Director - Operations (Director-OP) at Plan International

Location: Maiduguri, Borno
Grade: F
Reports to:  Nigeria Country Director
Type of Role: 13 month fixed term contract
Functional Area: Operations Support - Finance, Admin, Procurement, Logistics and IT

Role Purpose

• Plan International Nigeria was established in 2014 and has grown from a modest organisation to one of the largest in West Africa. This rapid growth ensued with attendant challenges. Some of these challenges required strong strategic leadership and oversight over the operational structure of the organisation, particularly finance, admin and procurement.
• A new country strategy and transformation design are being concluded, with an elaborate provision for role of Director of Operations.
• The CO needs an immediate support, even before the strategyprocess is concluded. This is required to address the immediate challenges and set up a sustainable system and structure.
• The Director of Operation, serves as a Deputy Country Director in charge of operations and is responsible for leading, managing and developing a team of functional experts, including Finance, Administration, logistics and procurement and compliance to support the delivery of quality and integrated programme in line with Plan International standards, frameworks and procedures.
• The Director of Operationsreports to the Country Director and will work closely the operational leads in Finance and Admin team. The DCD may sometimes be required to take on the responsibilities of the Country Director position in their absence

Dimension of Profile

• The Director of Operations is a member of the Country Management Team along with other country managers and is expected to contribute to Plan International Nigeria’s understanding and strategic direction in the country. He or she deputises for CD as required and if needed in relation to external stakeholders;
• Provide leadership for the operation team and respond to key operational challenges.
• The Director-Op line manages two support managers in the areas of finance, administration& logistics, and work closely with the grant team. This will be done in recognition that the Finance function has a secondary reporting line with the Regional Finance Manager
• The Director-OP technically work with the internal auditor who reports to the Country Director.
• The Director-OP reports regularly to the CD on the management of all risks associated with programme delivery including budget, finance operation, admin, logistics and procurement.
• The Director-OP provides technical oversight and support to Programme Units (PU) in managing risks and remaining compliance in the delivery of cost-effective programmes.
• Directly manages 2 heads of department (Country Finance Manager and Administration Manager) and one IT Coordinator
• Provides guidance and support to all Program Units, Project managers, and the country leadership team for all administration and finance issues
• Has responsibility for designing, adapting and ensuring compliance with organizational internal policies, SOP and country regulations
• The monitoring of Finance and administration audit actions lists and risk register
• The Director-OP coordinates the preparation, consolidation and analysis of collated country and project budgets for submission to the regional office.
• The Director-OP manages the operation support budget.
• Participate in the country oversight time for regular update and strategic input by the regional director and other members of the oversight group.

Accountabilities
Team development and people management:

• Workforce planning: process for strategic analysis of Plan International ambition and attempts to estimate the competencies and skills needed to deliver the Country Programme. Identify areas for action based on this analysis to deal with any imbalances and gaps and work strategically place them.
• Team building and maintenance: establish, agree, communicate and monitor standard of performance and behaviours for the operations support unit. Team objectives, and key performance indicators (KPI’s) are agreed, and monitored and updated quarterly.
• Individual development and performance management: manage and develop the performance of the operations support teams across the country to ensure delivery of quality support and services. This includes agree, monitor and evaluate individual accountability and personal development plans as per Plan’s performance management policy and process.

Strategic planning, reporting and support to programmes delivery:

• Strategic planning: Contribute to the strategic development and management of the country in line with the Country Strategic Plan (CSP), ensure that operations are an engaged and effective business partner for Programme departments to carry out quality programmes with excellent operational support.
• Support the CD in developing a transformation design that will strengthen the operational side of Plan International Nigeria to guarantee excellence.
• Support to programmes: Oversee the planning and delivery of all general services and logistical requirements of program work in line with established procedures – including procurements, storage, transportation and distribution;
• Budgeting: coordinate the preparation, consolidation, analysis and submission of country and PUs budgets to the Regional Hub in accordance with field budget instructions and guidelines;
• Reporting: coordinate the reporting process, in particular quarterly and annual reports, to the Regional Hub including timely submission of all required reports and implementation of follow-up actions and recommendations.

