Chief Operating Officer (COO)

Job Description

This is a remote position.

JOB SUMMARY

• Job Title: Chief Operating Officer (COO) 
• Job Level: C-Suite 
• Team: Strategy & Operations 
• Reports to: Chief Executive Officer 
• Direct (planned) reports: Senior Finance & Operations Lead
• Indirect (planned) reports: Executive Operations Assistant; outsourced professional services 
• Location: Remote, Africa-based, with occasional travel for program delivery and organizational events 
• Time commitment: Full-time 
• Start date: Q1 2027 

ABOUT EPIC-AFRICA 

EPIC-Africa is a pan-African infrastructure organization, dedicated to making African civil society findable, fundable, and capable. Africa is full of credible, impactful civil society organizations (CSOs) that traditional funding streams struggle to find. As a "CSO for CSOs," EPIC-Africa bridges this gap using pan-African data, sectoral research and mappings, and strategic initiatives like the African CSO Platform and the African CSO Awards, equipping funders with discovery they can trust while centering African agency and leadership. 

ABOUT THE TEAM 

The Strategy & Operations team creates and runs the machinery that lets the rest of EPIC-Africa deliver: the strategy and planning rhythm, board governance, finance, people, legal coordination, and internal reporting. It coordinates the Growth & Sustainability Strategy, which will make EPIC-Africa more financially sustainable and less reliant on grants. It also hosts the Ways of Working Center of Excellence (CoE), which sets the internal standards the whole organization works to, covering the SOP library, knowledge management, and day-to-day policies such as travel. 

The team is an enabling function. Its success shows in a well-run, financially sound institution: reliable systems and controls, strong governance, and delivery teams that have the support they need to execute. 

JOB PURPOSE 

The Chief Operating Officer builds and leads EPIC-Africa's Strategy & Operations team, owning the operating backbone and the organization's sustainable income generation. The role creates the systems that let every other team deliver. 

The role combines strategic judgment with hands-on delivery: acting as thought partner to the CEO, absorbing operating accountability, and helping EPIC-Africa become less reliant on grant funding. This is an organization-wide role with a great deal to deliver, so sharp prioritization is essential. 

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES 

1. The operating backbone & corporate calendar 

• Own the operating rhythm (covering all annual, quarterly and monthly processes) and corporate calendar, improving them over time. 
• Support the Senior Leadership Team (SLT) to translate Strategy 2030 into execution for their teams, and include the reporting and monitoring of progress in the operating rhythm. 
• Own risk management: maintain the risk register, ensure risk review is included in the operating rhythm, and track mitigation, with SLT accountable for risks in their own areas. 
• Simplify and professionalize how the organization works: remove bottlenecks, cut bureaucracy, standardize recurring work, and design systems around the delivery teams' needs, keeping processes lean and agile. 
• Improve project management and technology tooling across all processes to automate and streamline work, deciding what to outsource and embedding responsible use of AI, per the Data, Tools & AI CoE standards. 
• Oversee the finance function with the Senior Finance & Operations Lead: budget and delivery within it, controls, treasury, audit, procurement and payroll. Co-own donor reporting with the CEO, supported by an outsourced accountant. 
• Oversee legal, compliance and institutional administration through an external legal retainer: legal policy, contracts and vendor agreements, data protection and IP, due diligence, and institutional registrations, insurance and memberships. 

2. Partner to the CEO and leadership alignment 

• Act as strategic thinking partner to the CEO (and other C-Suite members) on priorities, sequencing and trade-offs. Work with the broader Strategy & Operations team on briefings, decision memos and follow-through, so the CEO makes fewer, well-prepared decisions. 
• Absorb material operating accountability from the CEO, reducing their time spent on operations and problem solving to enable focus on corporate advancement and organizational leadership. 
• Drive leadership alignment: decision rights, cross-functional collaboration norms, and resolution of bottlenecks between Teams before they escalate. 
• Own the board governance process (papers, cadence, decision rights, governance standards and committee support), in support of the CEO who holds the Board relationship.  

3. The Growth & Sustainability Strategy 

The Growth & Sustainability Strategy is coordinated by the COO, with C-Suite leads owning their own Team’s contributions towards it. 

• Own EPIC-Africa's sustainable income strategy and mix across all channels, with direction set jointly with the CEO, who owns fundraising; this role owns the targets and diversification path. 
• Identify growth products with each C-Suite leader based on existing capability, and convert them into one prioritized and sequenced product strategy. 
• Provide SLT members with key commercial support to inform product design and strategy: pricing, market sizing, segmentation, sequencing, market entry, business case building (e.g. cost to build, cost to serve, price, margin, breakeven, capacity and risk). 
• Maintain the financial model linking income to runway, reserves and diversification targets, and report income diversification and progress to the CEO and Board. 
• Keep every product mission-safe: test each against mission fit, reputational risk, and the risk to the CSOs the organization serves, and be prepared to decline a profitable idea on those grounds. 

