Development Director at Bridge International Academies

The Bridge Approach

Education is in crisis in many countries around the world. It is estimated that 264 million children and young people are out of school, and 330 million children are in school but not learning. In addition, an extra 69 million teachers are needed to achieve the 2030 UN education goals.

Many education systems are plagued with inadequate materials and poor management systems, all leading to chronic teacher absenteeism and a lack of learning. Education reform is challenging but it is urgently required if we are to prevent another generation of children missing out. So, we work in partnership with governments, NGOs and non-state actors to address the huge education imbalance between what is available and what is needed right now — we work to bridge the gap.

We believe parents have the right to choose a school for their children and we enable families to enjoy seeing their children learn, improve and flourish at Bridge schools. We locate our schools in some of the most disadvantaged communities in the world. Families in our communities can be earning just $1.90 per person a day; a level the World Bank notes is at extreme poverty. By putting learning at the centre of all we do, Bridge has become an extremely popular choice for underserved families and low-income communities.

With plans to enroll ten million students ten years from now, Bridge offers a tremendous opportunity to grow with one of the world’s most exciting and ambitious social enterprises, with leadership roles available across a number of competencies and geographies.

[Development/Development]
Our Development group (real estate, physical planning, and construction) owns the life cycle of academy expansion, from identifying potential land deals in our communities through to constructing academies, sometimes several dozen at a time. The construction team is a key area of the business and is responsible for the construction, modification or repair of school buildings prior to the opening of all academies. 

About the Role

Bridge has done what many people thought was impossible. We’ve standardized and delivered high-quality education to more than 120,000 pupils in Kenya and Uganda for just $6 a month. As the largest private provider of basic education on the African continent, we’re now ready to take our approach to other countries across Africa, and the globe. The Development Director, Nigeria will be the first to make this happen in Nigeria, and with that prove that a family’s income does not determine what a child’s future can hold.

This is an incredibly exciting position, and not for the faint at heart. There will be many intense hours and you will face more conflicting priorities and unexpected setbacks than you thought possible before the grand opening celebrations of the first cohort of academies are even underway. Luckily, there will be just as many rewards both personally and professionally. You will personally build a business that will drive innovation and reform in education in Nigeria for the majority of the region’s population. Bridge’s model is simple in its concept – hire experts to build best-in-class systems, use technology to deliver them, and data to track and improve upon them – but very laborious in its implementation.  As the Development Director, you drive growth of new service delivery units, or academies. You direct and drive delivery for the teams that produce a full school ready to enroll children: real estate acquisition, urban and physical planning, and construction. You must interface and engage heavily with People Operations to ensure fully trained academy staff and with Supply Chain to ensure the materials needed for construction are ready to use, at or under the budget set. You will engage with Marketing to ensure your teams are integrated into holistic brand engagement and customer acquisition.

This is a role for someone who is excited by taking on a radical challenge: delivering land at very low cost, securing planning approvals in 2 weeks, constructing and kitting a 12 classroom school in 14 days. You will be excited the challenge of figuring out how to drive this all across Nigeria.

 This is not an armchair position. This is not a position where there is light management. This is a position for someone who can manage managers to succeed through coaching and empowerment, but digs into the weeds when a manager is flailing and can personally help solve the problem and set a new pathway to success.

 This will be exhilarating but demanding. You’ll be working on one of the biggest problems of developing economies and poverty alleviation, where trillions of dollars have had little effect, and thousands of initiatives have failed to change the systematic failure to provide children living in poverty with high-quality education. You are going to change this, enabling children from low-income families to access world-class basic education, democratizing the right to succeed.

We’re looking for ambition, organization, drive, intellect, problem solving, and respect for others. We are also looking for someone who has deep experience in managing managers and delivering work directly. And, critically, you know that you still have a lot to learn and you know that working at Bridge will give you that opportunity to build on your experience while learning anew. You will report to the Expansion Director, Nigeria, with dotted line reporting to the Chief Development Officer. You will have an equity stake in the global company.

What You Will Do

• Deliver up to 100 new academies per cohort on time and within budget.
• Build and manage a team of construction supervisors that will oversee work at individual sites. These supervisors are responsible for hiring and managing all local labour (unskilled and skilled), tracking delivery and use of all construction materials, and ensuring the buildings are built per code.
• Coordinate structural designs and building to ensure all academies are 100% safe and up to the needed building standards. This may require hiring a full-time structural or civil engineer and/or architect to oversee the structural drawings and designs of each academy.
• Oversee the work needed to get all permits from local and state authorities for building, occupation, safety, etc.
• Closely monitor financial requests and expenditures at all points in the Development process – from purchasing supplies to labour rates on site – to ensure that construction is completed within budget and with no fraud. Payments to vendors and workers will require your approval and you will work closely with our Finance Department to design and use internal controls to minimize financial leakage.
• Procure high value construction materials – such as paint – either locally or centrally in a cost-effective fashion and transport these materials to construction sites as needed. In addition, you will oversee the construction of pupil desks and their delivery to each new academy before class starts. These tasks may require the hiring and training of a full-time employee dedicated to supply chain.
• At times, negotiate long-term leases for promising parcels of land that would be good sites for Bridge Academies.
• Repair or expand existing academies when extra classrooms are needed.
• Over the medium-term, investigate new or revised engineering and design processes to ensure we are delivering the best possible schools within the financial model required for Bridge to be sustainable.
• Seek guidance and Bridge best practices from other Development Directors to ensure you are following Bridge processes

What You Should Have

• Degree(s) in Civil Engineering or Construction from a recognized university
• Minimum of 15 years’ experience working in a construction development role
• Minimum of 5 years’ experience leading a team and experience motivating a field-based team to achieve targets
• Strong understanding of building/planning codes and local permitting processes in AP
• Appropriately registered with the relevant professional bodies
• Very detail-oriented, organized, and hands-on; willing to travel frequently at short notice to get things done
• Strong project management skills and experience – overseeing multiple deliverables at numerous sites. Key to this are computing skills especially in Excel.
• Knowledge and experience managing construction-related supply chain

• 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 startup or social enterprise.
  
   A creative problem-solver – Growing any enterprise from scratch comes with massive and constant challenges. On top of that, Bridge works in often challenging, low-resource communities and runs on fees averaging just $6 a month per pupil. You need to be flexible and ready to get everything done effectively, quickly, and affordably with the materials at hand. Every dollar you spend is a dollar our customers, who live on less than $2 a day, will have to pay for.
  
  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). Every decision you make considers their customer benefit, experience, and value.
  
  A life-long 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.