Director of Delivery

Simprints

Location Cambridge, UK (remote work during the Pandemic)
Salary £42000 - £51400
Team Delivery
  • Closing: 11:59pm, 28th Jan 2021 GMT

Job Description

Deliver great technology that matters.

About Simprints

Simprints is a nonprofit tech company from the University of Cambridge. Our mission is to transform the way the world fights poverty. We build technology to radically increase transparency and effectiveness in global development, making sure that every vaccine, every dollar, every public good reaches the people who need them most. 

Simprints’ biometric technology helps verify coverage and increase impact on the frontlines. We have already reached over 850,000 individuals and are contracted to reach more than 1.4m people by the end of 2021 through flagship projects like our work with BRAC in Bangladesh and the Ministry of Health in Ethiopia.

Role Overview

We are looking for a full-time Director of Delivery who is passionate about building and implementing technology-based solutions in service delivery and research projects around the globe. You will build and lead a team of pre-sales managers, project managers, and data analysts to deliver robust technology solutions for iNGOs, governments, research institutions, and other partners around the world. This role is unique in its breadth, offering the opportunity to design and implement processes to strengthen cross-functional collaboration with partnerships, product and engineering, finance, privacy and responsible data, and operations. This post will require remote working in the near term and expected short term global deployments in the future.  

What are your responsibilities?

Strategic Leadership

  • Lead strategic planning and execution for the Project Delivery team in line with the company’s annual and quarterly objectives.   

  • Gather and analyse data to drive decisions,  identify opportunities, and execute plans to improve and streamline processes. 

  • Build and manage strong relationships with our Impact Partners through regular feedback calls with key stakeholders, from HQ managers to end users of our technology.

  • Provide leadership and strategic insights from the project locations, working to sustainably scale our operations worldwide.

 Coordination and Oversight

  • Oversee and allocate human resources across all projects to ensure that they are delivered on time and on budget.

  • Build and manage strong relationships with our clients through regular feedback calls with key stakeholders, from HQ managers to end users of our technology. 

  • Lead bi-weekly sprint reviews and monthly company-wide Project Delivery meetings 

  • Maintain the budget for the Project Delivery team, working closely with the Chief Delivery Officer to ensure resources are spent in an efficient manner.

  • Strengthen collaborations with other teams across the company, including Partnerships, Product and Engineering, Finance, and Operations. 

  • Actively support our Research, Impact Partnerships, and Strategic Partnerships teams on projects-related assignments, providing material for grants, sales, and marketing initiatives.

 Project Management

  • Where required, directly manage and complete key complex projects from start to finish, including preparation of pre-deployment materials, logistics for smooth on-the-grounds deployment, and the deployment itself.

  • Manage deliverables of several ongoing responsibilities, such as scopes of work, project quote presentations, and client impact reports. This will require close engagement, support and management with a team of project managers.

  • Closely monitor project statuses, investigate any significant issues reported by clients, and provide effective and timely course of action.

  • Build and support a Pre-Sales team, working collaboratively with other roles and  internal departments to effectively review future projects, defining a feasible project scope and ensuring that early stages of the project cycle reflect future delivery realities. 

  • Ensure technical aspects of projects are delivered to the highest standards, working in close collaboration with Engineers and Technical Project Managers.

  • Manage projects across multiple geographic locations, remotely supporting Country Directors and equipping different country teams as they manage direct project management requirements relevant to their country contexts. 

People Management

  • Manage, support, and guide a team of Project Managers, both technical project managers and international development professionals, through frequent feedback sessions and career development reviews.

  • Work closely with the team and other parts of the company to grow and build capacity of the project Delivery team, including taking part in recruitment, hiring, and management. 

  • Manage a Pre-Sales manager, ensuring that all Delivery requirements are well captured during initial stages of the project cycle. 

 What are the “must-have” skills and experience for this role?

  • Significant project management experience, ideally in the ICT4D space where you’ve deployed projects in developing country contexts. You can manage a portfolio of complex and rapidly-evolving technology projects. You demand high standards in project timelines, budgets, reporting, and—above all—project implementation. 

  • Significant team and personnel management experience, ideally leading a team of project managers in the ICT4D space. 

  • Government, Donor, and iNGO Management Skills. You have a proven track record of managing stakeholders at the highest level, including at least one—and ideally more—of the following: governments (e.g. ministers), donors (e.g. senior leaders), and iNGOs (e.g. executives). You may not like politics, but you know how to navigate them. 

  • Familiarity with data collection platforms, such as DHIS2, CommCare, ODK, OpenSRP, and/or other technology platforms commonly used in global development. You are knowledgeable about, have designed, or implemented workflows common among frontline workers in development programs (e.g. health care, aid distribution, research, education).

  • Excellent written and verbal communications. You are empathetic and seek to understand different perspectives, bring clarity to ambiguous or ill-defined needs, can negotiate diplomatically when there are competing interests, and secure buy-in and alignment across stakeholder groups. 

