Jobs at VisionSpring

About You

• You are an excellent writer and storyteller. You light up when your cohesive, creative campaign resonates with your audience.
• You have an eye for design and love generating distinctive messaging that allows mission-driven organizations to do good, better.
• You are deeply curious about social enterprise models and the experiences of partners and customers. You are an organizational ambassador and inspire excitement.
• You find joy in collaborating with team members across cultures and time zones.
• You enjoy creating structure in a dynamic organization, have exceptional focus and follow-through, and prioritize before you act.

About Us

• VisionSpring is creating access to affordable eyewear, everywhere. Clear vision creates opportunities for increased learning, work, safety, civic participation, and quality of life.
• As a social enterprise, social change motivates us first. Our focus on sales and revenue targets serves and advances our mission objective—to increase functioning, productivity, and income earning potential for our low-income consumers by correcting refractive error with eyeglasses.
• We are working to transform the systemic dysfunction of an optical market that has failed to deliver eyeglasses—a 700-year-old technology—to 1.1 billion consumers in need of vision correction, most of whom live on less than $4 a day.
• We serve low-income consumers, not as beneficiaries but as customers. Our customers expect a high-quality and affordable product, and they will spend limited discretionary income for the immediate and tangible benefits of vision correction.
• By selling eyeglasses, we awaken new demand and seed a viable market. By selling new eyeglasses we are able to serve four times as many people per dollar input than the alternative of donating recycled ones. To efficiently scale, we must deliver each new unit with lower cost.
• We run our business on both sales metrics and social impact measures. We use a range of organizational forms and practices to get the job done.
• We believe in scaling our impact, not our organization. We are a lean team of doers.

What You'll Do

Strategy, Planning, and Reporting

• Co-direct, develop, and execute the strategic and long-term roadmap of the product, service, and strategic communications content plan to amplify VisionSpring’s story.
• Create and develop a content creation program, including co-directing the timing and implementation of the editorial calendar and process.
• Track content creation activities, prepare and submit content performance reports and plans to scale. Contribute to marketing and communications budget creation.
• Co-create and design a dynamic tactical content strategy and a 3-5-year content road map with key KPIs to measure success as VisionSpring creates, delivers, and publishes engaging content.
• Contribute to reports on marketing and communications metrics.

Content Creation, Development, and Oversight

• Work closely with the CEO, global director of marketing and communications, and the direct team to master the visual and written production of the VisionSpring “voice.”
• Capitalize on opportunities to teach colleagues how to create dynamic content with the VisionSpring voice.
• Prioritize and manage high-performance content including videos, social media posts, annual and quarterly reports, donor communications, product and program support materials, fact sheets, website collateral, briefings, newsletters, blogs, and scripts.
• Maintain VisionSpring’s brand throughout all content including appropriate use of logo, consistent look and feel, and messaging.
• Build and co-manage a team of direct reports and indirect management of international consultants to produce digital, print, and multimedia content for omnichannel publication.
• Oversee the management of content developed for in-market fundraising and business development while supporting program implementation.
• Collaboratively oversee communications, multimedia, project management, and marketing operations in key markets; manage global direct and indirect teams as they create and edit content, and contribute to the design of social media campaigns, grant proposals, digital and print materials for programs, products, press opportunities, and publicity amplification.
• Negotiate contracts with, and manage, supply chain of creative agencies and freelancers.

Website Content Development and Digital Marketing Management

• Collaborate with the global director of marketing and communications and website consultants to refresh and maintain VisionSpring’s website for greater lead generation and engagement.
• Inform a staged website redesign leveraging external UI/UX designers and coders.
• Design opportunities to improve visitor conversion to partner/donor.
• Support the continual improvement of international SEO website strategy.
• Leverage Google Analytics to develop future digital content strategy.
• Co-create and execute full lifecycle global multimedia campaigns.

Compensation

• Salary range is $30,000-45,000 USD per year, based on breadth and depth of relevant experience.
• Annual performance-based bonus.

Requirements

• Minimum of 15 years of experience in marketing, communications, and/or product management and 7 years of experience leading global teams and projects.
• Outstanding writing, editing, public speaking, and interpersonal communications skills.
• Leadership experience in campaign development and messaging architecture, including for branding, product/service sales, and consumer behavior change.
• Experience marketing to low-income consumers and/or clients serving this segment in global geographies.
• Eye for design and experience overseeing layout and graphics development, including use of Lightroom, Photoshop, and Adobe Premiere.
• Comfort using Google Analytics, Google Ads, and PPC.
• Impeccable attention to detail with strong project management, organizational, and analytical skills.
• Commitment to developing people and working respectfully across a diverse team.
• Must be legally and permanently authorized to work in Nigeria or Ghana.
• Able to travel, up to 25% of time, for domestic and international assignments to locations with limited infrastructure.

