Director of Operations at Cam Dairy Foods Limited

Reporting lines: The Operations Director reports to the CEO

Job Description

• Our client is looking for an entrepreneurial and ambitious executor that is energised and ready for a new challenge, in a role with great growth opportunities and tremendous impact potential.
• As an operations intensive business, which will be sourcing raw material from farmers and shipping physical products to thousands of consumers, Câm is looking for a self-starter that is committed and passionate about our purpose, ambition, and values, and has a high degree of integrity, to help build and grow our operations.
• The role combines the need for both strategic thinking and planning, strong organisational and operations management skills, as well as the day-to-day process and people management necessary for success in a rapidly evolving environment.
• You will bea confidential and trusted partner and adviser to the CEO, and be responsible for all field operations from farm to factory, extension support services, logistics and distribution, You will oversee the planning, inventory reconciliation & network optimization, transportation, planning analysis, KPI reporting, allocation and support initiatives as needed, development of internal operations processes and work with the CEO to build our organisational culture.
• The ideal candidate for this role is passionate and motivated by opportunities to transform bold and ambitious ideas into actionable, impactful strategies. This is the ultimate role for a driven individual with big career ambitions, and aspirations to grow into the role of an Operations VP of a highly successful industry leader in the future.

Responsibilities

• Contributing to strategic decision-making, business planning, and organisational development.
• Collaborating with the CEO on setting and communicating measurable, time-bound organizational priorities, developing and managing the implementation of plans, ensuring continued alignment of resources and regularly reviewing progress on achievement in line with these priorities.
• Building, managing and leading a supply chain operations team that effectively demonstrates Câm’s organisational culture and values, consistently performs at a high standard through the execution of highly efficient processes and the delivery of high-quality products to customers.
• Engaging with and building relationships with community leaders, including pastoralists and farmer engagement.
• Overseeing and ensuring the development of training content and conducting training for team members and pastoralists.
• Designing and implementing data collection systems and processes.
• Rigorously monitoring and analysing field data to understand the business' performance and continuously implement data-driven improvements; distilling internal and external data/research into actionable insights, opinions, and recommendations.
• Developing and effectively implementing internal systems, business processes, SOPs, and organisational policies and procedures that ensure efficient and effective operations. This includes reviewing, improving, and continuing to codify our existing operating standards into a rock-solid playbook that allows us to scale.
• Promoting the identification and adoption of established best practices, whilst creating an environment that encourages the implementation of creative solutions.
• Planning, managing and coordinating all activities related to the replenishment of raw materials to meet the changing levels of product demand Developing, managing and coordinating logistics and distribution of finished products (in-house and with 3PLs and fulfillment partners) with a focus on operational excellence, cost management, proactively monitoring performance and daily execution to ensure timely fulfillment of customer orders and excellent customer service.
• Reconciling of inventory in collaboration with the Finance and Accounting and Factory Operations teams.

Role Requirements

• Bachelor's Degree in Business Administration or related field.
• A Master’s Degree in a related field is a plus.
• At least 3 years as a senior management stand-out performance managing high-level organisational operations, systems and people in various fields and departments and a minimum of 9 years experience in an operational role.
• Experience with various facets within operations: program management, planning, forecasting, logistics, warehousing and inventory management.
• Experience with inventory management, reconciliation and fulfillment across multiple locations.
• Knowledge of key service performance metrics and KPIs.
• Experience managing dispersed teams.
• Experience working will smallholder farmers.
• Experience in rural or development-related activities (agricultural sector preferred).
• Excellent analytical, modeling and reporting skills.
• Extremely agile and able to adapt to changing priorities and needs.
• Superior communication skills - ability to communicate/present at different organisational levels and work cross-functionally.
• Proficiency in Microsoft Office tools (Word, Excel, and PowerPoint).
• Languages: Fluency in English and Hausa (Fulfulde is a strong advantage).

Skills and Attributes:

• You are a multifunctional, results-driven leader, manager, collaborator, and culture builder - able to identify, take advantage of, and build on the right opportunities.
• You have the ability to synthesize knowledge, trends, dynamics, and best practices from a range of geographies and industries, and use these to create systems and processes that enable the organisation to capture growth opportunities and become more competitive and profitable.
• You are organized and enjoy creating efficient processes and bringing structure to an organization, ensuring things run smoothly and getting the organization ready for growth and new opportunities.
• You have excellent analytical skills and use data-driven decision-making to ensure successful performance.
• You have strong past results in creating and implementing processes, the ability to influence adoption in the team and iterating processes based on learnings.
• You have experience in and get energised by managing people and farmers, you are a highly efficient manager of resources (people and otherwise), and are able to effectively delegate tasks and other areas of responsibility.
• You drive new initiatives, embrace and push for change, and are not afraid to try something new.
• You have strong interpersonal skills, emotional intelligence, and cultural awareness.
• You are a facilitator, you listen intently, resolve conflicts effectively, integrate feedback and create an environment where everyone feels comfortable to speak up and develop ideas together.
• You learn quickly, can operate with high autonomy, and are willing to make a deep and focused commitment to growing the business.
• You are Ready to Get Stuff Done (GSD) at a high level. If something’s not happening fast enough, your gut instinct should be to pick up the phone, pound on doors, take a road trip or jump on flights, and relentlessly pursue your goal until it’s done.