Operations Manager

Organization Overview

The Elba Hope Foundation (EHF) is an international, founder-led nonprofit working across the United Kingdom, Sierra Leone and the United States. Our mission is to advance equity through youth advocacy, opportunity access, employability, and education.

EHF operates through a lean global team and a network of community, industry, government and delivery partners. As the organization enters its next phase, we are strengthening the systems, people practices and operational infrastructure required to support disciplined and sustainable growth.

Position Overview

The Operations Manager is responsible for the reliable day-to-day operation of the Elba Hope Foundation across people, systems, workflows, vendors and recurring organizational responsibilities. This is a hands-on management role for someone who can bring structure to a fast-moving, internationally distributed organization and ensure routine work moves forward consistently.

Working closely with the Director of Operations, the Operations Manager will translate organizational priorities into clear workflows, coordinate core people and administrative processes, maintain operational systems and documentation, and keep deadlines, dependencies and risks visible. The role is expected to solve routine operational issues independently, while escalating matters that require senior leadership or specialist expertise.

This is a genuine Operations Manager role with meaningful ownership and close access to leadership. The Operations Manager will work within an operating model that includes senior Operations oversight, a Finance Coordinator, governance/administrative support, accountants, fractional financial advice, and external HR/legal advisors.

Key Responsibilities

Lead Day-to-Day Operations

• Manage EHF’s day-to-day operational function across departments and geographies.
• Establish and maintain effective operating rhythms for recurring organizational priorities, deadlines, reviews, and follow-through.
• Establish clear workflows, ownership, deadlines, and escalation points.
• Ensure routine operational issues are resolved efficiently.
• Keep organizational commitments moving without unnecessary senior-leadership intervention.

Manage People Operations and Team Administration

• Coordinate core people processes in collaboration with the Operations & Governance Coordinator, including recruitment administration, onboarding and offboarding, and contractor administration.
• Coordinate performance and training cycles and the implementation of approved policies.
• Supervise designated operational support, setting clear priorities and monitoring workload and capacity.
• Ensure staff have the systems, information, and support required to work effectively.

Strengthen Systems, Processes and Organizational Knowledge

• Own the effective day-to-day use of EHF’s operational systems.
• Own EHF's operational systems, documentation standards and knowledge-management approach, ensuring SOPs and the Operations Manual are current, practical and consistently maintained.
• Lead the continued development of practical SOPs, the Operations Manual, and knowledge-management practices.
• Administer EHF’s operational systems and ensure approved access and data-management practices are followed.
• Identify opportunities to simplify workflows and strengthen system adoption.
• Reduce dependence on institutional knowledge held by individual team members.

Coordinate Finance, Vendors and Operational Compliance

• Oversee the operational coordination of EHF's finance function, working with the Finance Associate, accountants and external finance advisors to ensure routine financial processes, deadlines and information requirements are completed on time.
• Administer approved procurement, vendor onboarding, contract, and renewal processes.
• Maintain visibility over organizational compliance, contract and renewal requirements, ensuring appropriate owners are assigned and that deadlines are monitored and met.
• Escalate financial, legal, or compliance issues that require specialist or senior review.

Drive Cross-Organizational Follow-Through

• Serve as the central operational point of coordination across Programs, Development, Communications, and leadership.
• Maintain visibility over priorities, dependencies, capacity, and operational risk.
• Provide concise operational reporting to leadership
• Ensure decisions translate into clear actions and completed work.

Tools & Platforms

• Experience with project management, HR, CRM, finance administration, and document management systems is expected.
• EHF currently uses platforms including Asana, BambooHR, HubSpot, Egnyte/Google Workspace, and related finance tools.

Qualifications

• 5+ years of nonprofit, business or organizational Operations experience, including management responsibility.
• Demonstrated experience running day-to-day Operations across multiple functional areas.
• Strong project-management skills and a record of moving complex work through to completion.
• Experience with People Operations, organizational systems, vendors/contracts and financial administration.
• Demonstrated ability to improve workflows, documentation and system adoption.
• Strong judgment, discretion and ability to distinguish routine issues from matters requiring escalation.
• Excellent organization, communication and follow-through, with the ability to hold colleagues accountable constructively.
• Comfortable working independently in a remote, evolving and internationally distributed organization; multi-entity or international nonprofit experience is advantageous.

This role will suit someone who is both hands-on and systems-minded. You should be comfortable moving between a staff onboarding question, an outstanding vendor contract, an Asana workflow and preparation for a monthly finance process—and ensuring that each receives the appropriate follow-through.

We are particularly interested in candidates who:

• Naturally create order and structure
• Notice when something has fallen between departments
• Are comfortable asking for missing information and following up until it arrives
• Know when to solve an issue yourself and when to escalate it
• Can improve systems without over-engineering them
• Take satisfaction in making an organization run smoothly behind the scenes.

Compensation

• $5,800–6,250 monthly contractor fee, depending on experience.
• Approximately 35–40 hours per week, with flexibility around major organizational deadlines.
• Independent contractor position with performance reviews at 3 and 6 months.
• Remote working environment with regular overlap across UK and US working hours.
• Occasional travel may be required.

Application Instructions

Please submit your résumé and a brief cover letter outlining your relevant Operations experience. We would particularly like to hear about one example of an operational process, system, or function that you inherited, improved, and then successfully embedded within an organization.

Applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis until the position is filled.

We are seeking candidates who bring a deep contextual understanding of Africa and a strong alignment with our mission and values. This may come through lived experience, long-term professional engagement, or meaningful personal connection to the regions and communities we serve. Our work is rooted in respect for local leadership, cultural knowledge, and community-driven solutions, and we prioritize applicants who demonstrate humility, accountability, and a clear commitment to working in partnership with diverse stakeholders. 

The Elba Hope Foundation is an Equal Opportunity Employer and does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, age, national origin, disability, veteran status, or any other legally protected characteristic.