ForAfrika is an African-founded and led organisation with over 40 years of impact across the continent. We partner with communities through our integrated development continuum: saving lives and building resilience to reach self-sufficiency through our Humanitarian & Development work and unlocking commercial viability through our Social Enterprise activities. We are Africans, delivering African-led solutions for Africa, and we stand by our promise: we’re committed to the long run, until the job is done and communities are enabled to thrive.
Role Thesis
The Head of Operations is the senior leader accountable for programme and contract delivery and for the operational backbone of ForAfrika South Africa. Reporting to the Country Managing Director, the role owns every funded project from handover to close-out and runs the office’s operations, procurement and people functions, so that every contracted commitment is delivered safely, compliantly, on time and within budget. As a member of the Country Leadership Team, the Head of Operations co-develops the country strategy with the MD, grounding it in delivery capacity, cost and risk, and builds the operational systems and capability the Country Office needs to grow across humanitarian, institutional, Pre-Commercial Viability (PCV) and Commercial Transactions/FASE work.
Purpose of the Position
Reporting to the Country Managing Director, the Head of Operations is ForAfrika South Africa’s senior operational leader, accountable for delivery of the country’s programmes and contracts and for the operational functions that support them, giving the Country Office a single point of accountability for delivery, cost, compliance and operational risk.
The role covers the full country portfolio: humanitarian and donor-funded programmes, government and corporate/CSI-funded programmes and contracts, and approved PCV and FASE ventures. It also runs the operational backbone of the Country Office: operations, procurement, logistics and warehousing, fleet, facilities, assets, IT support and people.
The Head of Operations is the MD’s principal partner on both country strategy and execution. The MD owns and approves the country strategy, and owns the P&L, revenue target and senior external relationships. The Head of Operations co-develops the strategy, leads its operational components and turns it into operating plans, workflows and controls, ensuring the Country Office can deliver at every stage of ForAfrika’s Dynamic Development Continuum (DDC).
Key Roles and Responsibilities
1. Country Strategy and Leadership Team Contribution
- Serve on the Country Leadership Team with a full voice in setting the country strategy, target operating model, annual plan and Rocks, all approved by the MD.
- Co-develop the country strategy and 36-month country plan with the MD, grounding growth ambitions in delivery capacity, cost, risk and performance evidence.
- Lead the operational components of the strategy: operating-model design, country footprint (sites, warehousing, fleet), supply-chain strategy and capability roadmap.
- Recommend where the country portfolio should grow, consolidate, invest, partner or exit, and recommend bid / no-bid on new opportunities based on delivery feasibility and pricing.
- Identify operational assets and capabilities that could create strategic advantage or earned-income lanes, and develop them into options with the MD and FASE.
- Act for the MD on operational matters when delegated, and represent operations in enterprise forums and One ForAfrika planning.
2. Leadership, Management and Accountability
- Model ForAfrika’s core values of Deep Love ForAfrika, Dependability, Compassion, Initiative and Discipline, and build a culture of accountability, safety and timely execution.
- Translate approved country plans into operational plans, Rocks, scorecards and clear ownership for each programme and support team; own the operations scorecard within the country EOS cadence.
- Lead programme managers and operational leads through clear expectations, regular performance conversations and disciplined follow-up.
- Provide timely, decision-ready reporting to the MD and escalate material operational, safeguarding, compliance or reputational risks promptly, with a clear recommendation.
3. Decision Rights and Accountability
The Head of Operations and Country MD work as one leadership team. The Head of Operations co-develops the country strategy; the MD holds final decision rights. To avoid duplicated ownership, accountabilities are clearly articulated in the Chart of Authority.
4. Working Relationships and Role Boundaries
- Revenue & Growth (including the Head of Development & Revenue) develops opportunities, builds the evidence, secures funding and manages donor/partner relationships. The Head of Operations provides delivery-feasibility, costing and mobilisation input before commitments are made.
- At the point of funding, each project, with its contract, budget and reporting obligations, formally transfers to the Head of Operations, who mobilises, delivers, reports and is accountable for results, and feeds evidence and lessons back to Revenue & Growth.
- Finance owns accounting, financial reporting, treasury, financial controls and donor financial compliance. The Head of Operations manages delegated budgets, provides cost and forecast inputs and ensures operational transactions comply with financial controls.
- Programme and project managers report to the Head of Operations, who is accountable for delivery, quality and contract performance; technical standards are set with Group technical and DMEAL functions.
- Group functions set enterprise policies and standards; the Head of Operations applies them in country. Social Enterprise / FASE leads venture design and transactions; the Head of Operations assesses feasibility and runs approved ventures.
5. Programme, Contract and Venture Delivery
- Take formal ownership of every funded project at handover and deliver it safely, compliantly, on time and to agreed scope, quality and budget.
- Own mobilisation readiness for new awards and approved ventures, including people, partners, supply chain, systems, cash and risk controls.
- Own contract compliance for funder, investor, customer and partner obligations; produce accurate, on-time narrative reports, and financial reports with Finance; maintain delivery records and audit trails.
- Mobilise and run approved PCV and FASE ventures to agreed standards and budgets, maintaining required separation of restricted, PCV and commercial funds; make no commitments outside approved decision gates and delegated authority.
- Manage implementing partners operationally, including due diligence, performance monitoring and corrective action, and maintain humanitarian response readiness proportionate to the country context.
- Intervene early when delivery is threatened, implement recovery plans, and close out projects properly (final reports, asset handover, financial close, lessons learnt).
6. Operations, Procurement and People
- Operations: run day-to-day operations across the Country Office and project sites; manage facilities, fleet, assets and preventative maintenance in line with Group standards; coordinate in-country IT support; and ensure full compliance with the Occupational Health and Safety Act, 1993.