4. People & culture (with Senior Finance and Operations Lead) 

EPIC-Africa procures outsourced HR support for specialist work, so this role is accountable for the people function and oversees delivery, rather than doing it directly. 

• Oversee recruitment, contracting and onboarding, working with line managers. 
• Oversee the people and culture approach, including leadership development and how the organization works together. 
• Oversee the performance management approach and organization-wide goal setting, and support ongoing talent development. 
• Oversee the compensation and benefits framework, and equitable regional representation across the organization. 
• Oversee organizational design, job architecture and leveling, workforce planning and succession, and sequence hiring against validated demand and affordability. 
• Oversee our approach to people issues, employee relations and exits, and run periodic staff satisfaction surveys with visible follow-through. 
• Ensure compliance with labor law and good HR practice across every geography in which EPIC-Africa operates. 

5. Team leadership and the Ways of Working CoE 

• Line-manage the Senior Finance & Operations Lead (coaching them into full ownership of the operating rhythm) and the Executive Operations Assistant, and direct outsourced accountant, legal and HR support. 
• Own the StratOps Team budget and ensure the Team delivers within it. 
• Own the Ways of Working CoE: SOP library and process standards, project and portfolio management, knowledge management, and governance and risk routines, with training as needed. Where it advances the mission, extend the same standards and materials to CSO partners and platform members to strengthen CSO capability. 
• Own internal communications across the organization. 
• Contribute to organization-wide moments as needed, including flagship reports and surveys, convenings, campaigns, funder reporting and organizational planning, and work with colleagues across Teams. 
• Undertake other reasonable responsibilities appropriate to the seniority of the role. This job description captures the main elements of the post but is not exhaustive and may evolve alongside the organization. 

Requirements

PERSON SPECIFICATION 

We are looking for someone who combines commercial acumen with a deep commitment to our mission, able to build sustainable income streams that fund our work for the long term. The successful candidate pairs income-generating experience with the judgment to frame it to our non-profit context. They are capable of thinking organization-first (vs Team-first), are candid and discreet as a thinking partner to the CEO, and are strong communicators and collaborators. 

Essential qualifications, skills and experience 

• Senior operating leadership with accountability for multiple operations functions across an organization. 
• Demonstrable sustainable income experience: income model design, pricing, market sizing and segmentation, business case development, and go-to-market or market-entry decisions. 
• Experience managing a financial function including budget build, controls, cashflow, audit and financial planning and analysis. 
• Experience managing a people function, including recruitment, performance frameworks, compensation and employment compliance across more than one jurisdiction. 
• Experience designing and running organizational planning, objectives and performance cadence at whole-organization level (>20 person in size). 
• Board-facing experience, including producing board papers and supporting governance routines. 
• Demonstrated ability to work as a trusted partner to a chief executive, including the judgment to challenge and the discipline to align. 
• Sound judgment on mission risk, reputation and organizational independence in a values-driven organization. 
• Experience leading a distributed, multi-country team, and excellent written and verbal English. 
• Structured problem solver able to build an argument from evidence and communicate it crisply to an executive audience and a Board. 
• Innovation and improvement mindset: always looking for new and more efficient ways to get things done. 
• Flexible and adaptable mindset, suited to working in a growing and evolving organization. 
• Discretion, diplomacy and reliability with confidential material as a matter of course. 
• Act as a player-coach and stay hands-on when required (e.g. Board pack or CEO memo creation). 

Desirable 

• Management consulting background, particularly in strategy, revenue or operations practice. 
• Experience of an organization shifting from grant dependence towards diversified or sustainable income. 
• Experience with data products, subscriptions or platform monetization. 
• Experience enhancing workflows through responsible use of AI. 
• Formal finance qualification, or experience working with Chief Finance Officer. 

COMPENSATION 

This is a senior leadership role offering a competitive compensation package, commensurate with experience and qualifications.

HOW TO APPLY 

Interested candidates should submit a CV and a cover letter outlining their vision and fit for the role through this form. Applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis, and early submissions are encouraged. Acceptance of submissions will close once the ideal candidate has been identified. 

EQUAL OPPORTUNITY STATEMENT 

EPIC-Africa is an equal opportunity employer. We celebrate diversity and are committed to creating an inclusive environment for all. We particularly encourage applications from individuals from underrepresented communities across Africa. For more information about us, please visit our websites: EPIC-Africa and African CSO Platform.