Vacancy title:
Head of Operations

[Type: FULL_TIME, Industry: Nonprofit, and NGO, Category: Admin & Office]

Jobs at:
Promoting Equality in African School Zambia Limited

Deadline of this Job:
Sunday, September 7 2025

Duty Station:
Lusaka | Lusaka | Zambia

Summary
Date Posted: Tuesday, September 2 2025, Base Salary: Not Disclosed

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JOB DETAILS:

Role Summary

This role is critical in supporting the PEAS Zambia Country Director to ensure that the organisation is financially sustainable, operationally sound, and strategically aligned to deliver on its mission to expand access to quality secondary education in underserved communities.

Roles and Responsibilities

1. Leadership and Strategy

• A key leader on the PEAS Zambia Country Strategic Team (CST), providing critical strategic and thought leadership on topics across the organisation to ensure overall delivery of the PEAS Zambia strategy.
• Working in partnership with the Director of Programmes to ensure PEAS schools are operating effectively and are exemplar across Access, Quality and Sustainability.
• Serve as the PEAS Zambia liaison to the Trustees’ Finance, Audit and Risk committee by effectively communicating and presenting critical operational and financial matters at select committee meetings.
• Represent the organisation externally, as necessary, particularly in department specific negotiations and in legal and finance related matters.
• Championing an organisation-wide ‘value for money’ approach, driving efficiencies and effectiveness both at the schools and country office levels with a strong focus on sustainability.
• Actively living and role modelling PEAS’ values and providing guidance and mentorship to colleagues on how to incorporate values into their work.

2.  Progressing towards operational excellence

• Oversee and strengthen the Operations department to meet the needs of the school network, system strengthening work and wider organisation to meet our key strategic outcomes over time. Responsible for identifying and delivering on opportunities to strengthen the PEAS Zambia organisation, seeking technical assistance from colleagues from across PEAS where valuable.
• Lead operational and financial planning across the organisation including budgeting, cash flow management, resource investment priorities, and operational policy matters, whilst maintaining continuous consultation with the CD and country leadership.
• Leading and contributing to strategic projects to support PEAS in progressing towards operational excellence, such as People & Culture projects, Technology & Data projects, enhancing Financial and Grant management systems, and other initiatives as they arise.
• Actively participate in system strengthening opportunities involving operational areas, and co-ordinate input from experts across the Operations department.
• Build strong morale across the Operations department, the wider PEAS Country Office and schools, and role model a culture of collaboration, dedication and organisation across the team, encouraging team members to approach challenges with a growth mindset.
• Co-ordinating efforts to identify organisational risks, maintain a risk register for Zambia and ensure all risks are effectively managed at the appropriate level.
• Manage the relationship with PEAS’ lawyers and ensure legal compliance for PEAS and all the schools.

3.         Finance and Procurement

• Working closely with the Senior Finance Manager and the Grants Specialist to ensure PEAS Zambia has the right systems and processes to effectively plan, budget and spend across the organisation.
• Ensuring country and grant financial reports are prepared on-time, reviewed following quality assurance guidelines and presented in an accurate and timely manner to the CD, Global Head Office and donors, to meet tight deadlines.
• Co-ordinating and leading the annual country office and school audit processes by working with the Senior Finance Manager to liaise with external auditors to ensure successful management of the external audit in line with reporting deadlines. Similarly, participate in the internal audit process at country office and school-level. Ensure the implementation of both external and internal audit recommendations at both PEAS Zambia and school-level to ensure audit points do not repeat between audits.
• Co-ordinating and overseeing the annual planning and budgeting process to be completed on-time, reviewing all departmental budgets to ensure they are aligned with PEAS Zambia’s strategy, and monitoring progress, variance and changes to keep Zambia and Global teams up-to-date on country spend.
• Oversee and support the capacity development of school leaders on financial management to improve the timeliness and accuracy of school financial reporting, use of PEAS’ financial systems and support them in using data to make decisions effectively.
• Ensuring school fees collected, per-pupil subsidy levels and income-generating activities are sufficient to cover each school’s expenditure, so all PEAS schools are able to run sustainably. Where any school is not yet sustainable, work with School Leaders to ensure they have clear steps to progress to sustainability.
• Lead PEAS Zambia’s procurement and logistics to deliver value-for-money and operational excellence.
• Champion transparent, efficient processes that meet donor and organisational standards, while building strong supplier partnerships and advancing localisation, safeguarding, and sustainability

