About the Role

The Operations Manager will work closely with the Executive team to grow ygap’s ability to achieve a more equitable and sustainable world through inclusive entrepreneurship.

The role will be responsible for operationalising ygap’s strategy, maintaining and improving day-to-day operations, and ensuring a strong foundation of governance and compliance. The role combines project management, human resource management, and systems design. As the Operations Manager, you will lean on your experience and knowledge of operational frameworks and approaches to coordinate and mobilise resources, implement fit-for-purpose systems and processes, and enable ygap to grow its impact through inclusive entrepreneurship.

About ygap

ygap is an international organisation that supports early-stage social impact ventures with locally-led solutions to local problems. We believe in the power of entrepreneurship as an effective way to make equitable and sustainable change in the world.

We find, accelerate and support the growth of impact ventures led by local entrepreneurs who deeply understand the unique challenges of their communities and are best placed to develop solutions, and we create enabling environments for ventures to succeed in the ecosystems in which they operate.

We currently support ventures across Africa, South Asia, the Pacific Islands and Australia. ygap has offices and local teams that lead our programs in each area that we work. To date, our work has positively impacted the lives of over a million people.

Our Recruitment Guiding Principles

We have three guiding principles by which we approach our hiring process:

• We embrace flexible work arrangements, built on trust and respect

• We encourage applicants from all cultures, ethnicities and backgrounds

• We have a strong focus on diversity, inclusion, gender equity and gender equality across all our operations

Diversity statement:

At ygap, we welcome all people to be unapologetically themselves. We are not the same and that is our greatest strength. It is the collective sum of our individual differences, beliefs, experiences, self-expression and talent that enables us to live out our purpose which is to ‘advance global equity through inclusive entrepreneurship’. To truly achieve this as ygap, we need a community that is a representative of the people we serve; the people of the world. ygap is committed to cultivating and preserving a culture of equity, diversity and inclusion across the organisation and all of our operations.

Key Selection Criteria

Essential:

• Minimum three years of project management and/or operations management experience

• Minimum five years of professional experience

• Demonstrated success in project management, process improvement and implementation

• Demonstrated success managing diverse teams to deliver on outcomes

• Experience operationalising strategic initiatives

• Excellent ability to develop trust and manage relationships with multiple diverse stakeholders

• Demonstrated ability to deliver exceptional outcomes in a fast-paced environment and across a broad portfolio

• Strong business acumen and demonstrated business analysis skills

• Able to maintain flexibility in times of uncertainty and open to adapting as required to achieve desired outcomes

Desirable:

• Understanding of and experience in international development/inclusive entrepreneurship

• Experience working in multi-cultural and geographically dispersed teams

Key Competencies

• Systems thinker – Sees the big picture and understand connections, dependencies and consequences

• Detail-oriented – Understands the importance of essential smaller parts to contribute to larger outcomes and commits to delivering on both large and small in equal measure

• Flexible decision-making – Comfortably handles uncertainty, assesses knowns and unknowns and demonstrates solid judgement without having all information

• Curious and thoughtful – Seeks clarification and insights and thoughtfully considers all angles, context and relevant information in determining a course of action

• Proactive and responsible – Takes initiative and ownership from beginning to end and meets or exceeds expectations

• Collaborative and empathetic – Works well alongside team members and understands the competing priorities and needs of various stakeholders

• Strong communicator and influencer – Communicates clearly, provides clarity upon decisions and persuades without the need to rely on authority

Key Responsibilities

Program management – 40%

• In conjunction with the Director of Strategy and Operations, develop and operationalise the organisational product strategy by supporting global program delivery teams as they move through the solution lifecycle
• Work closely with the MEL (Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning) Manager to operationalise individual programming strategies with global program delivery teams including supporting country directors with their program schedule, resourcing, delivery of objectives and key results (OKRs) and monitoring, evaluation and learning (MEL) outcomes
• Develop and oversee local implementation partnering arrangements
• Assist with resolution of managerial and administrative issues as they arise
• Develop program budgets & monitor expenditure together with program leads
• Monitor compliance with funding arrangements

Strategic human resource management – 30%

• Implement organisation-wide frameworks and processes to support team leaders to manage performance and development of team members
• Coordinate team resourcing to deliver on strategy and organisational goals
• Act as main point of contact for program teams delivering existing products
• Foster global team dynamics

Governance & administration – 30%

• Manage, implement and oversee systems and processes that enable efficient and effective operations
• Identify and implement process improvements
• Manage the alignment of ygap’s global structure to preferred distribution channels
• Develop and monitor operational budgets (HR, legal, IT, etc)
• Develop and monitor compliance with organisational policies
• Identify, monitor and respond to organisational risks, operational changes and governance requirement