-how to those in need living in rural African villages. We use solar energy to pump clean water and provide schools, orphanages and medical clinics with light and refrigeration to store vaccines and medicines. IA has completed over 700 solar and agricultural projects, providing light, clean water, food and proper medical care to nearly 4 million people in Ethiopia, Tanzania, Malawi, South Africa, Uganda, Cameroon, Senegal and the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Job Summary

We are looking for a Chief Operating Officer (COO) to be responsible for the day-to-day operations and implementation of Innovation: Africa’s 5-year strategy to bring clean water and light to 1,200 villages across Africa. The COO should possess strong leadership and strategy-building skills, along with the ability to understand the vision of the organization and creating actionable goals towards achieving the vision across all departments. The COO will lead our team of high-performing professionals to be efficient, productive and effective to carry out the organization’s goals and strategy.

The ideal candidate has extensive experience within the nonprofit sector, preferably having worked their way up to an executive role. We are looking for a candidate with business and management expertise, and proficiency with the practices, policies, and procedures of the nonprofit sector.

Reports To

CEO

Objectives

• Collaborate with the CEO in determining and implementing organizational vision, operations strategy and hiring initiative
• Translate vision and strategy into departmental- and organizational-wide plans for operations,
• goal setting and performance management
• Oversee organizational operations and employee productivity, building a productive culture
• that ensures team members can thrive and that organizational goals are met
• Ensure effective recruiting, onboarding, professional development, performance management,
• and retention within the Programs Department

Responsibilities

• Analyze operations and identify areas for process and procedural improvement
• Implement strategies and plans that align with the short- and long-term objectives developed in tandem with CEO
• Providing tools and guidelines for the programs team to build an annual strategic plan and assess progress throughout the year, making adjustments where necessary
• Creating guidelines, and other organization-related documents for the Programs Department
• Monitor performance of the programs team and take corrective measures when necessary, and prepare detailed updates and forecasts
• Executive reporting and receiving regular updates from programs and engineering departments
• Build and maintain trusting relationships with staff and key partners and stakeholders
• Qualifications
• 10+ years of experience running day-to-day operations within a relevant industry
• Excellent leadership and management skills with proven success managing teams
• Understanding of advanced strategy planning and complex international operations
• Solid grasp of data analysis and performance metrics
• Proven skills in problem solving
• Good interpersonal and communication skills
• English native speaker or equivalent
• Willingness to travel often

Requirements/Other

This job requires intermediate travel to the countries of operation.

As an international organization, our team is spread out between NY, Israel and Africa, and team members are constantly on the move. We strive to use technology solutions to keep our staff in close contact despite our travel schedules, and are all frequently on the phone, on Zoom, Slack and more. This position requires the ability to keep up with this fast-paced environment, and to be comfortable working with colleagues across time zones and continents.

Please send your English CV and cover letter in PDF format to: [email protected]