Innovations for Poverty Action (IPA), is an international non-profit research organization. Based in New Haven, CT, with offices in New York, Washington, D.C. and worldwide, IPA works with development partners and academic researchers to create and evaluate approaches to solving development problems, to communicate “what works” in development and to scale up successful projects in a variety of fields, including health, education, microfinance, governance and agriculture. IPA has been in Ghana since 2009, where it is now one of IPA’s largest country offices, with a permanent team of more than 50 staff managing and supporting 15-30 active research projects.

Position Summary:

IPA Ghana seeks an Operations Coordinator to manage country office operations staff and systems that support the administrative and operational needs of the IPA Ghana office. The Operations Coordinator will supervise a team of 8-10 Operations staff across the Accra and Tamale offices providing in-country support in Human Resources, IT, Safety & Security, and Inventory Management Systems, and will ensure the general compliance of the country office with relevant laws and regulations.

The Operations Coordinator will work under the direction of the IPA Ghana Deputy Country Director and will work in close collaboration with the Country Director. S/he will supervise the local Operations team and will have significant collaboration with the local Sr. Finance Manager and Finance team. The Operations Coordinator will also liaise with the key Global Functional Teams led by the Chief Finance and Administration Officer, Chief Information Officer, Global HR Director, General Counsel and others as required.

This position will be based in Accra, Ghana, with regular travel to Tamale, Ghana.

Responsibilities:

• Work closely with the Deputy Country Director and Country Director to define and implement IPA Ghana’s
• operational strategy in the areas of HR, IT, HR, Safety & Security, Office Management and Legal.
• Oversee and build the capacity of the Ghana Operations team (8-10 members) to execute routine operational
• processes and solve operational problems with minimal management intervention.
• Ensure IPA Ghana complies with all statutory requirements related to Operations functions.
• Continuously analyze and review internal controls, operational policies and procedures and business processes
• and identify gaps for strengthening, training and implementation.
• Oversee the roll-out and implementation of global operations and administrative policies and procedures at
• country office level.
• Assist in the maintenance and management of the country risk register, and risk management in general.
• Assists in the review of agreements, MoUs and contracts as required both as oversight to procurement
• processes and to review content in coordination with General Counsel.
• Work closely with the IPA Global HR functional support team to manage country-level human resource needs
• in line with global and local policies.
• Work closely with the IPA Global ICT functional support team to ensure the Ghana office has a functioning ICT
• infrastructure and support.
• Manage the Administrative Budget of IPA Ghana.
• Manage relationships with suppliers and other external bodies which serve the office as a whole, such as
• landlords, insurance carriers and brokers, local legal counsel, etc.
• Participate in the development and implementation of annual strategic plans for Operations functions

Qualifications

• Preferably degree-level education; master’s degree an added advantage
• A minimum of 3 years of relevant work experience, preferably in an NGO
• Experience with operations support management
• Excellent English communication skills
• Experience living and working in a developing country, preferably in Ghana
• Commitment to leading a diverse team and building staff capacity
• Critical thinker and systems thinker
• A thorough understanding and experience with a wide range of donors
• Strong communication skills and ability to represent an organization professionally
• Sensitivity to working in a culturally diverse organization
• Excellent management and organizational skills and ability to work independently
• Flexible, self-motivating, able to manage multiple tasks efficiently, and a team player
• Willingness to travel domestically up to 25% (mostly to Tamale office)