Job Offers at Bridge International Academies

About The Role

• The Manager, Policy and Partnership will play a substantial and crucial role in mobilising, growing and managing partnerships and sponsorships programmes across Bridge Nigeria. (S)he will use resource mobilisation, account management and communication (written and verbal) skills as well as administration experience to identify, develop, harness and manage collaborative relationships with external stakeholders at network/program level. This will involve sourcing new sponsors and partners and managing these relationships along with existing sponsors and partners particularly within the Non-governmental sector towards generating funding for the education of needy pupils across Bridge Schools in Nigeria.
• In this role you will maintain a database of prospective and existing partners and sponsors whilst collaborating with other internal departments to effectively manage the relationships, providing prompt responses to their enquiries/requests and actively follow up to ensure partners perform their own responsibilities and obligations. As part of this process you will be required to proactively and promptly communicate with sponsors and partners, and provide information and administrative support to aid the performance of their own obligations. The manager will be involved in developing proposals; reports on judicious use of funds provided; and performance scores of the scholarship beneficiaries and operational highlights of adopted schools.
• Furthermore, you will be responsible for managing the licensing / approval process for our schools and will act as the focal point of communication between the government and the organisation in issues related to Licensing and registration of the school. This will involve coordinating complex interactions with our regulators, including but not limited to the Office of Education Quality Assurance (Lagos state), State Ministries of Education and Local Government officials.

What You Will Do

• Plan, develop, administer and evaluate programs, activities and daily operations related to the Policy & Partnership support function
• Identify CSR partners in the private sector to strengthen Bridge International Academies’ market presence and delivery
• Research, scout and close on new sponsorship opportunities for Bridge pupils, events and adoption of schools
• Develop, update and manage database of potential partners and sponsors and drive conversion
• Develop and defend proposals with potential partners and sponsors towards expanding sponsorship funding and programmes
• Utilise lead management techniques and maintain a detailed and dynamic database of key stakeholders while tracking progress
• Engage with the relevant departments within Bridge to identify needy pupils and jointly curate CSR programs where required
• Coordinate use of sponsorship funding, and ensure that it goes to the identified pupils and schools whilst ensuring that accountability documents are provided to the partners and the sponsors on time
• Manage relationship with key stakeholders comprising government ministries, departments and agencies at the Federal, State and Local Government levels, as well as sponsors and partners
• Oversee the registration and approval process of Bridge Nigeria owned schools
• Conduct research/ monitor legislation and document findings for internal sharing to ensure internal awareness and compliance at both corporate and academy-level
• Analyse and present research findings or meeting highlights in a written and verbal format including preparing and managing master-sheets, briefing notes, executive summaries etc.
• Prepare reports and presentations to deliver within Bridge Nigeria organisation and externally. You will also represent the organisation at industry forums and events
• Recruiting champions for Bridge Nigeria at Federal, State and Local Government levels.
• Engage with existing or prospective partners and sponsors and provide necessary information and updates on their respective sponsorship programs and beneficiaries
• Lead discussions during departmental and program-wide team meetings, contributing to strategy, discussions and decisions which will be beneficial to Bridge’s Policy & Partnerships initiatives
• Undertake any other specific Policy & Partnership projects as necessary.

What You Should Have:

• Bachelor’s Degree with superior academic performance
• Master’s Degree is an added advantage
• 10+ years’ experience working in a similar role the bulk of which should have been within the private or donor-funds /development or management consulting sectors, 4 of which should be at managerial level at the minimum
• Experience in acting as a company spokesperson; comfortable and skilled in both broadcast and print media interviews
• Excellent written and oral communication skills
• A deep understanding of how the different levels of the government work and how policies are advocated and formulated
• Roll Call of contacts within all levels of government in Nigeria
• Prior experience within a fast-paced, metric driven consulting or educational organisation
• Excellent writing and oral communication skills are required
• Ability to multitask and execute on various projects
• A strong-sense of teamwork and ability to both manage and execute programs

You’re also

• A detailed doer – You have a track record of getting things done, with at least 10 years of post-graduate school experience. You’re organised 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 multitask 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.
• Self-driven - You are able to work independently, without prompting or push, driven by a sense of urgency and mindfulness around program goals in respect of pupil enrolment, bill clearance and schools financial health.
• 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 documents and oral speech. You can influence strangers in the course of a single conversation. Allies and colleagues will go to bat for your ideas. You have an existing network in Nigeria from prior experience in the country, preferably in the regulatory, education, or business sectors.
• 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.