  • Attention to detail. Global development work is complex and unpredictable. To proactively anticipate risks, assess implicit requirements on top of contractual deliverables, and successfully meet ever-changing needs, you need to be able to translate a high-level idea into concrete, detailed action steps and documentation.  

  • Time management. You are organised, process-oriented, and attentive to following through on planned tasks and activities. You know how to allocate and shift resources to provide support to team members as needed, ensuring that project deliverables are met on time and on budget. 

  • Permission to work in the UK, though for an exceptional candidate we are willing to consider sponsoring a UK work visa or supporting remote working from another country.

Ideally, you will also have

  • Grit and an appreciation of a challenging, fast-paced environment 

  • Working proficiency in French, Arabic, Spanish, or other common language  

  • Experience with agile development methods and processes (e.g. scrum)

  • An engineering degree and/or passion for building technology solutions

  • Interest in and/or experience in M&E or data analysis 

  • Strong training skills, ideally you are comfortable hosting virtual trainings as well as conducting in-person trainings in resource-limited settings. 

What we value

  • Integrity. You have an unwavering commitment to ‘confronting the grey’ in all areas of your work, and encourage transparency in all your interactions.

  • Intellect. You understand the importance of rigorously detailed data, and have a strong ability to synthesise complex and potentially competing requirements, and convert them into recommendations that drive business decisions.

  • Problem-solving. You have distinctive problem solving skills and good business judgment.  You are capable of translating different privacy related scenarios into clear recommendations.

  • Curiosity. You have a desire to think innovatively and explore and understand how different perspectives and complex data blend together to create the bigger picture and context.  

  • Learning. You love learning new things, are able to think on your feet, and can pick up new tools and methods quickly.  

  • Grit. You have a hands-on, can-do attitude and have the drive to dig deep into problems to discover pain points and features from multiple perspectives, and resilience to stay focused on a project to the end. 

  • Passion. If being part of a team that designs and deploys technology for global health sounds exciting, we want to meet you! 

5 Reasons to join Simprints

Life is short. We believe work should be awesome, meaningful, and fun. At Simprints we’re taking on global development’s biggest challenges, powered by an amazing culture and incredible people. Work with us, and you will grow faster, learn more, and take on great responsibilities with potential to make lasting change.

  • Social impact. Work directly with our partners and users to deliver technology that has the potential to impact millions of lives. 

  • Incredible, diverse team. Ask any “Simprintster” what their favourite thing about working at Simprints is, and the answer is likely to be “the people.” Our work is at the intersection of technology and global development, and we’ve managed to build an amazing team drawn from the best technology companies, iNGOs, UN agencies, and universities around the world. 

  • Flexible hours. More efficient late at night? Better before the sun rises? That’s fine by us. We are looking for people who get the job done, not for people who work between 9am and 5pm.

  • Unlimited paid time off. We set high standards and goals, but give people the freedom to choose when and how to recharge. Join a team that trusts you with the job.

  • Professional development and wellbeing. We promote continual learning with self-directed learning objectives, external mentors, and regular one-on-one feedback. We also put our money where our mouth is with a dedicated ‘Learning & Wellness’ budget, managed by our Talent and Operations team.

What’s next?

Traditional recruitment processes are open to a lot of subconscious bias: your name, where you studied, previous employers and a host of other factors can lead to your candidacy being treated differently to others. We’ve built a recruitment system that seeks to minimise that bias as much as possible. To apply: 

  • Submit your CV at www.simprints.com/careers. You’ll receive a response and a link to an initial assessment. Not everyone is great at face-to-face interviews, and we want to make sure that you have the best chance to show yourself off in the best light. 

  • Submit the initial assessment. Once we’ve received your completed assessment, they will be blinded and given to a panel of reviewers to be scored independently. 

  • Technical assessment. Top-scoring applicants will then be invited to a more detailed technical assessment. 

  • Video interview and digital experience half-day. The in-depth interview is an opportunity to understand your motivations for joining Simprints, assess cultural and technical fit, and provide you a chance to ask any questions you have about the role and company.  The final step of our recruitment process also includes a virtual “experience half day.” While these are normally held in-person at our office in Cambridge, we’re currently holding these virtually because of the pandemic. The experience day is intended to ensure that Simprints is a good fit for you just as much as you are a good fit for us. You’ll have a chance to meet some of the team and demonstrate your skills in a few more technical exercises that simulate what it’s like to work as a Director of Delivery at Simprints. 

Removing bias from the hiring process

Applications closed Thu 28th Jan 2021

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Removing bias from the hiring process

  • Your application will be anonymously reviewed by our hiring team to ensure fairness
  • You’ll need a CV/résumé, but it’ll only be considered if you score well on the anonymous review

Applications closed Thu 28th Jan 2021