Chief Operating Officer

Key Responsibilities

Executive Operational Leadership and Strategic Alignment

• Serve as a key member of the Senior Management Team, working closely with the CEO and SMT to translate organisational vision into effective people and operations systems and practices.
• Lead the development and execution of operational strategies to support ACF’s pan-African expansion, ensuring alignment with programmatic and organisational goals. Manage Organisation Development and General Operating Support grants.
• Lead the change process necessary to scale the organisation, clarifying roles and responsibilities and decision-making authority.
• Lead the work of the Senior Management Team to ensure cross-functional alignment, delivery, and performance management.
• Develop strategic action plans that detail responsibilities, timelines, and milestones, and oversee performance reporting to the CEO and Board.

Leadership and Management

• Provide leadership, direction, and management for the Operations teams, which consists of: Human Resources, IT, Planning, Systems & Processes.
• Promote a culture of excellence, service orientation, high performance, and continuous improvement for and within the team, and in team interactions with the rest of the organisation.
• Supervise direct reports and ensure clear performance expectations, development pathways and role alignment.
• Mentor staff and support professional training and development.

Change Management and Organisational Transformation

• Lead ACF through structural, operational, and cultural transitions, ensuring minimal disruption and strong stakeholder engagement.
• Drive a culture of continuous improvement through team engagement in the identification of operational efficiencies and other opportunities for change initiatives.
• Design and implement organisation-wide change management strategies that embed adaptability, resilience, and continuous improvement.
• Drive internal communications to ensure transparency and clarity around change processes.

Governance, Compliance and Institutional Development

• Strengthen governance frameworks and ensure compliance with legal, regulatory, and donor requirements across jurisdictions.
• Ensure all internal policies, contracts, and MOUs are aligned with regulatory frameworks and institutional best practices.
• Own the overall risk of the organisation, across multiple functions. This includes owning the risk management framework to support the identification and impact mitigation of organisational, financial and technology/cyber related risks.

Risk Management and Organisational Resilience

• Develop and lead an enterprise risk management framework that includes strategic, operational, financial, and reputational risk mitigation.
• Maintain and update strategic risk registers and ensure the SMT and Board are regularly informed of emerging risks and mitigation strategies.
• Promote a culture of risk ownership across the organisation.

Technology, Systems and Processes Leadership

• Manage the systems, processes and practices required to support ACF strategic effectiveness; ensure these are efficient and effective, and that they facilitate our value delivery and enhance funder, partner, grantee, and staff experience.
• Ensure IT, systems and practices provide appropriate levels of security for information, staff and grantees.
• Ensure system and information architecture are aligned with key processes and practices; prioritize key investment areas and manage development projects to support department and organisation needs.
• Oversee the adoption of enterprise systems that support remote collaboration, knowledge sharing, and grant making.
• Institutionalise core business processes into policies, SOPs, and digital workflows.
• Develop systems to capture and disseminate institutional knowledge and ensure continuity across teams and regions.

Human Resources and Organisational Culture

• Oversee the development and implementation of a people strategy aligned with ACF’s vision and attract and retain a talented workforce.
• Support the Head of Human Resources to implement talent, inclusion, and workforce development strategies that reflect ACF’s values and pan-African footprint.
• Ensure HR systems, policies, and structures are robust, equitable, and locally compliant.
• Foster a performance-based culture that values collaboration, learning, and staff wellbeing.
• Oversee organisation-wide meetings, retreats, and internal communication practices.

Fiscal Hosting Oversight

• Provide strategic and operational oversight to the Fiscal Hosting function in collaboration with the Head of Fiscal Hosting.
• Ensure that service offerings, capacity planning and internal systems align with hosting agreements and operational needs.
• With the Head of Fiscal Hosting, represent ACF with key internal and external stakeholders; ensure service level monitoring, problem identification and resolution, and reporting.

Strategic Partnerships and Communications

• Collaborate with the Head of Strategic Partnerships and Communications to develop proposals, reports and donor-facing communication related to operational performance and organisational development.
• Contribute to the development of systems and tools for managing funder relationships, communications and stakeholder mapping, ensuring proactive and strategic engagement across ACF’s network.