Construction Manager at Bridge International Academies

Bridge International Academies - Bridge believes every child has the right to high quality education and works in partnership with governments, communities, parents and teachers to deliver education to over 100,000 children in underserved communities across Africa and Asia.

Bridge leverages in-depth teacher training and support, advanced lesson plans and wireless technology to provide pupils with a meaningful and life-changing education.

We are recruiting to fill the position below:

Job Position: Construction Manager
Job Location: Lagos

Job Description
Development/Construction:

• Our Development group (real estate, legal, physical planning, construction) owns the life cycle of academy expansion, from identifying potential land deals in our communities through to constructing academies, sometimes several dozen at a time. The construction team is a key area of the business and is responsible for the construction, modification or repair of school buildings prior to the opening of all academies.
• Above all else, we’re looking for ambition, organization, drive, intellect, problem solving, and respect for others. You will report to the Director of Development.

About the Role

• We have and are continuing to develop one of the most cost-effective approaches to constructing school buildings in the world. We currently construct school classrooms for less than US$ 1,500 per classroom fully loaded (including all labour and site management, furniture, transport, and the amortized cost of the latrines, School Manager’s office, and fence). These results are achieved by using experienced site managers, who are supported by a central management team and a highly specified process and specifications.
• Because of the speed of our scaling, we construct many schools simultaneously. For example, the company will build or remodel 5 - 10 new schools. That means we have to manage multiple simultaneous construction sites. Within a couple of years the number of simultaneous construction sites will increase to well over 50.
• We are looking for a full time Construction Manager who to provide critical leadership to manage these simultaneous construction projects being led by construction foremen and day labourers.
• We are looking for someone who is good with the details and not afraid of spending long hours in the field (in the slums) to make sure the job is accomplished.

What You Will Do

• Improve upon and develop new manuals, specifications, tracking tools, & training program to allow local construction managers to successfully replicate school design
• Refine and implement a sophisticated budgeting and payment tracking system to ensure that schools are being built under budget and on time.
• Refine and put in place audit systems to ensure that construction is being done correctly and financial controls are in place to ensure transparency
• Identifying, training and managing site foremen who are the actual implementers at each site
• Managing central construction team to help implement the design, process, and auditing.
• Constantly working to reduce cost and improve quality of school construction

What You Should Have

• 8 years experience in senior project management or construction management role, especially one where you were managing many sites/projects simultaneously.
• Experience with very process-oriented project management
• Experience in construction management, ideally in situations where budgets are incredibly constrained
• Comfortable and willing to work in slums
• Experience with managing distributed teams of people
• Experience managing inventory at multiple sites and ensuring there are systems to prevent loss
• Experienced in developing budgeting/accounting system to ensure easy auditing of the financial transactions
• Experiened user of MS Project, ArchiCAD/AutoCAD and MS Excel
• A background or experience in detailed ultra-low cost engineering design a plus
• Comfortable with using and analyzing data, budgets, and information to make better decisions
• 'Love to get my hands dirty' is your middle name. While you have been a manager, you have also demonstrated your willingness to jump into the very nitty-gritty details and get done what is needed to get done.
• You function well in a fast-paced, informal environment where constant change is the norm and the bar for quality is set high.

You’re also:

• A detailed doer – You have a track record of getting things done. You’re organized and responsive. You take ownership of every idea you touch and execute it to a fine level of detail, setting targets, engaging others, and doing whatever it takes to get the job done. You can multi-task dozens of such projects at once and never lose sight of the details. Likely, you have some experience in a startup or social enterprise.
• A creative problem-solver – Growing any enterprise from scratch comes with massive and constant challenges. On top of that, Bridge works in often challenging, low-resource communities and runs on fees averaging just $6 a month per pupil. You need to be flexible and ready to get everything done effectively, quickly, and affordably with the materials at hand. Every dollar you spend is a dollar our customers, who live on less than $2 a day, will have to pay for.
• A customer advocate – Our customers – these families living on less than $2 a day per person – never leave your mind. You know them, get them, have shared a meal with them (or would be happy to in the future). Every decision you make considers their customer benefit, experience, and value.
• A life-long learner – You believe you can always do better. You welcome constructive criticism and provide it freely to others. You know you only get better tomorrow when others point out where you’ve missed things or failed today.