- Procurement and supply chain: run procurement in line with Group policy and funder rules; source, contract and manage suppliers and vendors, negotiating and enforcing SLAs; and make sure procurement supports project timelines without compromising compliance.
- Controls: maintain fit-for-purpose operational controls for procurement, logistics, fleet, warehousing and field offices, with robust asset registers, inventory control and supply-chain tracking.
- People and HR: lead country HR operations within Group policy, including recruitment, onboarding, performance management and payroll governance; plan workforce and FTE needs for each project and the office within approved budgets; handle industrial relations, including chairing disciplinary, incapacity and appeal hearings; and keep employment practice compliant with South African labour law.
- Standards, SOPs and systems: set operating standards and SOPs, audit sites against them and close gaps; design data-driven workflows that cut operational risk and improve efficiency; introduce digital and responsible AI tools within approved controls; and supply operational data to DMEAL for decisions and evidence.
7. Budgets, Cost Efficiency and Asset Stewardship
- Own project and operational budgets delegated by the MD, within the country P&L, the delegation of authority and financial controls; partner with Finance on forecasting, burn-rate monitoring and early identification of overruns.
- Prepare and manage operational CAPEX and OPEX proposals with clear justification, return and lifecycle cost, for MD approval.
- Drive value for money across programmes and operations; add capacity only where funded delivery or approved growth justifies the cost; ensure realistic costing in proposals and business cases.
- Maintain robust asset, inventory and supply-chain controls, ready for audits and partner asset verification.
8. Risk, Compliance, Safeguarding and Duty of Care
- Own operational risks on the country risk register and lead operational implementation of safeguarding standards across sites, partners and field activities.
- Maintain security, access, staff safety, medical evacuation and duty-of-care arrangements proportionate to the operating context, and business-continuity plans for critical operations, sites and systems.
- Ensure procurement, supply chain and partner activity comply with anti-corruption, sanctions, beneficial-ownership and responsible-sourcing requirements.
- Ensure no delivery pressure, cost target or revenue opportunity overrides safety, compliance or mission guardrails.
9. People, Organisation and Culture
- Build a capable, accountable team aligned to the approved structure and funded work, with right people in the right seats and measurable scorecards for every role.
- Set objectives, conduct performance reviews and address underperformance fairly, within People & Culture policies; develop national operational leadership and succession.
- Lead the integration of programme delivery and operations through the restructuring with clarity, respect and decisiveness.
Key Performance Indicators
Measured through the operations scorecard within the country EOS cadence, with targets agreed annually with the MD. Indicative measures:
- Strategy: quality and timeliness of contribution to the country strategy, annual plan and bid decisions (MD assessment).
- Delivery: funded projects delivered to scope, time, quality and budget; mobilisation lead times met.
- Compliance and reporting: zero material breaches of funder or customer obligations; reports on time and accepted without major revision; no material labour, payroll, OHS, procurement or audit findings.
- Cost: spend within budget, variances corrected within the month; cost per beneficiary or unit of service.
- Operations: procurement turnaround and supplier SLA performance; vacancy fill time; fleet and asset utilisation; site audit scores.
- Safeguarding and safety: incidents reported and responded to within required timeframes.
- People: team scorecard achievement, retention and succession coverage.
First 12-Month Priorities
- Co-develop with the MD the refined country strategy and target operating model, including footprint, supply-chain and capability roadmap.
- Complete an operational baseline across programmes, contracts, operations, assets, partners and controls, feeding the MD’s country diagnostic.
- Integrate programme delivery and operations into one operating platform; agree the handover process with Revenue & Growth and take formal ownership of all funded projects.
- Establish the operations scorecard and Rocks within the EOS cadence; confirm mobilisation and recovery plans for all current contracts.
- Review operational costs and structure as input to the MD’s cost-base reset; complete a full asset and inventory verification.
- Publish core SOPs and site standards; validate risk, safeguarding, security and business-continuity controls and close material gaps.
Knowledge, Skills and Abilities.
Operations Leadership Standard. The ForAfrika Head of Operations must be a strategic operator who co-develops country strategy with the MD and leads programme delivery and operations as one integrated platform, running complex, multi-site delivery reliably and safely with strong controls.
- Bachelor’s degree in Business, Operations Management, Supply Chain, Engineering, Finance, International Development or a related field; Master’s degree or formal management development training preferred.
- 10–12+ years of progressively responsible experience, including at least five years in a senior operations or multi-functional leadership role, preferably in Africa.
- Proven ownership of project or contract delivery, including budgets, milestones and funder reporting, and experience running procurement, logistics, fleet, warehousing, asset management and HR in a multi-site organisation.
- Understanding of institutional and humanitarian funding and compliance requirements; experience with UN agencies, bilateral donors, government-funded or corporate CSI programmes, or donor-, investor- or grant-funded projects, is highly valuable.
- Working knowledge of South African labour law and the OHS Act, including chairing disciplinary and incapacity hearings.
- Demonstrated contribution to organisational strategy at leadership-team level, including operating-model design, investment cases and growth planning.
- Commercial and financial literacy sufficient to cost operations, manage budgets and assess the operational viability of earned-income ventures.
- Strong grounding in safeguarding, security, duty of care, partner management and operational risk.
- Proven ability to lead change, build accountable teams and develop national succession; clear, decision-ready communication.
- Fluency in English; other South African languages an advantage. Valid South African driver’s licence and willingness to travel frequently.
- Candidates may bring deeper humanitarian/institutional or private-sector operations experience but must demonstrate enough fluency to run programme delivery and operations across humanitarian, institutional and commercial lanes and make disciplined decisions outside their original comfort zone.
How to apply
Please click HERE to apply