Financial resources management:

• Ensure full project costings, and maximising cost recovery from donors to ensure fully funded interventions;
• Review of financial reporting prepared for submission to donors to ensure it is accurate and on time;
• Support the Country Director in preparation of funding requests and communicating other business plans to the regional office;
• Ensure appropriate financial controls processes, procedures and systems are in place;
• Ensure finance related audit actions are implemented and alternative actions taken as required to address weaknesses in financial controls and procedures identified in finance and other forms of audit reports;
• Oversight and development of an excellent and high performing finance and admin team within the country;

Compliance and management of risks:

• Policies and procedures: ensure that systems and processes are in place to comply with Plan global policies, standards and procedures and legal requirements in the areas of finance, administration & logistics, ICT.
• Safeguarding: ensure the compliance and coherence of Plan’s Child and youth safeguarding Policy at all times to safeguard and protect children and young people from all forms of abuse;
• Audit and investigation: facilitate internal and external audit missions and ensure audit follow up and action lists are addressed in a timely manner, ensure that the organisation learns from audits and reviews so as to continuously improve its operations.
• Risk Management: Ensure systems and processes are in place to identify and manage risks including developing, updating and submitting countrywide risk register to the RO in line with the Global Risk Management policy, and ensuring that risks are adequately identified, assessed, mitigated and reported on through risk registers at all levels in the country.
• Loss and Incident reporting: report timely and consistently all losses and incidents, including updates, to the International Headquarters (IH) and the RO;
• Legal and regulatory: oversees the review of agreements and contracts and ensure compliance with the host country laws and regulation, ensure the interface with the legal advisors, timely report all potential legal cases to legal advisors and to the RO and to IH as relevant;

Procedures, process and applications support:

• Provide and support applications and systems support and oversee the in-country strengthening of corporate systems and applications including finance systems (SAP), and related systems.
• Global and regional policies and procedures: oversee commitment and implementation of all global and regional policies and procedures in the country;
• In-country policies and procedures: develop and maintain up-to-date financial and administrative systems, policies, procedures and guidelines to support in-country operations and ensure compliance of Plan’s global standards and donor requirements.

Other responsibilities:

• Liaison with stakeholders: liaise with and communicate with government bodies, donors, United Nations system and local and international agencies stakeholders as required and directed by the Country Director.

Dealing with Problems:

• Ability to quickly understand and assimilate the complexity of Plan International Nigeria’s business model, systems and procedures, organisational structures and decision-making processes;
• Capable to work in a matrix management setup and to work collaboratively with functional leads in the RO i.e. finance, admin and the Transformation team;
• Good understanding of financial and admin systems and standards and be able to propose appropriate solutions to achieve efficiency and effectiveness;
• Good understanding of Security/emergency management to ensure staff safety, minimize risks and maintain business continuity;
• Ability to provide support to programme units and the country office staff to address internal child protection issues and other incidents;
• Ability to identify critical and systemic risks and take timely and appropriate actions.
• Ensures that Plan International’s global policies for Child Safeguarding and Gender Equality and Inclusion (GEI) are fully embedded in accordance with the principles and requirements of the policy including relevant Implementation Standards and Guidelines as applicable to their area of responsibility.

Key Relationship
Internal:

• Country Management Team members.
• Plan International Nigeria’s Board of Trustees
• Other Deputy CD-OP in the Region
• Head of Programme and Business Development.
• Regional Finance Manager
• Functional departments Heads in the RO (ICT, Human Resource, SSM, Finance and Grants Compliance, Finance and Administration)
• Quality Assurance Team
• Legal Counsel in the International Headquarters.

