Operations Associate

Job Title: Operations Associate

Organization: Educate!

Location: U.S./U.K.-based preferred

Position Overview:

Educate!, an industry-leading non-profit that provides critical skills-training and other educational services for youth in East Africa, is seeking an Operations Associate to join our dynamic team. This role is pivotal in ensuring that the human resources, administration, and accounting functions operate smoothly for the US/Europe Team. The ideal candidate will be highly detail-oriented, agile, and have strong project management and organizational skills. Responsibilities include supporting HR, assisting with accounts payable and other finance tasks, and providing general operational support. This role would be a great fit for someone hyper-organized who takes pleasure in providing leverage to others, and who wants to play a role in delivering true change to some of those who need it most.

About Educate!

Africa has the world’s youngest and fastest-growing population. By 2035, the continent is poised to contribute more people to the global workforce each year than the rest of the world combined.

At Educate! we're obsessed with impact. We leverage iterative learning to build highly scalable youth employment solutions aimed at unlocking the potential of the world’s youngest continent.

Educate! prepares youth in Africa learn, earn and thrive in today’s economy by:

1) introducing an employment-focused school subject into secondary, and

2) delivering livelihood bootcamps for out-of-school youth, with a focus on marginalized rural girls and young women.

To date, more than 250,000 youth have been meaningfully impacted across Uganda, Rwanda, and Kenya, and along the way, Educate! has become the largest youth employment and skills provider in East Africa.

Educate! is a team of over 250 largely African staff and 300 volunteer youth mentors. We prioritize building an engaging, fulfilling and growth oriented work environment. 50% of our top 30 leaders have been with us for over 5 years, 10+ alumni have started their own organizations and 6 current or former team members were Acumen Fund East Africa fellows.

We have been backed by top foundations such as Imaginable Futures, Big Bang Philanthropy, #startsmall, Generation Unlimited, CIFF and Echidna Giving. Educate! won a 2018 Klaus J. Jacobs Prize and a 2015 WISE Award, and has been highlighted by the World Bank’s S4YE's Impact Portfolio, an Al Jazeera documentary, BBC, The Brookings Institution as one of 14 case studies on scaling education, and the Gates Foundation as a Goalkeepers Accelerator. In 2022, we received a catalytic investment from philanthropist Mackenzie Scott to scale our systems change work.

Educate!'s long-term vision is to design solutions that measurably impact millions of youth across Africa each year. By 2025, we aim to scale our annual reach by 4x and measurably impact over 400,000 new youth.

Key Responsibilities:

Operations and Admin:

• Assist in the implementation and maintenance of systems and tools to enhance operational efficiency, e.g. Google Drive creation / maintenance.
• Support in the management of vendor relationships and procurement activities.
• Assist in project management and coordination of cross-functional initiatives.
• Help maintain Educate! website, including keeping job postings and staff profiles up to date.
• Assist with conference registration and other logistics.
• Coordinate international travel arrangements for various team members.
• Assist with scheduling of All Hands calls.
• Handle general office management tasks, including purchasing and tracking laptops for the team.

HR:

• Handle various HR administrative tasks, including onboarding and offboarding of employees, contract creation, and maintaining employee records and databases.
• Assist in the implementation and maintenance of US/Global HR policies and procedures.
• Maintain tracker for monthly European payrolls; ensure all payroll was approved and fully processed.
• Draft and send monthly report of all US / Europe HR happenings (e.g. new onboardings, offboardings, benefit changes, etc.).

Accounting:

• Assist in some financial operations, including accounts payable and budget tracking.
• Assist the Controller with preparing basic reports and analyses.
• Support the Controller in monitoring financial transactions and ensuring compliance with internal policies and procedures.
• Collaborate with the Controller, Bookkeeper, and Financial Analyst to streamline operational processes and procedures i.e. payment processing flow.

