Chief Program Officer

The context:

Across the developing world, more children than ever are in school – but they are not learning. A recent study estimated that less than 1% of school children in Sub-Saharan Africa attend a school where the teaching meets basic standards of quality. At Rising Academies, we’re changing that, and we want your help. Our mission is to create the best schools and the most powerful teaching and learning tools for the people that need it most. We’re one of the fastest-growing quality-focused education companies in Africa, and a Certified B Corp®.

About us:

We own and operate our own great value private schools, partner with governments to improve the quality of public school systems, and use our content and technology to help other education providers. Founded in Sierra Leone in 2014, we provided emergency education to children kept out of school by the Ebola Epidemic before opening our first school in April 2015. Today, we serve more than 250,000 students across more than 900 schools in Sierra Leone, Liberia, Ghana and Rwanda.

Through great curriculum, intensive teacher coaching and actionable data, we help teachers and school leaders bring quality to every classroom. And we get results: independent studies show Rising students make more than twice the progress of their peers in comparable schools.

We have recently closed our Series A funding round and won a multi-year, multi-million dollar grant to accelerate the development of our digital ed-tech solutions for low-income students across the globe. Our ‘Bambai’ suite of digital tools already includes a school information system, school observation tool, chatbot tutor, accelerated learning program and teacher coaching app. This is just the start. We want to expand our range of digital products to help improve the quality of education for millions of students around the world. If you want to make a difference to the lives of teachers, students and parents, then we are the right place for you.

About the role:

We seek an exceptional and seasoned leader to join our senior leadership team as Chief Programs Officer (CPO). You will lead our partnerships, ensuring they deliver excellent results, delight our stakeholders, and scale from thousands to millions of students.

The Chief Program Officer will:

• Lead the strategic development and improvement of our partnerships, ensuring they deliver outstanding outcomes for our partners.
• Oversee our “big shift” moment, ensuring our programs are ready to scale to serve millions of students and thousands of schools across the continent.
• Find, mentor, and manage a high-performing team of program leaders that can deliver great results against ambitious targets.
• Ensure that our operations and financial management yield exceptional value for money for our partners and sustainable revenue for Rising.
• Cultivate new partnership opportunities that allow us to increase our reach and deepen our impact.
• Ensure a best in class safeguarding function remains at the forefront of all of our work.
• Contribute to the overall leadership of Rising as a key member of the organisation’s Senior Leadership team.

Location and reporting:

This is a full-time position at the SLT level, preferably based within one of our operating countries, with the possibility of being based elsewhere on the continent. The CPO role reports directly to Rising’s CEO.

Application deadline:

The target start-date for this role will be September 2024.

Requirements

Qualifications and Experience:

• Experience of having overseen a successful “journey to scale” for a social impact organisation in Africa is essential
• Experience of having successfully scaled initiatives working in partnership with governments in Africa is also essential. Ideally, candidates will have experience in designing, implementing, and scaling large-scale educational programs (although experience in other sectors will also be considered)
• Strong track record of delivering proven/evidenced impact-based results for organizations.
• The candidate will also need to be able to demonstrate that they have a well-established and relevant network in Africa
• At least 3+ years in a senior management or c-suite role for an organisation at a similar or larger size to Rising

About You:

• An inspiring leader. You have a proven track record of success in C-suite or senior leadership roles in Africa.
• A great team builder. You have successfully built large, complex, multi-functional teams. You’ve hired, fired, and developed people to achieve the culture and level of performance you want to see.
• A brilliant program director. You have successfully designed and delivered large-scale, complex, multi-year projects and programs on time and budget.
• A data-informed decision maker. You have consistently grown revenue and impact by using data to understand what’s working and what’s not.
• A stickler and standard-setter for the details that matter. You have faced and dealt with organisational risk and maintained your organization's license to operate by ensuring the highest standards of compliance with key processes.
• A politically astute networker. You have expanded your organization's stakeholder network, originated new program opportunities, and built outstanding relationships with the people that matter. Experience working closely with governments is a major plus.
• A responsible budget owner. You’ve had budget responsibility for an organisation or large business unit and can be counted on to set, manage and report on budgets effectively.
• An innovator. You are comfortable working with technology, and have experience of using iterative design and testing processes to improve the outcomes of programs and projects.

Benefits

Compensation and Benefits:

We offer a competitive salary and benefits package. We regularly benchmark our compensation against comparable businesses, social ventures and non-profits.

Rising’s goal is to be transparent about salaries at all levels of the organisation and have a standard, global pay scale for all positions that is non-negotiable.

The benefits we offer are built to have a strong added value on our staff’s well-being and we are excited to discuss this further with you in the process.

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Rising is an Equal Opportunity Employer. We celebrate diversity and are committed to providing a work environment that is inclusive and free of discrimination and harassment. All employment decisions are based on individual qualifications without regard to race, color, religion, age, sex, sexual orientation, ethnicity, gender identity and expression, national origin, family or parental status, veteran or disability status.

Rising is committed to creating a culture within the organisation, and its schools, that recognises the importance of safeguarding children and prioritising their rights and needs. We strive to uphold international safeguarding standards, and keep the safety and well-being of our students at the heart of what we do. All Rising employees are expected to abide by the Child Protection Policy, and to have the same level of commitment to protect children from harm. Safeguarding questions are part of every interview process and all Rising employees undergo reference checks before joining the organisation.