Operations Director at The Aurum Institute

Work Description

The Operations Director is responsible for overseeing all operational implementation and administrative functions, including the district managers, and ensuring budget and grant compliance with USG funder rules and regulations.

Education

• Masters degree in BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION
• Certificate in Project Management

Advantageous

• Bachelor’s degree in Health, Behavioural, Life/Social Sciences, Human Resource Management, Public Health, Social Science, Nursing, or related field.

Experience

• Experience in health project planning and policy development for a minimum of 5 years
• Experience in managing local and international donor funded projects
• Experience in leading public health projects for a minimum of 5-10 years
• Understanding of the South Africa health care delivery system
• At least 5 years in Senior Management role working with external stakeholders and managing Subrecipient under Subawards
• Experience in influencing Public Health Decision Makers and building and maintaining relationships with both internal and external stakeholders
• At least 10 years professional experience
• Experience in dealing with HIV/AIDS and TB programmes
• Familiar with USG funder rules and regulations

Requirements

• Demonstrated managing large local and international donor funded budgets; operating transparent and competitive procurement processes; managing, monitoring and evaluating Subrecipients, Consultants and Contractors; or other systems of sharing resources with other organizations
• Demonstrated administrative and operational excellence on large health or development projects
• Advanced analytical and business model skills
• Proven demonstration of flexibility and creativity
• Ability to manage work and deliver in high quality fast-paced environment
• Highly motivated self-starter who takes direction well, but also works independently
• Willingness and ability to work in and travel to rural, low-resource settings
• Must be able to prepare and monitor donor funded program budgets
• SA Citizen or valid work permit to work in South Africa
• Advanced computer skills

Technical Work Responsibilities

• Ability to develop and adhere to high-level budgets of up to several million dollars encompassing multiple areas spread across multiple geographies
• Excellent communicator with demonstrated experience in communicating complex processes to diverse stakeholders, including government officials at the national, provincial and district levels, service orientated NGOs, civil society organizations, donors, etc.
• Well-established organisational and planning skills; extensive knowledge and experience of project cycle management including using project planning and management key tools (e.g. Logical Framework analysis, Gantt chart, etc.)
• Excellent knowledge of financial, accounting, and budget management principles
• Excellent interpersonal & negotiation skills including ability to effectively lead and build a team, communicate a vision, make timely and transparent decisions, solve problems and manage conflict
• Proven people management skills in a multi-cultural environment and a strong record of developing people
• Demonstrated Leadership and Management skills that effectively motivate staff and support team building; demonstrated ability to manage a professional team in a multi-cultural environment and build teams
• Excellent communication skills both oral and written (excellent report & proposal writing) including public speaking
• Computer Literate and Proficient in Microsoft Office 365, including Microsoft Word, Excel, Teams and Outlook
• Willingness and ability to travel nationally and in low-resource settings Frequency of travel: 40%

Duties:

• liaise with all Internal and External Customers as well as Suppliers when necessary towards the achievement of company and divisional goals
• Writing and report handling, conducting meetings, communication with Funders and Stakeholders regarding programme set-up (i.e. participate in conference calls and meetings as necessary, write progress reports, etc.)
• Conduct regular meetings with Senior staff at Sites
• Planning and developing operational work plans for different regions/districts and sites
• Overseeing budget for different regions/districts and sites
• Contributing to Public Health Division Operational strategic planning
• Appraising the distribution of resources and redirect these according to needs, taking into consideration future needs predicted by company strategy
• Update operational plans in response to internal and external environmental factors
• Develop tools, systems necessary for effective and efficient implementation of the operational plans
• Organise necessary resources (human, physical, equipment, Information and technology, money)
• Manage outlying site teams and facilitate site logistics
• Direct efficient and appropriate cooperation between site, support services and core resources
• Direct the operational synergy between Research and Health programmes
• Create an organisational climate conducive to high levels of staff performance
• Develop an organisational climate that is aligned with Aurum values
• Manage leasing and upkeep of capital resources i.e. site premises, vehicles and equipment
• Monitor financial activities of studies/ programmes
• Develop specific indicators and realistic targets
• Perform regular operational reviews
• Conduct quality control and audits
• Monitor and evaluate all projects and programmes
• Writing different reports for different stakeholders
• Supervision of staff through:
• Identify and address staff issues
• Facilitate staff training as required
• Direct the recordkeeping of leave and follow up on sick notes
• Completing of performance management reporting on a quarterly basis
• Mentoring and coaching of sub-ordinates
• Supervision of sub ordinates by providing guidance and in-service training to identify and address all challenges
• Provide leadership to others through example and sharing of knowledge/skill
• Adhere and maintain decision making authority as allocated to the position
• Participate in proactive team efforts to achieve divisional and company goals
• Comply with all Policies, SOPs and WPG, guidelines and confidential agreements
• Safety
• Comply with all safety policies, practices and procedures according to prescribed procedures and legislation
• Report all unsafe activities to Facilities  Management/Human Resources
• Public Health Divisional strategy development and implementation, budget, and performance management of direct reports
• Leveraging strategic partnerships with relevant bodies/organisations/institutions at equivalent level
• Ongoing strategic stakeholder engagement activities
• Participate in divisional Executive Committee meetings in order to contribute to the overall leadership
• Participate in and contribute to other strategic planning activities to ensure sustainability
• Monitor for and alert the Executive to environmental threats and opportunities relevant to the organization
• Seek funding opportunities, and initiate and coordinate grant applications processes