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About The Role

• The Director, Schools is responsible for the performance management of every school in the territory. This includes school management, academic programming, school programming, staff professional development, regulatory compliance, commercial sustainability, and parent and community engagement in every school we support. You have incredible responsibility for the integrated delivery of all our programming in each school, for each teacher, and for each child.
• Consequently, your focus on using data to drive performance, constant coaching to change behaviour, and rigorous implementation of core school programs is critical. The team you supervise is in schools each day, providing ongoing coaching and mentoring, specific performance feedback as well as continuous group and personal training. You manage one of the largest teams in the company, led by the field team of School Supervisors that give daily support to each school.
• In this role, you also engage with all stakeholders of the schools under your care, including government officials, parents, and community groups as may be required, just as your school supervisors do within the community of each school.
• Instructional leadership is a core part of your remit, ensuring that school leaders and teachers are delivering on our promise to ensure each child has the opportunity to learn, which only happens when each teacher uses the right materials at the right time each day, listens and responding to students’ learning, and is supported by the school leader in this practice daily.
• Your role is the nexus of all that we do, ensuring the implementation and results of our overall programming. Using big data that provides visibility into everyday teaching practices and school management, you work with your direct supervisory staff to improve the performance of each school with the goal of student performance and character development in mind, as well as each school’s financial sustainability – and provide feedback on core programming to our design teams.
• This team is laser-focused on outcomes, inherently collaborative in nature, loves fostering leadership in others, is unwaveringly committed to ensuring a quality education for our pupils, and is excited about creating incredible learning interventions that drive positive behaviour and mindset change in adults. You will flourish on this team if you are: a team player, hyper-focused on results, flexible in a dynamic environment, and have fun while working hard.

This role reports to the Program Managing Director and VP of Schools.

What You Will Do

• Be responsible for the success of schools in your territory. Success is defined by (i) achieving excellence in all School Management metrics, (ii) meeting or exceeding ambitious learning outcome targets, and (iii) building a culture of positive community and parent engagement.
• Ensure each Supervisor delivers on their oversight of schools and individual KPIs. Their schools should deliver the promise of learning and holistic development for children, have a strong and high-performing cohort of teachers, operate within their budget and sustain enrollment necessary for financial sustainability;
• Be responsible for the management of direct reporting lines with School Supervisors, L&D Manager, and Academic Manager
• Use data from multiple sources to ensure that academic programming viz.: offerings, lesson quality, teacher support, learning innovation, etc. are robust, adhere to regulatory guidelines, contextualized to the territory, and lead to outsized learning outcomes for all pupils, throughout the year.
• Use data from multiple sources to ensure Supervisors are effectively managing their schools and creating safe learning environments.
• Be in schools 20% of the time - observing teaching, observing management, and engaging with stakeholders, including government officials, parents, and community groups.
• When observing or holding meetings, use rubrics or other documents to support structured observation, reporting, feedback and coaching.
• Support specific school events, including collaborating on programming for such events as school opening celebrations, parent-teacher conferences and school closing celebrations, as well as community showcases and participation in co-curricular competitions.
• Ensure school health, and enrollment efforts are effective in delivering on targets.
• Ensure local regulatory processes are followed, including environmental & social standards, as well as national regulations.
• Ensure school staff and students are prepared to sit in government-proctored exams, as they may occur on a termly/semester basis, and with particular attention to national examinations.
• Ensure that leadership & development sessions are delivered to schools during the course of the school year, and during induction training for new staff. Supervisors should use the materials and programming developed by the Leadership & Development team.
• Work with the Leadership & Development team to provide, and facilitate ongoing professional development for Supervisors
• Support schools through the transition of staff, including school leaders and teachers; work with local government and other local organizations as needed.
• Ensure school leaders are actively building a pipeline of school staff candidates, leveraging parents, local government leaders and other local organizations.
• Ensure schools are working directly with country, state or local government leadership, teacher training centres or regional organizations to support sourcing candidates for school staff.
• Supervise school budget and optimization, prevent fraud and ensure financial discipline among the Schools group
• Other duties that may be assigned from time to time

What You Should Have

• Strong belief in data-driven decision making, and possess experience managing large sets of data
• Proven experience, leading teams of people (especially field teams) to accomplish an objective
• Collaborative leader with strong relationship-building skills
• Relentless focus on achievement for yourself and others
• Bias towards action
• Flexible and loves to work in a dynamic environment
• Strong communication skills
• Degree in Education or School management experience are added advantages but not required

You’re also

• A detailed doer – You have a track record of getting things done, with at least 10 years of post-graduate school experience. You’re organised 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 multitask 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.
• Self-driven - You are able to work independently, without prompting or push, driven by a sense of urgency and mindfulness around program goals in respect of pupil enrolment, bill clearance and schools financial health.
• 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 documents and oral speech. You can influence strangers in the course of a single conversation. Allies and colleagues will go to bat for your ideas. You have an existing network in Nigeria from prior experience in the country, preferably in the regulatory, education, or business sectors.
• 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.