Job Description
Position: Manager, Programs, University Success - Cape Town, South Africa
Location:
Cape Town, South Africa
Job Id: 320
# of Openings: 1
Michael & Susan Dell Foundation
The Michael & Susan Dell Foundation (www.dell.org) builds pathways that change lives for families around the world. With offices in Austin, TX; New Delhi, India; Cape Town, South Africa; and Tel Aviv, Israel, the foundation supports programs that advance quality public education, promote children’s health, and strengthen family economic stability. Since its inception, the foundation has committed over $2.4 billion to initiatives that expand opportunities and improve outcomes for families globally.
Current Opportunity: Manager, Programs, University Success – Cape Town, South Africa
The Manager, Programs, University Success will play a critical role in ensuring operational excellence on projects and programs in the Foundation’s University Success portfolio. With a focus on the Dell Young Leaders program in South Africa, this role will also support efforts to expand initiatives in East Africa. The ideal candidate will have a strong background in operations and project delivery, a passion for supporting high-impact outcomes for university students, and the ability to work collaboratively across diverse teams, stakeholders, and regions. This role will report to the Head of University Success, Africa.
Key Responsibilities:
Actively manage programs and programs outcomes: Lead project management activities that deliver measurable (and sustainable) outcomes for students served and deploy agreed-to portfolio strategies. Provide operations leadership for the day-to-day running of the Dell Young Leaders program in South Africa, ensuring efficient and effective program delivery to reach graduation and placement outcomes. Create and implement operational policies to maximize efficiency and compliance against the program’s strategic guidelines for both wrap around support and scholarship grants.
Program development: Proactively work with innovations in student success support that can further the Foundation’s portfolio strategies. Provide analytical assessments to elevate opportunities for adaptive management and course correction on investments; and build recommendations for design and development for new models.
Expanded value creation: Support advancement of university partnerships and catalyze lessons learned to enhance student success best practice. Support other projects and programs in the portfolio and the Foundation’s global scholarship programs to advance their goals. Support the expansion opportunities into East Africa, including stakeholder engagement, operational design, and logistical planning.
Stakeholder engagement: Build and maintain strong relationships with universities, partners, and other key stakeholders to support program and portfolio goals. Also work alongside internal functional team leads (including Communications, Impact & Insights, and Technology) on projects to deliver and sustain outcomes.
Data and reporting: Manage data collection and analysis to monitor program performance, identify areas for improvement, and report on outcomes to internal and external stakeholders. Provide rigorous appraisals with strong attention to detail and face-based problem solving and implementation.
Team collaboration: Work closely with the Programs team and other Foundation staff to align operations with strategic goals and ensure cohesive program implementation. Play a leadership role on Dell Young Leaders with a team of staff based within the program’s university partners. Provide knowledge sharing and professional development opportunities to support continuous improvement of operational excellence and a positive culture amongst program staff.
Role Requirements:
- A Bachelor’s degree with a minimum of 5 years of experience in operations, project management, or consulting
- Experience within the higher education sector is desirable, but not required.
- Proven ability to manage complex projects and drive action and results in a dynamic environment
- Strong analytical skills and experience with data-driven decision-making.
- Excellent communication and interpersonal skills, with the ability to engage effectively with diverse stakeholders.
- Mastery of Microsoft Office suite, including the ability to perform advanced analytics in Excel and create articulate presentations in PowerPoint.
- Ability to think strategically and conceptually, using strong analytical skills to identify and implement solutions to address complex business or societal problems, and then to effectively influence a wide cross-section of people. Highly developed organizational and prioritization to work in a fast-paced environment.
- Willingness be highly engaged in on-campus operations, work on certain Saturdays for program events, and travel within South Africa and to East Africa as needed.
- Must embody the highest levels of stewardship and ethical leadership in administering the foundation’s resources and working on direct-to-student programs.
- Must be available for up to 30% domestic and international travel
About the Michael & Susan Dell Foundation
We are a diverse team with unique perspectives. We are united in our mission, our purpose, and our culture. We are driven by our ambition to identify, build, and enhance opportunities for the people we serve, and we are unwavering in our commitment to trust and uplift one another. The foundation is an equal opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color religion, gender, sexual orientation, national origin, genetics, disability, age, or veteran status. We are committed to building a team and workplace that is enhanced by the breadth, depth, diversity, and capabilities of our teammates.
This position was originally posted by Michael & Susan Dell Foundation and has been curated by PurposePhil Career. To apply, please visit the original listing on the link. We are not affiliated with the employer organization of this job ad or consultancy, and provide this curated listing as a service to our users.