The Senior Associate, Operations role at Evidence Action in Liberia involves overseeing Liberia operations function. This includes providing guidance to the Operations team and collaborating with country leadership and the sub region operations manager to ensure effective coordination of administrative and operational staff throughout Liberia.

The position also carries the responsibility of ensuring alignment, coordination, and compliance with operations policies, processes, and systems from a country leadership perspective. Additionally, the Senior Associate will act as a valuable resource and facilitate resource allocation between Liberia office and program field offices. Ultimately, this individual will perform various duties as defined by Liberia lead or leadership team.

Duties and responsibilities

Office Administration and Logistics management – 20% of the role

• Coordinate Office Administration: supervise the logistics officers at the Liberia administrative office and coordinate with programs/department leads in other offices to ensure that Evidence Action’s offices are managed efficiently. This will include but is not limited to: overseeing adherence to office budgets, determining solutions to concerns raised by projects/programs.
• Office management: Ensure that office management is consistent and compliance to processes, include: ensure the maintenance of an asset register, ensure facilities are managed properly, and ensure proper and cost-effective maintenance of insurance policies.
• Vehicles and Transportation: lead creation and maintenance of vehicle pools, working with a team to ensure competitive, reliable drivers.
• Manage other Evidence Action Administrative Services: ensure core administrative services provided by Evidence Action to projects, managed through Logistics Officers, are carried out effectively and efficiently. Examples include travel and visitors’ logistics, events planning/coordination and the maintenance of internal Evidence Action communication systems.
• Responsible for workplace safety and security in Liberia and be the point person on emergency management and security updates.

Lease agreements management and service contract oversight – 15% of the role

• Coordinate negotiations/relationships with landlords on all lease agreements entered by Evidence Action in Liberia. Keep track of all renewal dates and terms of the lease agreement on termination or rent increases.
• Lead in SLA negotiations and management of all service agreements for Evidence Action in Liberia.

ICT support and Coordination – 10% of the role

• In close collaboration with the Sub-region IT team, initiate and support processes for formulating information and communication technology (ICT) policies, regulations and procedures at Liberia offices, and monitor the implementation.
• Coordinate the provision of Provide ICT support in the development and maintenance of the Evidence Action databases and website as guided by Sub-region IT manager.
• Ensure all IT equipment are serviced and maintained as per the IT policy of Evidence Action.

Procurement – 25%

● Ensure 100% compliance with the organization’s procurement policies for the supply of goods & services

● Ensure 100% compliance on the screening of vendors and all third parties on CSI security platform

● Oversee and coordinate efficient and timely procurement for the country program activities

● Oversee the yearly pre-qualification process for the selection of vendors for the country program.

Team Management – 20% of the role

• Provide leadership, direction and functional guidance to the operations team, sett-ing team and individual objectives to team members;
• Responsible for developing/refining and regularly reporting on Key Performance Indicators and Metrics to management concerning the regional operations support activities and capacity/gaps.
• Promote a culture of high performance, high quality and continuous improvement that values learning and feedback;
• Work in close coordination with Liberia and program leadership and, being responsive to their requirements;
• Foster a culture that encourages creativity, proactive solutions and accountability to actions, results and people;
• Ensure team and individual recognition;
• Training Liberia and field office operations teams to be up to date with best practices of the industry and adherence to company policies and procedures;
• Timely inputs to senior management on team performance and highlighting challenges with the team member(s) if any.

Project Management – 10% of the role

• Collaborate with the Sub-region Operations Lead on and lead the development of operations systems for use by staff.
• Proactively identify, evaluate, recommend and participate in projects to improve organizational operations processes efficiency. Provide project management leadership support for operations related projects as needed and directed by Liberia Country Director or country-specific work plans.
• Develop and provide training to staff across offices on existing and evolving operational systems, functionality, and processes in use by Evidence Action.

Skills:

• Strategic and tactical critical thinker with good analytical and problem-solving skills.
• A confident decision-maker who can communicate directions and solutions clearly to both technical and non-technical staff.
• Understanding of the business role of operations functions within the programs and organization, and to set objectives based on that.
• Demonstrated leadership in managing others.
• Metrics-driven performance philosophy.
• Good English – written and verbal competence.

Key performance Indicators

The key results have an impact on the execution of the role in Liberia Office:

● High quality, appropriate, and well-managed implementation of operations and country administration services across Liberia.

● Over 90% satisfaction rating from both internal and external partners on the efficiency of the operations unit in terms of management of partner relations at country level.

● Demonstrated Cost-effectiveness in all lease engagements and logistics management in the region.

• Achieve 100% success on yearly audit by ensuring full compliance to organizations policies and availability of documentations.