Manager – Strategy and Performance Management at The Science for Africa Foundation

The Manager – Strategy and Performance Management is a key member of the SFA Foundation strategy management office and will join a dynamic and relatively flat team in a relatively new organisation. The incumbent is expected to demonstrate experience and capability leading the whole strategy management process of an organisation – from strategy to execution. The office not only supports senior management with strategy development but also middle management with strategy execution. Thus, the incumbent is responsible for developing the strategy; supporting its execution; and, monitoring, reporting, quality control and any adjustments necessary.

PRINCIPAL DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES

Strategy Development and Reporting (20% time):

• Facilitate the overall strategic planning and development process including regular review, evaluation, and reporting.
• Continuously identify wider trends in the science and innovation space which could impact the strategic direction of the SFA Foundation team.
• Provide analysis, advice, and thought leadership to colleagues in new areas and develop and maintain a broad knowledge of issues related to the organiSational work and its strategic ambitions.
• Contribute to a culture of evidence-based learning and adaptation by leading the collating and disseminating of relevant strategic lessons and outlining their implications.
• Prepare organisational performance reports for presentation to executive leadership and the board.

Strategic Execution — Operational Planning, Budgeting and Reporting (45% time)

• Ensure timely and value-adding management reports on strategy performance. Coordinate annual planning for all teams, managing the process of articulating annual strategic priorities, initiatives, and activities in alignment to the overall strategy. Working with the finance team, ensure coordinated formulation of annual plans into budgets.
• Drive the design and implementation of analytical metrics to track strategy progress and coordinate the setting of targets and goals.
• Lead in the development and implementation of robust, efficient and effective strategy reporting frameworks that facilitate the acquisition and aggregation of insights and stories that communicate strategic progress.

Operational Efficiencies – Optimising Systems & Processes (25% time):

• Manage coordination and track priorities of regular key organisational meetings and processes including synthesising actions and agreements, and ensure that actions are taken.
• Drive efficient knowledge management by proactively communicating between teams to ensure the right people know the right information at the right time.
• Provide clear guidance and coordination to internal teams and external partners to ensure their compliance with SFA Foundation’s internal processes and systems as well as work plans.
• Support the development and implementation of knowledge management strategies to improve access to information and learning approaches at SFA Foundation.
• Drive rolling organisation-wide quality assurance processes including certification to international standards, management of ongoing review of policies, procedures and processes, and monitoring delivery of SLAs by professional services departments.

Strategic Projects and Executive Initiatives (10% time):

• Manage strategy pipeline (requests and existing projects) and oversee leadership-initiated cross-functional and organisation-wide projects.
• Support strategic engagements across multiple stakeholders and help drive decisions, including facilitating the development of joint action plans to support strategic relationships, managing project close-outs, after-action reviews and lessons learned.
• Ably represent the organisation in various forums as may be required.
• Build the capacity of colleagues in strategy management, including supporting the development of relevant training and coaching material.

Person Specifications

Academic Qualifications

• Minimum of a Master’s Degree in Science, Economics, Business Administration or any other related field.
• A qualification in information/data analysis field is an advantage

Knowledge and Experience

• At least 5+ years’ senior management experience in business strategy development, and/or general management as part of management/strategy consulting firms or in-house strategy professionals.
• Deep knowledge and proven success in strategy development and implementation and the design of performance management system(s) of goals, targets, and monitoring processes.
• Strong at project management; including detail orientation, setting priorities, and planning.
• Excellent report writing and general communication skills.
• Proficiency in computer applications such as Microsoft Office applications