Human Resource Opportunity at Bridge International Academies

The Bridge Offer
Roughly 2.7 billion people live on less than $2/day. In their communities, there is a huge gap between the education offered and the needs of the population. Too often the schools available to them fail. The quality offered is poor, teachers are unresponsive and occasionally abusive, and fees are expensive. Even “free” government schools can cost anywhere between $2 and $12 per month after all of the additional fees (some sanctioned, some not) are added up. 55% of families end up choosing private schools instead, but then fear for the stability and sustainability of their choice as many schools close after only a few years of service. Both the government schools and the private schools tend to lack well-conceived curriculum, student achievement data, and the capacity to react to that data.

Families are actively searching for a better academic alternative.
Enter Bridge International Academies. As of October 2016, Bridge operates more than 500 academies, serving roughly 120,000 pupils in Kenya and Uganda,Nigeria, Liberia and India

Bridge utilizes a scripted-learning education methodology coupled with 'big data' (all teachers have tablets for instruction, assessment, and data-gathering) that allows us to make curriculum a little better every day.

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

People Operations at Bridge
People are at the core of what we do, from the teachers in our academies to software developers building our tech platform – and we do it at massive scale with rapid growth. The People Operations team is the key in unlocking “people potential” towards achieving our company’s goals. We believe in:

Focusing on operational excellence and execution - we want to make our employees' and their managers' lives simpler, and give them the tools and support to be successful. We must excel first and foremost on service delivery.
Using analytics/data to drive key decisions and continuous improvement - across core HR competencies like compensation, performance, talent, we believe that an analytical approach will enable us to attract, reward, and retain top performers.
Aligning with the company's strategic objectives - we are all playing for the same team. The human resources function, along with finance, operations, legal, and other functional areas, should be fully in sync.

About the role
The People Operations Officer- Compensation & Benefits, will manage the administration of compensation, benefit and welfare plans and carry out periodic survey of the industry to determine the company’s competitive position in compensation and employee benefits.

What You Will Do

• Respond to payroll needs around onboarding and separations in a timely manner; push managers for information where there are gaps
• Understand the business and specific operations that generate payroll data, tracking and reporting payroll inputs and outputs into the Navision system; must ensure that all inputs are 100% correct and up-to-date
• Conduct Payroll Verification and ensure that all employees and contractors are properly represented with the right deductions/additions, if any. Generate monthly report on headcount
• Support staff with questions about health plan coverage, manage additions to coverage, deal with other health coverage issues
• Attend to staff queries and reporting needs of payroll services within standard confidentiality limits
• Preparation of statutory returns and ensuring compliance to all monthly and annual reporting, payments and submission deadlines
• Lead the preparation of payroll audit files for compliance, internal and external audits
• Manage all maternity leave and long-term sick leave requests, approvals, and follow-up documentation
• Administering all other benefits for staff

Professional Requirements

• High integrity with natural ability to maintain confidentiality and presence of mind when handling payroll and staff matters
• Strong adherence to systems and process
• Experience working with a culturally and socioeconomically diverse workforce
• Minimum of four years of full-time work experience in Human Resources
• Good working knowledge of Microsoft Office; technologically competent/quick learner
• Work experience in fast-growth, rapid-scale contexts, particularly with large numbers of field staff
• Outstanding written and verbal communication skills
• Keen Eye for detail
• High energy and enthusiasm level; willingness to do whatever necessary to get the job done
• Microsoft Dynamics NAV experience preferred

What You Should Have
Bachelor's Degree, preferably with Business Administration and/or Human Resources course specialization, with exemplary academic performance
CIPM/CIPD/SHRM certification preferred

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 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 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). 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 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.