Area Manager at Bridge International Academies

Location: Yaba - Lagos

Job Summary

• We are looking for passionate, dedicated and energetic people to join our rapidly growing organization. If you believe in our mission and are looking for a fast-paced, always changing working environment with room to grow and learn, we are looking for you!

What you will do
Bridge ensures efficient management of its schools through a schools organizational structure that divides schools into regions and territories and assigns management oversight of each region to one supervisor. An area manager is responsible for the management of a group of schools and area managers report to a regional manager who in turn is responsible for the success of that school region or territory. The schools are situated in various communities across the state in Nigeria to which you are assigned. As area manager, you will:

• Work closely with a large group of schools in your territory to ensure that they are operating at the highest levels across operations, instruction and finance. 
• Area Managers completely own (and therefore are accountable for) the performance metrics of all of the Schools in your territory, as measured by financial, operational and instructional benchmarks.  
• This role requires a constant presence at the Schools and close interaction with each School Head, as well as Teachers, to ensure that there is continuous bi-directional communication and coaching.
• In addition to interactions with schools, the Area Manager is expected to build close relationships with the local and state level government officials, the traditional and local community leaders, and Parents of the children in the school to promote the importance of education, garner support for the school and education ministry’s activities as it relates to their children and to keep a constant monitor on their feedback.
• Travel: Must travel on a daily basis via public means to Schools in your region.  Depending on region, Area Managers may spend as many as 15 nights per month away from home to meet the travel demands of the territory.

Requirements

• Dynamic, articulate, organized with an attention to detail. Must be passionate about following processes and procedures, and be extremely data-driven.
• Must care about education and schooling in general. Experience in low cost education environments or in the public schooling environment is an advantage. 
• Capable of a consultative, coaching and mentoring approach to help School Heads improve their performance, but also capable of taking a commanding “no-nonsense” approach to enforce the desired actions as necessary.

Desired Qualifications and Skills

• This role would suit someone who has extensive experience doing community based work, field management expertise and strong people management and program management skills.
• Degree qualified with at least 3 years of professional work experience
• Prior team leadership experience using a hands-on role model approach to management and the ability to coach others
• Proven ability to drive results
• Passion for providing outstanding customer service
• Excellent practical problem solving skills with the ability to multi-task and prioritize effectively
• Previous experience building relationships with government and community officials
• Willingness to have tough conversations when circumstances require it and to take a “no nonsense” approach to driving business results.
• High level of energy and enthusiasm so as to be effective in a fast paced environment with multiple demands.

You Are Also:

• Proactive - You don’t always need supervision and you are a self-starter. Your personal drive to succeed and deliver keeps you working when you may not have a supervisor with you.
• 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 networking mastermind- You excel at meeting new people and turning them into advocates.  You communicate in a clear, conscientious, and effective way in both written and oral speech.  You can influence strangers in the course of a single conversation.  Allies and colleagues will go to bat for your ideas.
• A creative problem-solver- Growing any business from scratch comes with massive and constant challenges.  On top of that, Bridge works in volatile, low-resource communities and runs on fees averaging around $7 a month per pupil.  You need to be flexible and ready to get everything done effectively, quickly, and affordably with the materials at hand. 
• A customer advocate- Our customers – these families living on less than $2 a day per person – 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 customer 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.