4.   Construction

• Managing the Construction team to deliver effective and efficient school construction and project monitoring, through close liaison with the Global Head Office, ensuring projects are delivered to the expected cost, time and quality, and contractors are managed appropriately.
• Working with the Construction Specialist to ensure PEAS school designs are cost-effective, appropriate in the local context and consider the climate in designs.
• Active in the land selection, prioritisation of construction needs and the tendering process, to ensure construction projects are delivering maximum value to the network.
• Ensure PEAS Zambia has the sufficient capacity and systems to effectively deliver construction projects on-time, to the required quality and following all internal risk management processes. Where there are challenges, ensure lessons are learned and improvements are made, to ensure challenges do not re-occur.

5    Human Resources

• Oversee the development and implementation of PEAS’ HR and professional development strategy, to ensure the right people are in place and are supported to succeed in their roles.
• Responsible for the oversight of the implementations of PEAS Zambia Diversity, Equity & Inclusion (DEI) approach, prioritisation and quarterly reporting against the key results.
• Work with the CD and other CST members – to ensure that PEAS Zambia and it’s school network has strong internal communications systems with clear messaging on strategic direction, high performance, recognition and successes.
• Support the HR team to put in place policies and procedures that enhance staff recruitment & induction, professional development, compensation and benefits, performance evaluation, and establish clear lines of accountability for individuals and departments across the organisation.
• Work closely with the school support teams (e.g. School Network and School Finance) to ensure school staff training is aligned to PEAS’ wider people management processes.
• Leading on initiatives to increase proportion of female leaders – both within the Country Office and within each of our schools, including reviewing the pipeline of female talent across the organisation.
• Ensure People & Culture policies and procedures are available and embedded across PEAS Zambia’s schools and the Country Office, and reviewed every 2 years.
• Regular review of key people data, including the Pulse survey, recruitment processes and other surveys, and ensure PEAS Zambia is acting on data to improve working culture and retain high potential candidates.

6    Technology & Data

• Managing the IT Officer to ensure school ICT labs and infrastructure are fully operational and fit-for-purpose, and support with effective piloting and delivery of EdTech projects.
• Managing the IT Officer to ensure PEAS staff have the necessary hardware and software to fulfill their roles, relevant training is provided and that office infrastructure is fully operational, secure and managed inline with compliance standards.
• Ensure IT policies and procedures are available and embedded through training across PEAS Zambia’s schools and the Country Officer, and reviewed every 2 years.

Key Competencies and Skills:

• Strong financial management skills, with a deep understanding of financial accounting, reporting, and auditing processes.
• Strong leadership skills with the ability to inspire, guide and effectively manage others to achieve strategic and operational goals.
• Experience in grant management, including budgeting, compliance, and reporting.
• Proficiency in financial software and Microsoft Excel.
• Ability to collaborate effectively across departments and with external stakeholders.
• Excellent communication skills, both written and verbal.
• Strong attention to detail and ability to manage multiple priorities.
• Problem-solving mindset, with the ability to develop practical solutions for complex financial challenges.

Minimum Requirements

• A Master’s degree in Finance, Accounting, Business Administration, or a closely related field.
• Minimum of 8 years’ experience in financial management, with at least 5 years at a senior leadership level, preferably within an international NGO or education-focused organization.
• A recognized professional accounting qualification is required (e.g., ACCA, CIMA).
• Demonstrated ability to manage donor funding, prepare complex budgets, and ensure timely, accurate reporting.
• Additional training or certification in project management, strategic leadership, or non-profit financial management is an advantage.

Work Hours: 8

Experience in Months: 96

Level of Education: postgraduate degree

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