Head of Operations at IHS Towers

Reports To: Director- Network Operations

Summary

• To lead and manage all operational activities for the IHS operations in the region, providing strategic and operational leadership to the sales and operations team and associated support functions.
• To implement the overall business strategy at the region and support the achievement of the organization’s financial metrics and goals as defined by the profit and strategic plans.

Responsibilities
Strategy, Vision and Leadership:

• Contribute to advise Director, Network Operations and other key members of senior management on financial planning, budgeting, cash flow, investment priorities, and policy matters relating to the Operational Projects Office.
• Responsible for translating IHS strategic objectives into actionable operational plans detailing clear implementation roadmap and milestones at the assigned region.
• Develop and implement comprehensive goals for performance and growth strategies.

Team Development/Leadership:

• Thoroughly understand and communicate requirements to appropriate team members, and manage all requirements accordingly to each stakeholder.
• Ensure team members have the needed tools and provide timely feedback.
• Promote a culture of high performance and continuous improvement that values learning and a commitment to quality.
• Mentor and develop staff using a supportive and collaborative approach: assign accountabilities; set objectives; establish priorities; and monitor and evaluate results.
• Provide mentoring to all subordinates.
• Lead employees to encourage maximum performance and dedication.
• Ensure all teams are practicing the principles of collaboration, prioritization, team accountability and visibility

Operations:

• Validate and approve diesel allocation report and identify any changes in the allocation plan for escalation.
• Interface with vendor in the case of deviation to diesel loading plan to ensure schedule adherence and request HQ support loading if required.
• Receive reports from RTOs on diesel delivery and confirm the need for diesel intervention to the Director, Network Operations and affected SMC.
• Validate all requests for emergency diesel delivery within the region.
• Intervene and interface with vendor on all issues arising from deviations in the maintenance plan and trigger the maintenance intervention or non-routine maintenance process.
• Review business case for non-routine maintenance and grant/deny approval.
• Interface with vendor on all pricing and non – routine maintenance agreements.
• Sign off on invoice, and JCC for all maintenance work carried out within the region.
• Approve the Material Requisition form for request of materials for In House Maintenance.
• Be informed of issues relating to RMS and Solar solutions on sites within the region and monitor the resolution of such issues.
• Endorse infra-request business case for asset requirement and seek final approval.
• Be informed of all integration issues and seek to resolve it.
• Manage day-to-day organizational and business relationships with IHS organization and stakeholders in the region.
• Manage the supplier relationships to ensure deliverables are achieved in timely and cost effective period.
• Review the performance of individual team members and complete appraisals in accordance with the employee performance appraisal procedures and time schedules.
• Support the Director, Network Operations in the assigned region to ensure that the field operations engineers effectively carry out their responsibilities and ensure smooth running of the operations.
• Coach and train the Network Operations and Maintenance team to ensure understanding of the objectives and goals of the department, create awareness of set targets/requirements and regularly review their training needs.
• Develop metrics required to measure business processes and performance, build tools and job aids for monitoring performance and identify performance variances to facilitate focus and intervention in critical areas for constant improvement.
• Provide input into annual budgetary plans for the region and monitor and track CAPEX and OPEX trends in the Region.
• Provide input into continuous development of site maintenance processes.
• Continually assess operational and business continuity risks and provide timely awareness as well as deploying mitigating initiatives.
• Achieve productivity gains and manage budget to ensure operational and financial goals are met.
• Monitor business performance against plan and makes adjustments as needed.
• Ensure customer satisfaction, high levels of service and promote continuous improvement efforts in order to drive repeated business and customer loyalty.
• Stay informed of market and customer trends in order to anticipate developments and plan accordingly.
• Identify and develop possibilities for future business growth, including possible acquisitions, bringing them to the attention to the relevant team for further investigation and possible next steps.
• Effectively collaborate across functions (working in the matrix) to build joint objectives to reach regional goals.

General Duties:

• Promote communication between colleagues for the benefit of information flow and to curb any problems that arise.
• Write and submit reports to the Director, Network Operations in all matters relating to the region.
• Manage relationships with partners/vendors.
• Perform other appropriate duties as requested by Director, Network Operations.

Education and Experience

• 1st degree in Telecommunications Engineering or related discipline
• Master’s degree in an engineering field and/ or an MBA would be advantageous
• Professional Certifications such as PMP or PRINCE2 would be advantageous