Programme Officer: Nigeria

Instill Education is on a mission to transform teaching, learning, and leadership in every classroom on the African continent. We believe that our teachers and school leaders are the greatest levers for change in the education system.  We recently became an accredited higher education institution in South Africa, and we have launched a game-changing mobile app that offers self-paced, bite-sized modules to help teachers in their professional development journey. More than 50,000 teachers in South Africa, Ghana, Kenya, and Nigeria have already enrolled for our professional development modules and joined a pan-African community of peers and experts who provide support and feedback along the way.

We are looking to hire a Programme Manager to support the growth of our professional development offering in Nigeria.

What makes you a great candidate?

You are ambitious, hungry to learn, and have a deep passion for education. You want to work in a fast-paced business environment and grow with a young organisation that seeks to change the face of education across the African continent. You want to learn how a start-up works by getting your hands dirty and getting involved in every aspect of the business. You are excited by the challenge of immersing yourself in new contexts and tackling complex problems. You are not afraid of failure and are driven to improve through robust, data-driven decision-making and feedback. When evaluating your candidacy, we will look for the following:

• Demonstrated commitment to anti-racism, equity, and inclusion
• Ambition to take ownership of challenges and  grow with the business
• Exceptional critical thinker with strong interpersonal and communication skills
• Demonstrated passion for educational development, and closing educational equity gaps, and are strongly aligned with our vision, mission, and values

What does the role entail?

As the Programme Manager, you will be responsible for creatively building relationships with schools, education organisations, and educators. You will need to immerse yourself in classrooms and our training programmes to truly understand the problem we are trying to solve, then put in place systems to expand and build an effective and collaborative ecosystem.

As Programme Manager, you will:

• Work with the Chief Programme Officer and a network of partner organisations to build an offering  that ensures our programmes are reaching into schools and being used by educators across the country
• Work with the Chief Programme Officer to implement a go-to-market strategy and oversee business development activities such as events, social media outreach, focus groups, community workshops, etc.
• Leverage our existing government and civil society relationships to increase the reach and impact of our teacher professional development mobile app across Nigeria while creating communities amongst educators and education networks
• Identify new opportunities and develop an understanding of the changing needs of Nigerian  educators
• Plan and execute our partnerships strategy, including social media and events
• Conceptualise new and creative ways to build and maintain relationships with our networks
• Remain up to date with both our programmes and education trends/data in Nigeria
• Support in the development and maintenance of a strong, inviting and engaging working culture at Instill Education
• Serve as Instill's main point of contact for in-country stakeholders, particularly government and programme delivery partners
• Build and maintain effective relationships with leaders in the local and national government, universities, and peer organisations
• Drive user acquisition and retention on the Upskill@Instill platform

Selection Criteria:

• 5+ years of experience in a management or in a public stakeholder management role
• Have experience in the Nigerian education sector, working with Nigerian government and/or civil society stakeholders (work with state education departments, teacher unions, and TRCN, or other education agencies preferred)
• Strong customer service skills
• Ability to troubleshoot problems and resolve issues
• Excellent communication skills
• Strong project management skills
• Ability to work independently and as part of a team
• Ability to build and maintain relationships with stakeholders

Anticipated start: 1 April 2024

Location: Nigeria (Abuja or Lagos preferred)

Do our values resonate with yours?

We believe in owning our mission to transform education across Africa. We aim to dream big, work collaboratively, have the courage to learn from failure and embrace ingenuity. practical, inclusive solutions for the communities we serve. If you share our commitment to this challenge, join us in making a profound impact on our education systems.