Office Manager at IDP Education Ltd

The Position

• The Office Manager will strengthen IDP’s leadership position for student placement to Australia and build IDP to become a top player in Multi-Destination. The Ideal Candidate will develop and execute destination business plans and activity calendars to deliver pipeline leads and conversion targets by IDP. Provide strong business leadership, instilling IDP’s vision for the organization and a performance-driven culture with the business unit team. Provide mentoring, coaching, and ongoing communication thereby driving high engagement and excellent business results. Build strong client support through ongoing engagement and client relations.
• Build strong working matrix relationships with regional / country teams – destination and marketing - to deliver optimal results. Contribute to building a world-class operating environment by exhibiting a collaborative but decisive operating style. Effectively implement global priority projects in the country/business unit. Be a productive and effective member of country leadership team and support direct supervisor / County Director through exhibiting a collaborative operating style but ensuring that decisions are taken on time.

Key Responsibilities
People

• Develop a strong counselling/sales team and oversee the creation of a dynamic, inclusive workplace, building the culture while recognizing and celebrating innovation, success and achievement.
• Build a performance-driven culture and ensure transparent evaluation of team members’ performance against predefined specific objectives.
• Develop the destination knowledge and market understanding of team members to support increased performance outcomes.

Business and Operations Management 

• Drive the development and implementation of office-based business plans that address country needs and are aligned with IDP’s strategic milestones.
• Set and monitor business unit KPIs to support the implementation of the business plan.
• Improve business performance by identifying and maximizing opportunities for leverage across offices of knowledge, skills and infrastructure.
• Ensure that all IDP systems and tools are effectively implemented and used as intended to support local business operations.

Financial Management 

• Provide input to the budget process, annual business planning activities and quarterly forecasts.
• Develop the team’s understanding of the invoicing cycle for each destination and ensure effective follow-up with the finance team to track invoices and revenue recognition in EBS (Oracle e-business suite). 
• Collaborate with the regional Finance team and direct supervisor to implement forecasting methodologies and processes to achieve accurate, timely pipeline and revenue forecasts for the business unit.

Sales Performance 

• Develop and maintain a strong sales and service culture within the business.
• Identify, develop and implement strategies to achieve sales objectives for the business unit. Monitor results and initiate corrective action where required.
• Collaborate with Marketing and Destination Management teams to develop and implement lead generation programs including events, client office visits, web etc., ensure appropriate counselling capacity/capability is in place and ensure consistent sales, service and client management performance standards and benchmarks which are continuously improved.
• Establish best practice frameworks and mechanisms to enhance sales performance.
• Lead and support business unit to improve sales productivity through the implementation of global CRM system adoption, pipeline management, conversion benchmarks. Improve sales skills through training.
• Agree and implement counsellor KPIs (quarterly and annually) including APFs/pipeline (leads and applications) targets for each destination. 

Service Standards 

• Provide inputs and take necessary actions to support the ongoing development and maintenance of service and client management performance standards and benchmarks for the business unit / country.

Client Participation 

• Support and drive counsellors understanding of key client-facing projects and activities (e.g. OSCAR Applied / B2B) to increase their capability and ensure full integration into the IDP sales process.

Key Relationships 

• Where required, represent IDP in forums and events of regional/global significance (e.g.: AIEC, Going Global etc).

Communication

• Speedily determine when an issue needs to be escalated to supervisor for resolution.
• Proactively provide timely feedback and advice to the Supervisor on the management of offices and on issues arising from competitor activities, changing business environments, change in student visa policies etc.

Required Qualities

• Work Experience: 4-5 years’ experience working in international Higher education sector or study abroad programs. 
• Academic Background: Holds a Bachelor's or Master's degree in a relevant field.
• Business Management: Proven experience in managing operations within a customer-focused, international organization.
• Financial Acumen: Demonstrated ability to create, manage, and analyze budgets, with a focus on achieving business objectives.
• Leadership Skills: Proven track record of leading and motivating teams to deliver results.
• Stakeholder Management: Exceptional ability to build strong relationships with diverse stakeholders, including students and clients.
• Problem-Solving: Strong analytical skills to identify and resolve challenges effectively.
• Ethical Leadership: Committed to upholding high ethical standards and acting in the best interests of the organization.
• Communication Excellence: Exceptional communication and interpersonal skills.
• Customer Focus: Passionate about delivering exceptional service to students and clients.