Qualifications:

• 2-5 years of experience in a similar role, preferably in a fast-paced environment.
• Excellent organizational skills and natural sense of how to prioritize a wide range of important tasks.
• Strong attention to detail and ability to follow through and follow up.
• Strong communication and interpersonal skills, with the ability to collaborate effectively with team members at all levels.
• Proficiency in Google Workspace, Microsoft Office Suite and other relevant software applications – you are adept at learning new tools and technologies.
• Self-directed and nimble – you don’t need daily direction from a manager to know how to spend your time. You are an “expert learner” and are naturally curious and good at figuring things out.
• A positive attitude and healthy dose of humility – you know your value and find serving in a supportive role rewarding.

Requirements:

• Since the Operations Associate will have a great deal of exposure to people and partners both inside and outside the organization, it is critical that they understand our programs and operations intimately. As such, travel from the US or UK to one or more of our East African offices (Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, Tanzania) is required: (2) ~week-long trips in the first year, (1) per year thereafter.

Salary and Benefits:

• The target salary for this role is $45,000-$50,000 (£35,600-£39,600). The final offer will factor in the candidate’s location and experience.

• Benefits include:

  • Health insurance with global coverage covered at 100% for employees and 50% for dependents.
  • Flexible work hours and ability to work remotely.
  • 403(b) retirement savings account with 3% match after 3rd anniversary.
  • Generous paid leave including one week of office closure over the winter holidays.

Application Process:

Please visit this link to apply. You will be asked to upload a resume and respond to application questions in lieu of a cover letter. The application questions are:

1. Why Educate!? Why this role? Tell us what excites you about it.
2. How do you keep yourself organized when you have a lot going on? Tell us about a time when you had a lot of projects to juggle and how you kept track of things and made sure everything got done.

Application deadline will be rolling, but interested applicants are strongly encouraged to apply by July 1, 2024. The goal is to fill this position by August.

What Is Educate! About?

We’re ambitious. Are you? Educate! is growing fast, so new opportunities are opening up and expanding all the time. We’re inspired by people with drive, and we love to help them reach their full potential. We expect everyone at Educate! to contribute above and beyond their job description, grow their skills, and advance their careers, and we are committed to supporting our staff members on that journey.

1. We put Youth First, Impact-Obsessed - We never forget that Educate! exists to impact youth. We are purpose-driven. We obsess over impact daily and if it doesn’t lead to impact, we want nothing to do with it. We prioritize interacting with and listening to youth. We design and manage the organization to ensure every dollar creates transformative experiences that youth value.
2. We Exceed Expectations - We take pride in going above and beyond to achieve the best results. When we know what needs to be done, we do it. We don’t wait to be asked and we don’t stop at what is asked of us. We look for solutions as much as we identify problems.
3. We Are Always Learning - We are committed to seeking and applying new knowledge and ideas. We stay open-minded. We know there is always another way and we are excited to learn about it. We continuously look for resources of all kinds from multiple disciplines. We try new things, experiment, grow, and improve. We invest in learning for ourselves and our teams.
4. We are One Team, Many Views - We say what we think while treating each other well. We believe that all people have the same inherent value and that diverse ideas and open dialogue fuel excellence. We constantly strive to create an environment where everyone can and does express themselves freely. We support and respect each other as people and colleagues. We act as one team: We prioritize the organization's mission and goals over team or individual goals.
5. We have the Startup Mindset - We will always keep innovating to grow our impact. We aspire to be game-changing. We never think “we have arrived” or “we’re done.” We question the status quo in our industry. We move fast and embrace change to move towards our long-term vision. We’re not afraid of failure. We interrogate anything that slows us down.

Every person at Educate! — from interns to the executive director — is evaluated by how they live up to these five cultural tenets. They are at the core of how we achieve our mission and why we work as well as we do.

Educate is committed to providing an inclusive and welcoming environment for all who interact in our community. In creating this environment, we encourage people from a variety of cultures, backgrounds and life experiences to join our diverse team.

Child Safeguarding: Educate! is committed to child-safe/youth-safe recruitment, selection and screening. Our recruitment and selection procedures reflect our commitment to the safety and protection of children in our programs. The successful candidate will be required to provide a satisfactory

Certificate of Good Conduct as a condition of employment. We reserve the right to decline to offer employment to an individual or terminate an employment contract with an employee that may pose a risk to children and youth.