General Manager , Off.Grid:Electric - Tanzania

Off.Grid:Electric is seeking a highly motivated and entrepreneurial professional with leadership and management experience to work with our local team to develop and expand operations throughout Tanzania. This will include building and driving various aspects of the business, including responsibility for all budgetary, people development and logistics objectives as outlined by the Chief Operations Officer. The General Manager will be responsible for driving customer growth, regional expansion, agent recruitment, and supply chain development. Additional responsibilities will include recruiting and leading a team of Regional Managers, coaching and mentoring local staff to ensure performance objectives are met, forming positive employee relations, and building leadership capabilities.

This position will have direct responsibility for overall leadership and management of the Logistics, Warehouse and Distribution, Agent Success, and Customer Service teams. The General Manager will work with the COO and the executive management team to establish operational processes for the organization that will facilitate rapid geographic expansion and customer growth. The primary responsibility for this position will be to direct and coordinate the overall operations to ensure that inventory is accurate, orders are filled efficiently, deliveries are made on time, that customers are serviced to their expectations and that all aspects of the operations are managed efficiently so that costs are controlled and the business operates profitably.

Key responsibilities will include:

•    Identifying and prioritizing Off.Grid:Electrics’s most significant business challenges. Working with Senior Management to formulate and evaluate projects that are critical to the success of the organization.
•    Working with the Operations team to drive sales and test marketing, distribution and product strategies. Developing an approach for each project including budget, implementation plan, expected outcomes and monitoring & evaluation mechanisms.
•    Setting and clarifying requirements and expectations for Operations and Area Managers, measuring performance, providing feedback, and holding Managers accountable for their performance and the performance of their departments.
•    Leveraging the Operations and Area Managers by sourcing and nurturing ideas, and rolling them into the creation of improvement plans for functional and geographic areas. Taking proactive steps to ensure that best practices are shared across all areas.
•    Working closely with support staff (Technical Services, Agent Success, Warehousing, et al.) to build and secure support and resources for projects and initiatives, as well as providing needed support and resources for other staff initiatives.
•    Reviewing and analyzing systems and technology that can be deployed to improve effectiveness, drive added efficiencies, lower costs and ensure process consistency.
•    Ensuring that all inventory reporting is accurate. Developing strategies for inventory management that coincide with sales strategy of the organization.
•    Analyzing and developing plans that continuously improve the efficiency and effectiveness of business operations while reducing expenses.
•    Monitoring and ensuring order accuracy, on-time delivery, inventory accuracy, operational staffing, cost per order and expense control as it pertains to all aspects of the operations from the time an order is taken to through to when it is invoiced.

Desired Skills & Experience

Required skills and experiences:

•    Commitment to live and work in Tanzania
•    Bachelors degree in a relevant field with a record of strong academic performance
•    7+ years of direct management experience in a relevant field or world class institution.
•    A demonstrated interest in entrepreneurship, including the ability to flourish in dynamic, ambiguous environments and to drive work independently
•    Experience working in a high-pressure environment
•    Ability to build effective teams, coach and develop others
•    Experience with performance metrics and process improvement techniques
•    Experience with the full staffing lifecycle, including interviewing, hiring, performance management, promotions and terminations
•    Demonstrated strong leadership and interpersonal skills; highly organized and detail oriented
•    Must be an effective written and verbal communicator – able to build consensus across multiple departments
•    Candidates must be flexible to work a variety of hours as business demands, including overnight, weekends and holidays

Additional skills and experiences that are highly desired:

•    Prior work experience in East Africa, or other emerging markets
•    Work experience as an employee at a company that has rapidly grown in headcount and number of locations
•    Masters level degree preferred (Business, Finance, Supply Chain, or similar)
•    Business level competency in Swahili
•    Education and/or work experience in renewable energy or energy access programs
•    Interest in long-term career development through possible assignments in multiple countries

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Company Description

Off.Grid:Electric is the world’s first massively scalable off-grid electric company. It exists to provide affordable and reliable energy to communities that currently lack such power. The company utilizes distributed renewable energy to sell power as a service to customers who suffer from an expensive grid, an unreliable grid, or have no electrical grid access at all. We provide 24/7 clean energy to anyone, anywhere. Our aim is to deliver a complete technical, operational and financial model that makes incredibly high quality renewable electrical services affordable to millions of homes.