The
British Council is the world’s leading cultural relations organization and creates opportunities for people in the UK and worldwide to understand each other, to work together and learn from one another. We see this as crucial to building secure, more prosperous and sustainable futures for us all. We build trust and understanding between different countries and cultures and develop strong international links that are of benefit to people in Britain and the rest of the world. We have an excellent opportunity for the position of Deputy Country Examinations Manager, Abuja, Nigeria.
The British Council is recruiting to fill the position below:
Job Title: Deputy Country Examinations Manager
Location: Abuja, Nigeria
Contract: Fixed Term - 3 +1 years
Job Purpose:
The purpose of the role is as follows:
- To provide strategic and professional leadership towards the achievement of an Abuja exams business strategy, and support the wider Nigeria Exams strategy. To be responsible for the growth and effective delivery of the exams business in Abuja in line with exams quality standards and awarding body requirements. To ensure excellence in customer service standards, and implement an operational development programme for more effective and efficient working.
- This post is responsible for the administration of teacher management, service delivery and business development of newly planned IELTS preparation courses in Nigeria.
- Principal areas of responsibility include business development –mainly IELTS preparation courses, people management – with an emphasis on developing management capacity in Abuja; compliance with quality, security and customer service standards (Exams Quality Standards and Quality & Compliance Assessment requirements) and financial management.
- Nigeria, a tier 1 country, has the largest project, programme and exams operations in SSA. We operate from 4 main office locations. Individually, the Lagos, Abuja and Port Harcourt Exams offices alone are the 1st, 3rd and 4th largest exams businesses by income in SSA respectively. There are currently 34 members in the exams team, 8 of whom are in the Abuja office. We operate a hub-and-spoke system in Nigeria with the main support functions (BSS and customer services) located in Lagos.
- The Exams business in Nigeria has grown significantly in recent years. In 2013/14 we delivered 65,000 examinations, this financial year the target is 78,000 exams on a turnover of £7.5m, and by 2016 we expect to double on 2013 figures to 120,000 exams. We have shown initial successes with a cross-SBU project on school quality in Nigeria, and we are developing a second cross-SBU project on skills and employability.
- We have a number of challenges namely: management capacity, national social tensions, security risks and infrastructure which we are addressing through organizational change, capacity increases and technological solutions. The GNOME and Global Financial Change projects are critical to our business plans.
Responsibilities:
Some of the main duties include:
Examinations Delivery- Quality standards, security and compliance:
- The DCEM will ensure that the Abuja centre is consistently complaint in its examinations delivery. This involves performing reglularly EQS and other examination board-specific checks and implementing procedures and training for staff to ensure these standards are understood and met. The post holder will ensure that each member of staff is actively a persuing points of excellence and will promote and disseminate best practice among centres in Nigeria and the region. The post holder will assist with assessing risk in examination delivery and make contingency plans for examination delivery during times of security threats or social unrest.
- Customer service: To improve customer service in Abuja by leading customer service team in embedding the Customer Management Framework and other customer relationship management processes. To ensure that customer feedback is regularly gathered, analysed and acted upon by all exams product managers in Abuja. Corporate targets for customer service are met.
- IELTS Preparation Courses: To manage the design and launch IELTS prep courses in Nigeria. These will be delivered through our 4 regional offices to TQS standards.
- To monitor delivery of preparation courses across Nigeria; and recruit and manage the team of teachers employed to deliver them.
- Relationship management: To assist with developing and managing existing and future relationships with examination boards, clients and other stakeholders.
- Business development and management: To assist the Country Examinations Manager (CEM) in developing and implementing examinations business plans for Nigeria. To implement these plans and monitor and report on performance on a monthly basis. This involves analysing the market, assisting with developing a marketing action plan and financial plan.
- Procurement: This post assists with reviewing and monitoring procurement processes in the examinations department to ensure that due diligence is followed and procured goods and services represent good value for money.
Financial Planning and Management:
- Planning and forecasting: To produce a financial plan for exams activity in Abuja. To cost activity, including cost benefit analysis where appropriate, and construct pricing structures. To use forecasting as a tool to identify patterns/trends in expenditure/income.
- Monitoring and reporting on exams budgets: To monitor and provide monthly assurance on budgets, income reconciliation and business plans for Abuja. To analyse and interpret complex financial data in order to make appropriate recommendations/proposals to business plans/projects. To report directly and appropriately with internal and external stakeholders on financial matters, ensure capacity for growth and development of the exams business and to explore and implement means of improving efficiency and reducing delivery costs
- HR, Line Management and Building Management Capacity: To mentor two examination managers in Nigeria to develop and position them for more responsibility.
- Currently there are 34 staff members working in the Examinations Department in the British Council in Nigeria. The DCEM for Abuja will line manage up to six people according to British Council HR standards.
- The DCEM will assist the CEM in planning and resourcing the annual Nigeria Exams training plan.
- We require the successful candidate to meet the following criteria (for a full list of criteria please see role profile).
Qualifications
- A first degree or equivalent (substantial work experience in a related field may be considered in lieu of a first degree).
- TEFL-Q (E.g. DELTA, DTEFLA, Dip Tesol or equivalent qualification) plus three years’ post qualification experience in Teaching Centre Management.
Other important features or requirements of the job:
- Examination deadlines are absolute, so evening and weekend working may be required in order to meet deadlines.
- Travel to teaching and examination venues across the whole of Nigeria for quality and security standards is necessary. As some examinations take place on Saturdays, occasional weekend working will be required to monitor these sessions.
- Travel to develop the business, maintain existing stakeholder relations and meet new clients is required in Abuja and wider northern Nigeria – where travel restrictions allow.
- Attendance at some annual meetings in the region, the UK and elsewhere is required.
Skills and Knowledge:
- Business Management and Development Level 2
- Financial Planning and Management Level 1
- Marketing and Customer Service Level 2
- Teaching skills Level 3
- Computer Skills Level 2
Experience:
- Managing a teaching operation to quality standards and business targets.
- Recruitment, management and training of EFL teachers to quality standards.
- Experience of auditing business processes and implementing efficiencies/enhancements to these.
- Proven ability to identify, develop, and manage relationships with major partners, both existing and potential.
Remuneration
Pay Band 7 - £25,250 to £31,824 per annum.
Application Closing Date
26th October, 2014
How to Apply
Interested and qualified candidates should:
Click here to apply
Click here to download RRA Role Profile (Word doc.)
Click here to download British Council Generic Skills (PDF)