Bridge Kenya is a life-changing community school program. It is one of four community school programmes run as part of NewGlobe’s education portfolio.
Bridge Kenya opened its first school in Nairobi’s Mukuru Kwa Njenga, in 2009. Now, it supports community schools across 43 of the 47 counties. Bridge Kenya partners with communities, parents and teachers to deliver life-changing education and provide a gateway to success for underserved families.
Since 2015, Bridge Kenya’s national (KCPE) exam results have continued to prove academic excellence, significantly outperforming national averages. Community school graduates have gone to top secondary schools and universities; both within Kenya and the US.
Group
Our people are at the core of what we do, and supporting a diverse workforce that spans many industries, and many cultures, while at the same time keeping everyone aligned to our mission and mandate takes focus and determination. We work at massive scale. We are responsible for ensuring we support each team member to succeed, aligned to business goals and constraints. We are responsible for our human capital, administration of all offices and support functions, and employee engagement. We are data-driven, and leverage technology to make both informed decisions and work processes. We are the champions of our culture. We value continuous learning and extensive collaboration, and have strong focus on performance. We are evidence-based, outcomes driven and lead through service.
Department
People Operations manages each employee’s life cycle with us, with a focus on contracting, benefits, compensation, payroll, and date-driven performance management. We are the first point of contact on most issues for our team members, ensuring our policies support and encourage a strong and effective team. Working across hundreds to thousands of employees, we work at scale, with large amounts of data, leveraging technology to improve employee systems and support.
About the Role
● The Officer, People Operations role is a generalist position that operates at the front lines of People department at Bridge.
● The ideal candidate should exceptionally possess high attention to detail, a strong work ethic, and ability to manage multiple workflows and projects simultaneously. You are level-headed, disciplined, and thoroughly understand that HR must protect the Company’s interests and policies and guide employees through their career life cycles at Bridge at the same time.
● You have a very good understanding of HR best practices and employment/labour law frameworks in Kenya, and are certified by the IHRM. Last but not least – you are a gritty, never-say-die doer who relishes challenges
What You Will Do
● Separations Process: lead and “quarterback” separations processes, including department, asset, and financial handovers – involves IT, Admin, and Payroll Accountant
● Onboarding Process: lead and “quarterback” teams from IT, Admin, etc. in ensuring that staff are successfully on boarded
● Payroll Verification: work with Payroll Accountant to ensure that all contractors and employees are properly represented with the right deductions/additions, if any. Generate monthly report for managers on headcount
● Staff Benefits: supporting staff with questions about health coverage, managing additions to coverage, dealing with other health coverage issues
● Asset Management: ensure that all staff have the assets they need; deal with asset recovery processes and exchanges/one-off needs. Heavy interfacing with IT and Admin
● Leave Management: assist employees with leave, generate monthly report for managers on leave balances
● Disciplinary Procedures: work with the HR Director on managing these procedures
● Appeals, Grievances, Investigations: lead these processes with some direction from the HR Director
● Staff Documentation: ensuring that offer letters, contracts, probation confirmations, and change of status documents are appropriately handled
What You Should Have
● Strong adherence to systems and process
● Experience working with a culturally and socioeconomically diverse workforce
● Minimum of four years of full-time work experience in Human Resources
● Good working knowledge of Microsoft Office; technologically competent/quick learner
● Work experience in fast-growth, rapid-scale contexts, particularly with large numbers of field staff
● Outstanding written and verbal communication skills
● High energy and enthusiasm level; willingness to do whatever necessary to get the job done
● Microsoft Dynamics NAV experience preferred
● Bachelor’s Degree, preferably with Business Administration and/or Human Resources course specialization, with exemplary academic performance
● IHRM certification
You’re also
A detailed doer – You have a track record of getting things done. You’re organized and responsive. You take ownership of every idea you touch and execute it to a fine level of detail, setting targets, engaging others, and doing whatever it takes to get the job done. You can multi-task dozens of such projects at once and never lose sight of the details. Likely, you have some experience in a start-up or other rapid-growth company.
A creative problem-solver – Growing any business from scratch comes with massive and constant challenges. On top of that, Bridge works in often fragile, sometimes volatile low-resource communities and with complex government systems. You need to be flexible and ready to get everything done effectively, quickly, and affordably with the materials at hand.
A relentless advocate – The children we serve and teachers we empower never leave your mind. You know them, get them, have shared a meal with them (or would be happy to in the future). You would never shrink back from shaking a parent’s hand or picking up a crying child, no matter what the person was wearing or looked like. Every decision you make considers their benefit, experience, and value.
A malleable learner – You believe you can always do better. You welcome constructive criticism and provide it freely to others. You know you only get better tomorrow when others point out where you’ve missed things or failed today.
A data-driven decision-maker – When making decisions, you don’t rely on your intuition alone. You collect data, you analyze it and make decisions with clear justifications.
A curious investigator – You ask why a lot. You don’t just take what you see and accept it. You wonder why it is that way, and are aware that the world we see is created by human choices and actions – and it could be different. You wonder, and see the world as wonderful even when you want to change a part of it that is unjust.