External:

• National and Local authorities especially relevant ministers in the country e.g. labour department, Ministry of Finance etc.
• Partners organisations
• Other INGO deputies and functional managers principally in the areas of: security, human resources and finance
• Legal Advisors in country;
• Security Associations and Networks

Technical Expertise, Skills and Knowledge
Essential:

• Relevant academic qualification with at least a Master’s degree in associated fields - Finance, Business Administration and Management.
• Proven experience in finance management, administration management, business management and procurement process
• Demonstrable knowledge as a result of education, training or practical experience on the key debates in development, particularly around child rights;
• Practical knowledge of operations supports for development;
• Proficient in Microsoft office packages and with Plan’s general ledger, grants tracking and SAP system
• Strong knowledge of the requirements of donors’ compliance and grants management;
• Fluency in English and strong working knowledge of French, spoken and written;
• Proven effective management skills leading teams across several sites and operating in a multi-cultural and matrix management structure
• Excellent proven financial analytical skills
• Ability to demonstrate and foster in team members a strong commitment to meeting the needs of other employees and managers for financial services
• 8 to 10 years’ experience in a managerial role and at least 5 years in an International NGO
• Ability to work under pressure

Leadership Skills and Behaviours demonstrated from experience:
Striving for high performance:

• Achieves clarity and accountability among whole team of their individual and collective objectives;
• Organises work clearly and effectively within the team;
• Deals with poor performers by either improving their contribution or managing their exit, when necessary.

Strategic thinking and innovation:

• Creates strong strategic direction for operational side of organisation in wider Plan International context;
• Major contributor to direction in the management team of which they are a member;
• Flexible in responding to new demands presented in emergency situations.

Decision making and risk management:

• Can address complex problems in a balanced way;
• Good judgment in decision-making, making best use of available information;
• Willing to make difficult or unpopular decisions and stand by them.

Influence and communication:

• Uses the potential of varied cultures to reach solutions;
• Excellent listener who understands and shows sensitivity to the views of others;
• Forms good relationships quickly with wide range of people, including those in positions of power and who have different views/ interests;
• Represents Plan effectively with senior people in external stakeholder organisations;
• Understands external and internal politics and able to navigate these;
• Communicates with clarity and passion both 1-1 and with large groups;
• Effective negotiator in complex situations;
• Assertive without being aggressive.

Desirable:
Self-awareness and resilience:

• Aware of own strengths, weaknesses and pro-active in using feedback and self-development
• Aware of impact on others and uses impact to create positive climate at work
• Aware of own emotional reactions and able to manage them
• Manages own workload effectively and manages stress without harm to self or others
• Positive about change and able to cope well with ambiguity and support others in doing so

Building effective teams and partnerships:

• Creates a highly motivated team with a unified purpose;
• Modifies own view to get best outcome for organisation;
• Contributes effectively to work of other functions/ units and to management team as a whole
• Able to build partnerships and improve relationships;
• Resolves conflict effectively in own team or across boundaries.

Developing people:

• Continuously uses both 1-1 and team situations to develop others;
• Organises work to give others development opportunities;
• Adapts style to suit the needs of a wide variety of people;
• Deals effectively with mistakes and re-motivates those involved.

Plan Internation's Values in Practise

• We are open and accountable:
• Promotes a culture of openness and transparency, including with sponsors and donors.
• Holds self and others accountable to achieve the highest standards of integrity.
• Consistent and fair in the treatment of people.
• Open about mistakes and keen to learn from them.
• Accountable for ensuring we are a safe organisation for all children, girls & young people

We strive for lasting impact:

• Articulates a clear purpose for staff and sets high expectations.
• Creates a climate of continuous improvement, open to challenge and new ideas.
• Focuses resources to drive change and maximise long-term impact, responsive to changed priorities or crises.
• Evidence-based and evaluates effectiveness.

We work well together:

• Seeks constructive outcomes, listens to others, willing to compromise when appropriate.
• Builds constructive relationships across Plan International to support our shared goals.
• Develops trusting and ‘win-win’ relationships with funders, partners and communities.
• Engages and works well with others outside the organization to build a better world for girls and all children.

We are inclusive and empowering:

• We empower our staff to give their best and develop their potential
• We respect all people, appreciate differences and challenge equality in our programs and our workplace
• We support children, girls and young people to increase their confidence and to change their own lives.

Physical Environment:

• The position is located in Abuja, Nigeria. It will however require regular travels to field locations.

Level of Contact with Children:

• Low contact: No contact or very low frequency of interaction

Salary
Competitive. Please note this role is mandatory unaccompanied