School of Hard Knocks is an award winning South African sport for development non-profit that provides a combination of psycho-social counseling from supportive adults and life skills through sports coaching to improve the wellbeing of young people experiencing trauma from violent and under-resourced backgrounds.
They are looking for a dynamic and gritty ED who is excited to build a fast-growing and high-impact organization alongside a passionate and hard-working team. The ED would have both a strategy and execution role. She or he would develop strategy, fundraise to fulfil that strategy, manage the operations team, gather and analyze operational data, oversee our finance and data systems, and be a critical thought partner to the Board
SOHK for Schools is designed as an integrated programme where children who have suffered or are suffering on-going traumatic episodes and displaying risk taking behaviour such as substance abuse are provided with multiple services accessed within the school environment. These include access to psycho-social counselling conducted by mental health professionals, and provision of a values led approach that uses trained coaches to teach personal and social responsibility for 28 weeks of the school year. This enables youth to take effective steps to improve their wellbeing and complete their schooling.
Project #NextGenMen is using the power of soccer to challenge and change problematic social norms and attitudes that underpin violence against women (VAW). To do this, we deliver internationally recognised gender transformative content aimed at promoting more positive masculinities to 600 men in the soccer fraternity at 20 sites across South Africa.
We are looking for a leader with a growth mindset, who has the ideas and the execution to scale SOHK and ensure our innovative approach to mental health reaches more children across South Africa. The main responsibilities would include:
Develop appropriate organisational strategies and plans ensuring their alignment with the Directors short-term and long-term objectives
Lead the Finance Committee so that SOHK comply with financial obligations and the Board has oversight needed to steer the organisation’s strategy
Lead Fundraising efforts and partnership development to fulfil the organisation’s strategy
Create annual review and financial reports to effectively report on each years work
Lead and motivate subordinates to advance employee engagement and develop a high performing delivery team
Oversee all operations and related activities to ensure they produce the desired results and are consistent with the overall strategy and mission
Enforce adherence to legal guidelines, such as child protection, and relevant policies to maintain the company’s legality and business ethics
Build trust relations with key partners and stakeholders and act as a point of contact for important stakeholders
Analyze problematic situations and occurrences and provide solutions to ensure organisational survival and growth
Qualifications:
Aligned with SOHK’s core value
At least 7 years of operational management experience in a senior role, ideally in South Africa
Proven capability to raise money and lead teams, ideally within a growing non-profit.
Excited to get your hands dirty and gritty (running the NextGenMen pilot)
Strong understanding of accounting, budget management, and financial management
Strategic thinker, who is able to convert strategy into operational execution and excellence
Systems thinker, who sees gaps and opportunities in systems and processes and efficiently and effectively improves them
Entrepreneurial attitude, creative problem solver, hard worker, patient team-player, poise under stress, with a sense of humor
Flexible and adaptable to changing environments, and comfortable with the unknown
Responsiveness and ability to manage a range of diverse workstreams simultaneously
Coaching mentality; constantly aims for those who you manage to become better than you
Application Process
Applications will be accepted via this application form on a rolling basis until the position is filled, at which point the link will become inaccessible. In other words, if the application form is still active, we are still recruiting! The process will entail the following steps for the successful candidate::
An interview with the current ED (remote)
An interview with the ED (remote) and 2 Board members
Reference checks
SOHK reserves the right to extend the closing date if deemed necessary and reserves the right not to make an appointment.