You will impress us if you have any of the following:

• Master’s degree in marketing, filmmaking, journalism, communications, or another relevant field;
• Website management and knowledge of multimedia production process;
• Experience with social enterprises and/or nonprofits; and/or
• Understanding of marketing automation platforms.

go to method of application »

About You

• You are passionate about building a purpose-first business that creates positive, lasting change in the lives of low-income consumers.
• You are energized by the constructive tension of growing sales and programs, and blending business and non-profit practices.
• You are resourceful and decisive in a fast-growing organization. You seek answers, create structure, and devise solutions when obstacles appear.
• You look for opportunities to develop team members’ competencies and strengths.
• You facilitate personal development and team learning. Former colleagues still call you for advice because you help them thrive.
• You are innately rigorous in all that you do, from strategy to process development.
• You monitor progress against goals and make data-driven decisions.
• You are an effective communicator. You motivate teams, partners, and clients around shared goals and what can be accomplished together.
• You solicit input and give and receive candid, respectful feedback.

What You'll Do

Leadership & Strategic Direction (15% of time)

As a member of the Africa leadership team:

• Model VisionSpring’s core values and sustain an inclusive team culture built upon them: 1) Help others to do; 2) Advance equity; 3) Constantly adapt, relentlessly improve; 4) Default to transparency, reveal hard truths; and 5) Learn together.
• Work with the Africa Region Director and Global Programs Vice President to develop a five-year Nigeria strategy, aligned to enterprise-wide goals, for scaling-up Vision Access Programs. Pharmacy and Institutional Sales to serve more target customers and maintain eyeglasses coverage rates.
• Oversee the implementation of annual plans and budgets. Help Nigeria team members to develop work plans, meet milestones and targets, and adapt in the face of challenges and risks.
• Make recommendations for building team capacity and processes to deliver on growth objectives.
• Foster cross-organizational learning. Share best practices from Nigeria and absorb lessons from other markets into Nigeria.
• Identify opportunities for partnerships with government, professional bodies, private sector and non-profit organizations to facilitate scaling.

Product Sales and Institutional Partnerships (20% of time)

• Support the sales team in developing market penetration plans and achieving eyeglasses sales targets.
• For Institutional Partners, guide key account management, negotiations and resolution of customer complaints.
• Ensure all sales activities are tracked in Salesforce, VisionSpring’s CRM system.
• Ensure sales performance is recorded by the Nigeria finance department.
• Ensure marketing campaigns are implemented across all channels.

Program Planning and Management (30% of time)

In collaboration with the global program office to:

• Guide the expansion and achievement of outcomes for Vision Access Programs, particularly: See to Earn: Work with the Africa Program Coordinator and Nigeria Program Lead to rapidly expand the implementation of vision screening and eyeglasses dispensing, particularly for farmers, artisans and micro-entrepreneurs particularly in cocoa-growing regions. Pharmacy Channel: Work with the Global Pharmacy Sales Manager and Nigeria Pharmacy Lead to develop a scalable channel to establish durable points of sale of reading glasses. Leverage the demand generation work of See to Earn programs.
• Ensure programs are achieving targets on time and budget. Guide team members in making data-backed decisions and problem solving.
• Lead continuous improvement. Establish routines to gather and act upon customer and frontline team member feedback. Oversea the introduction of new technologies, products and approaches to improve quality, efficacy and efficiency of service delivery.
• Ensure implementing partners have information and steady support to achieve goals.

Shared Services: People, Supply Chain and Financial Management (20% of time)

• Work with human resources to strengthen team members’ abilities to deliver results and assume greater responsibilities, manage performance and address concerns.
• Maintain a culture and working environment that fosters high levels of mission alignment, diversity, cohesion and motivation.
• Plan and guide promotions and recruitment, including the timely release of job requisitions.
• Inform procurement and supply chain activities, including inventory planning and new product introduction.
• Manage the country budget in accordance with the profit & loss statement. Manage costs and margins. Effectively use financial resources, demonstrating value for money.
• Support the global finance team to deliver accurate and timely financial reporting and annual audits.
• Manage resources with transparency and proactively respond to suspicions of fraud. violations of VisionSpring’s Code of Conduct and other complaints.

Resource Mobilization (15%)

Partner with the global resource mobilization and global program offices to effectively build relationships and secure terms of service contracts and raise philanthropic funds, from corporates, foundations and governments.

• Identify and pursue funding opportunities to advance VisionSpring’s strategic priorities.
• Contribute to proposals and reports that accurately convey context, progress against objectives, lessons learned, and detailed budgets and utilization.
• Support proactive and transparent communication with donors and stakeholders.
• Represent VisionSpring in forums to share what we are learning, build external relationships and advocate for our mission.

Requirements

• A minimum of 10 years of professional experience in public health, international development, fast-moving consumer goods, pharmacy/medical sales, or other relevant business.
• Prior responsibility for teams of at least 5 people and budgets of $500,000 or more.
• Experience in growth-stage, target driven operations for sales and/or program objectives.
• Business development or fundraising experience resulting in more than $100,000 in revenues.
• Experience managing network of partners and/or multi-stakeholder collaborations.
• Timely decision making, follow-through and a strong personal sense of accountability.
• Committed to respectful collaboration with colleagues from diverse backgrounds.
• Must meet the highest standards of ethics, with a demonstrated capacity for discretion and for handling sensitive information with care.
• Fluency in English, written and verbal.

Preferred experience:

• Project Management Professional (PMP) certification;
• Consultative sales experience;
• Graduate education in a relevant field; and/or
• Familiarity with Salesforce, SAP or similar systems.

Compensation

• Salary range is based on experience, education and location.
• We offer comprehensive benefits, including health insurance and generous vacation time.