Head of Construction Design & Management
Location: Nairobi, Kenya
About Bridge International Academies
Bridge International Academies is a startup revolutionizing education across Africa with a truly unique business model. The company has launched a large-scale franchise-like network of ultra low-cost for-profit private primary schools across Africa.
Our schools profitably deliver high-quality education for less than $4 per child per month, enabling local school managers to operate their school businesses profitably, while creating a highly successful business at the central level. We have launched our first two schools in Kenya, have five more opening in January and plan to rapidly scale the company to serve more than 1 million students.
About this position
We have and are continuing to develop one of the most cost-effective approaches to constructing school buildings in the world.
We currently construct school classrooms for less than KSh 140,000 per classroom fully loaded (including all labour and site management, furniture, transport, and the amortized cost of the latrines, School Manager’s office, and fence).
results are achieved by using experienced fundi’s as site managers, who are supported by a central management team and a highly specified process and specifications.
We are looking for a full time Head of Construction Design & Management who will provide critical leadership to refine and redesign our construction model and operationally scale this process so the company can cost-effectively build hundreds or thousands more schools.
In order to maintain our school fees so low, Bridge International must continue to develop one of the most efficient and sophisticated approaches to managing many concurrent construction projects using only fundis and day labourers, while maintaining a transparent audit processes to ensure money is not wasted.
It is the role of the Head of Construction Design & Management to lead this effort.
While the Head will lead the department, we are looking for someone who is good with the details and not afraid of spending long hours in the field (in the slums) to make sure the job is accomplished.
Responsibilities:
Location: Nairobi, Kenya
About Bridge International Academies
Bridge International Academies is a startup revolutionizing education across Africa with a truly unique business model. The company has launched a large-scale franchise-like network of ultra low-cost for-profit private primary schools across Africa.
Our schools profitably deliver high-quality education for less than $4 per child per month, enabling local school managers to operate their school businesses profitably, while creating a highly successful business at the central level. We have launched our first two schools in Kenya, have five more opening in January and plan to rapidly scale the company to serve more than 1 million students.
About this position
We have and are continuing to develop one of the most cost-effective approaches to constructing school buildings in the world.
We currently construct school classrooms for less than KSh 140,000 per classroom fully loaded (including all labour and site management, furniture, transport, and the amortized cost of the latrines, School Manager’s office, and fence).
results are achieved by using experienced fundi’s as site managers, who are supported by a central management team and a highly specified process and specifications.
We are looking for a full time Head of Construction Design & Management who will provide critical leadership to refine and redesign our construction model and operationally scale this process so the company can cost-effectively build hundreds or thousands more schools.
In order to maintain our school fees so low, Bridge International must continue to develop one of the most efficient and sophisticated approaches to managing many concurrent construction projects using only fundis and day labourers, while maintaining a transparent audit processes to ensure money is not wasted.
It is the role of the Head of Construction Design & Management to lead this effort.
While the Head will lead the department, we are looking for someone who is good with the details and not afraid of spending long hours in the field (in the slums) to make sure the job is accomplished.
Responsibilities:
- Improve upon and develop new manuals, specifications, tracking tools, & training program to allow local construction managers to successfully replicate school design
- Develop and implement a sophisticated budgeting and payment tracking system to ensure that schools are being built under budget and on time.
- Designing and putting in place audit systems to ensure that construction is being done correctly and financial controls are in place to ensure transparency
- Identifying, training and managing site managers who are the actual implementers at each site
- Managing central construction team to help implement the design, process, and auditing.
- Constantly working to reduce cost and improve quality of school construction
About You
- You have minimum 5 years experience in senior project management or construction management role
- You have experience with very process-oriented project management
- You have experience in construction management, ideally in situations where budgets are incredibly constrained (remember, we build school classrooms for less than Ksh 140,000)
- You are very comfortable and willing to work in slums
- You have experience with managing distributed teams of people
- You have experience managing inventory at multiple sites and ensuring there are systems to prevent loss
- You are experienced in developing budgeting/accounting system to ensure easy auditing of the financial transactions
- A background or experience in detailed ultra-low cost engineering design a plus
- You are very comfortable with using and analyzing data, budgets, and information to make better decisions
- "Love to get my hands dirty" is your middle name. While you have been a manager, you have also demonstrated your willingness to jump into the very nitty-gritty details and get done what is needed to get done.
- You function well in a fast-paced, informal environment where constant change is the norm and the bar for quality is set high
Submit resume and cover letter to constructionjobs @ bridgeinternationalacademies.com
