Senior Project Manager - New Innovations

KickStart KickStart www.kickstart.org is an award-winning, nonprofit, social enterprise with a unique solution for fighting poverty in Africa. They design and mass-market simple, money-making tools that poor entrepreneurs buy and use to create highly profitable businesses.
The Job Opportunity

The successful candidate will provide leadership for, and manage, a number of exciting new Product Management and Process Improvement projects at KickStart. They will report to the COO, and work with, and manage, a number of small, but dynamic, teams to bring these new projects to fruition. Specifically, the job responsibilities will include, but not necessarily be limited to:
• Ensuring the successful market test and launch of two exciting new irrigation pumps that will improve and expand KickStart’s product line. In particular:
o The mass market launch of KickStart’s new MoneyMaker-Max irrigation pump
o A market test of KickStart’s new Deep Lift Pump.
• Managing the development and piloting of a new line of KickStart Service Products, that will greatly increase the impacts of KickStart’s irrigation pumps. In particular:
o An expanded pilot of KickStart’s Unique Cell Phone Based Layaway Payment System that enables farmers to save money to pay for pumps.
o Developing and piloting KickStart’s new MoneyMaker Farmer’s Club – a cell phone based social networking product that will enable farmers to better utilize and promote KickStart’s irrigation pumps.
• Developing and piloting a new system that can track and measure the social impacts of KickStart’s B2B Export pump sales.
• Designing, implementing and managing key process improvement initiatives. Specifically new initiatives to:
o Reduce the time from inception to market for KickStart’s new products without compromising quality and performance
o Increase the cost effectiveness of KickStart’s procurement and inventory management processes.
o Establish, and put in place systems to track, new Key Performance Indicators for KickStart’s Product Development/ Management, Procurement and Inventory Management processes.

Qualifications:

Necessary Skills and Experience:
• Strong background and experience in Project Management at a Senior Level
• Excellent experience and proven skills in Team Management with a high level of responsibility
• Excellent interpersonal and communications skills – a complete team player
• Exceptional planning, organizational, and leadership capabilities
• Strong analytical skills including Microsoft Excel financial modeling skills
• Results/Performance Orientation – proven “self-starter”
• Ability to work in a dynamic and unstructured environment
• Undergraduate degree required. MBA desirable
• Fluency in English.

Desirable Skills and Experience – a successful candidate will have some or all of:
• Experience in Product Management of hardware and/or software products.
• Experience in supply-chain management including vendor and inventory management, procurement and logistics
• Experience and knowledge of computer science, mechanical and/or manufacturing engineering, marketing/sales, social networking
• Experience working and living in, or visiting developing countries - preferably in Africa
• Fluency in French and/or Kiswahili desirable

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