Operations Coordinator (Multiple) at KOMAZA 178 views0 applications

About Komaza

Komaza is revolutionizing African forestry by unlocking the potential for small farmers to serve booming wood markets. With roots in San Francisco and headquarters in coastal Kenya, we have planted over 2 million trees with more than 6,000 farmers, making us Kenya’s largest active commercial tree planter. By leveraging farmers’ contribution of land and labor, Komaza can access effectively limitless land and establish a hectare of trees for far less than big plantations – a powerful cost disruption to the traditional forestry model. After several years proving the potential of our innovative business model, we are securing funding from leading investors and our company is starting to grow very quickly.

About the Team

This job advert aims to recruit multiple people to be placed in several departments across the company. We already have deep technical expertise within each of these departments, so Komaza’s Operations Coordinators do not need a depth of technical experience working in a specific functional area. Instead, we are looking to hire great “generalists” to support the execution of projects, programs and functional operations. While each department runs different operations, their teams share common themes: you will manage many remote field staff (e.g. who are making seedlings, supporting farmers, cutting trees, etc.) and a small handful of office staff (providing administration & systems-building support). You will work in close partnership with the department’s management team, who hail from Kenya and around the world, and collectively share Komaza’s values of hard work, innovation, collaboration, and open communication. We request candidates to apply to this general advert, and we will align individuals to each department based on their specific skills.

About this Role

Komaza’s Operations Coordinators are the critical people & program managers who organize and oversee activities to successfully deliver the core purpose of each department. Operations Coordinators report directly to Komaza’s department Directors, and are thus both the primary leader for ensuring successful day-to-day execution in their department, and are vital members of our growing management team. You will have overall responsibility for managing work of field staff and some office support staff. While the role is primarily office-based, you will travel to the field regularly to maintain a deep understanding of your team and ensure quality work. While many of the fundamental activities of your team will repeat on a weekly/seasonal cycle, your specific responsibilities will never be a boring routine – Komaza is growing rapidly, constantly innovating, and continuously improving; proactively planning for these changes, and responding to challenges that arise, will always keep you on your toes. This is a highly demanding, hands-on role that requires a lot of energy and constant high-standards; ultimately, you will be responsible for delivering successful outcomes of a complex, rapidly growing operation.

What you will do

• Manage successful execution of every phase of a project/operation. Monitor & evaluate progress of each activity against specific measureable targets. Coordinate field logistics. Monitor weekly budgets & expenses. Troubleshoot any issues that arise while maintaining the set schedule.
• Plan your team’s work. Distill monthly/quarterly calendars into weekly work plans, clearly delegating measurable daily work for yourself, direct reports, and the team.
• Manage your team’s work productivity and quality. Monitor performance with frequent follow-up, using measurable criteria. Give staff regular advice & coaching to improve their performance.
• Train, coach and mentor your direct reports to develop their skills, knowledge and intuition to succeed in their roles and longer-term careers.
• Build a positive, motivated team culture, supporting key values of honesty, hard work, and quality.
• Oversee data collection via paper forms & phones. Ensure data integrity. Organize multiple data streams into a single database. Analyze data to make recommendations.
• Lead team problem solving to quickly resolve all cases. Ensure all problem cases are reported from field staff in a timely manner. Coordinate case management with the team, ensuring everything is well documented. Advise how to best troubleshoot non-standard cases.

What you have

• Bachelor’s Degree in relevant field.
• 6+ years of total work experience, including 4+ years of relevant experience managing operations of large teams at a fast-paced organization. Preference for experience doing field work and managing remote field teams.
• Experience working in an organization that frequently communicates progress, successes, and challenges to staff & supervisors; eager to develop an open communication culture in your team.
• Natural ability to talk to people in a way that encourages them to share feedback and challenges, and to give people constructive feedback while promoting high morale to set them up for success.
• Experience identifying performance issues with staff and quickly providing direct, helpful feedback to improve their performance and the outcomes of the overall operation.
• Excellent verbal communication skills, writing skills, and computer skills (MS Office suite).
• Excellent attention-to-detail. Natural ability to find and solve small problems before they get big.
• Excellent organizational and time-management skills, both for yourself and to manage others.
• Excellent multitasking skills, while being able to make quick decisions to maintain momentum.

You’re also

• Comfortable with ambiguity, quickly changing environments, and demanding work responsibilities.
• Laser-focused on delivering successful outcomes, and sufficiently flexible and driven to do whatever necessary to get the job done, all while maintaining a positive “can do attitude.”
• Proactive at identifying challenges, raising them to the team, and designing & executing solutions.
• Highly collaborative and skilled at soliciting input from teammates and stakeholders.
• Interested in learning new cultures & workstyles, and contributing to a positive multicultural team.
• Passionate about Komaza’s mission and vision — to lift rural farmers out of poverty by rapid scaling of our disruptive micro-forestry business model.

What we offer

Komaza offers competitive salary and benefits relative to other fast-growth startups in East Africa. This role is based in beautiful Kilifi, Kenya; you’ll be working with a team of highly-motivated and fun people; and you’ll make a unique and high-impact contribution to the world by managing growth and quality control for a critical department in Komaza’s innovative business model. We seek candidates who can make a commitment for at least 2 years, with a strong preference for candidates seeking longer-term career opportunities. The ideal candidates will be deeply hungry to work hard, continually learn new skills, and take on increasing responsibility in service of growing their careers over time.

Application deadline is the 07 May 2017