Academic Manager, Schools Group at Bridge International Academies - Nationwide

Bridge International Academies is the world’s largest and fastest-growing chain of primary and pre-primary schools with more than 400 academies and 120,000 pupils in Kenya and Uganda. We democratize the right to succeed by giving families living in poverty access to the high-quality education that will allow their children to live a very different life.

We are recruiting to fill the position below:

Job Title: Academic Manager, Schools Group

Location: Nationwide

About the Role

• The Academic Manager will be ultimately responsible for educational outcomes across schools in their assigned territory, and will serve as an individual contributor, collaborator and a manager in this role.
• As an individual contributor, the Academic Manager will manage all academic events and initiatives for the territory. This will include the implementation of cyclical events (eg. provision and maintenance of a school and academic calendar, daily and weekly timetables) and any new learning innovation launched throughout the academic year.
• As a collaborator, the Academic Manager will be responsible in coordinating with Shared Services Instructional Design and Learning Innovation to ensure that all levers of achievement are robust and contextualized for the territory. Within the territory team, the Academic Manager will work with other departments to ensure that all schools have the right operational conditions for learning to take place.
• Finally, as a Manager, the Academic Manager will ensure that members of the Academic team in the territory have a clear work plan, and are productively working in tandem to generate achievement in schools.

What You Will Do

• Lead execution and interdepartmental coordination of the core academic program in territory
• Advocating for learning outcomes and serving as an in-territory academic consultant for other departments
• Providing feedback to the Instructional Design team, in order to improve learning outcomes and culturally contextualize what is taught in your territory
• Representing Bridge with key state stakeholders, including the Ministry of Education and other government education officials
• Conducting necessary market and regulatory research to inform instructional systems and policies (timetable, teacher specialty configurations, retention policies, exam policy, placement policy)
• Managing the Academics team based in your territory: Programme Manager
• The Academic Manager will report to the Schools Director and the Academic Director, Shared Services

What You Should Have

• The Academic Manager must be a data-driven individual with experience developing and managing cultures of high performance and high expectations.
• You must be a great academic leader who understands exceptional instruction and can motivate and support others in realizing a vision of academic excellence.
• Ideal candidates have worked in organizations with a proven track record of generating large learning gains.

In addition, the Academic Manager must:

• Be a self-starter and problem-solver, who thinks three and four steps ahead.
• Be hard working and collaborative, with the tenacity to plow through challenges and an appreciation for teamwork toward achieving a shared vision.
• Be a fast learner and someone who is able to flourish in fast paced, dynamic, and sometimes ambiguous environments
• Be both detailed and results-oriented, driven by the data that will allow us to know what is working and what isn’t working for kids.
• Have strong project management skills and excellent organizational skills, with keen attention to detail and ability to follow up systematically on a broad set of initiatives and decisions
• Be an effective, articulate communicator who can represent Bridge to external audiences.
• Be humble and ready to “roll up your sleeves” to get things done

Education and Qualification

• Bachelor's Degree in Education or related field, graduate degrees preferred
• 10 years' experience working in education.
• 2 or more years of teaching experience with evidence of outsized student learning gains is an added advantage.
• Experience working in the education sector

You’re also:

• A detailed doer – You have a track record of getting things done. You’re organized 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 multi-task 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.
• A creative problem-solver – Growing any business from scratch comes with massive and constant challenges. On top of that, Bridge works in often fragile, sometimes volatile low-resource communities and with complex government systems. You need to be flexible and ready to get everything done effectively, quickly, and affordably with the materials at hand.
• A relentless advocate – The children we serve and teachers we empower 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 benefit, experience, and value.
• A malleable 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.
• A data-driven decision-maker – When making decisions, you don’t rely your intuition alone. You collect data, you analyze it and make decisions with clear justifications.
• A curious investigator – You ask why a lot. You don’t just take what you see and accept it. You wonder why it is that way, and are aware that the world we see is created by human choices and actions – and it could be different.
• You wonder, and see the world as wonderful even when you want to change a part of it that is unjust.

Application Closing Date
30th October, 2019.

How to Apply
Interested and qualified candidates should:
Click here to apply online