Print Manager, West Africa at NewGlobe

NewGlobe supports visionary governments to transform public education systems, the cornerstone of a prosperous, equitable, and peaceful society. With a comprehensive system transformation platform and data-driven educational services, NewGlobe delivers rapid and dramatic improvements in learning outcomes at state and nationwide scale. Through building impactful partnerships and programmes, NewGlobe ensures that all children have access to an education that will develop their full potential and create a foundation for growth and prosperity.

NewGlobe leverages more than a decade of educational experience and proven impact in integrated school management, teacher professional development, instructional design innovation, technological system support, child-centered classroom practice, and parent engagement –  all grounded in learning science – to ensure each teacher is empowered to engage children in transformational learning, and all children have the opportunity to develop to their full potential. Every day, NewGlobe supports governments to solve what were once seen as intractable problems, and by doing so, ensures this generation will be able to grow up to lead more fulfilled lives, while simultaneously building economic prosperity for themselves, their communities, and the globe.

We are recruiting to fill the position of:

Job Title: Print Manager, West Africa

Location: Lagos

Print Production Department

• The Print Production Department is a Shared Services Department within NewGlobe’s Academics Group organizational structure. Our team of 5 is currently located in Cambridge Massachusetts USA, Nairobi Kenya and Vijayawada India. Production is responsible for managing the rollout of all of NewGlobe’s print products for all NewGlobe territories.
• It is our mission to manage the procurement of all print product within NewGlobe organization and coordinate the purchase of all materials associated with academic product which includes direct market materials and manipulatives.
• It is our responsibility to monitor the print development process and then to deliver product on time, under budget. We are a team consisting of copyediting, graphic designers and print procurement managers. Our department director has 45+ years of experience in publishing, design, production, and printing.
• The bulk of our materials are textbooks and exams although we produce many other course materials. Our Instructional Design team, located in Cambridge Massachusetts, and Hyderabad India, develops these materials. We work closely with Design, Production and Instructional Design to assist in scheduling out projects and identifying print concerns associated with design layout, graphic art, composition and proper print formatting. Once created in page format we then are responsible for the printing, kitting and final delivery of product to our various locations. Much of our work is collaborative and requires patience, an eye for detail, and an affinity for analytical thinking and problem solving.
• We also work in collaboration with other NewGlobe departments in each of our markets, such as but not limited to operations, logistics, supply chain procurement, finance and Senior Management. One of our key responsibilities is to coordinate a smooth transition or hand off from the Production team to the printer and the internal Operations team, to make sure our product arrives in our schools on time.

About the Role

• NewGlobe is looking for a Print Manager, West Africa to establish and maintain strong, cost effective print relationships with the focus of driving down internal print costs, improvement of quality and to establish efficient logistical practices for moving product throughout our West Africa locations to the NewGlobe West Africa distribution centers in all Nigeria territories and Liberia.
• This position will be based out of Lagos, Nigeria and will report to the Shared Services Print Manager. The Print Manager, West Africa will work with the Shared Services Print Manager, Shared Services Print Director, local Print Supply Chain Officers, Production, Operations, Finance, and other colleagues on all aspects of printing, binding, kitting and the direct purchase of academic materials for West Africa and will assist with other territories as requested by Print Manager and/or Print Production Director.
• Duties to include, assist in the finalization and implementation of scale pricing models. Work closely with the Print Production Director and Print Manager in the implementation of master printer agreements, based on negotiated scale pricing across the West Africa NewGlobe locations, prepare, analyze and recommend for approval printers, publishers, and logistics companies working within approved budgets.
• Create the documentation for all print and direct purchase related materials, disseminating information to all relevant parties. Establish strong quality control over printed, bound and kitted materials working with Operations and Production. This position will be the main logistics liaison with printers, shippers, customs, and operations to improve internal practices for the movement of product across the NewGlobe West Africa locations.

What You Will Do
Printing & Learning Material Supplies Purchasing:

• Work with Shared Services Print Manager and Print Production Director to expand the printer base in West Africa but not limited to these locations. Establish printers in Nigeria who can service the market.
• Maintain relationships with existing printers and expand printer base in existing West Africa markets with a large concentration in Lagos and Edo, Nigeria. Specifically printing and shipping within Nigeria, and when appropriate India if financially feasible.
• Manage and work as the liaison to all West Africa based printers, establishing a strong, cost effective relationship.
• Assist Shared Services Print Manager and Print Production Director to establish master printer agreements where appropriate based on pricing models to cover a 2-3 year period with low costs and consistent pricing across all printers in our West Africa territories.
• Initiate, build on, and improve, relationships with printers in the various markets with the goal of printer costs savings across the West Africa markets.
• Work with Shared Services Print Manager to improve payment terms for any overseas shipments to better work in NewGlobe’s favor from an inventory and cost standpoint.
• Monitor print schedules and problem solve with production and operations print related issues at all West Africa print locations or other locations as required.
• Along with staff handle the day-to-day management of printers in West Africa ensuring budget compliance and on time product delivery.
• Train on and develop a complete understanding of the use of our Navision Financial system working closely with the Shared Services Print Manager, Finance and Navision team to develop the required skills to create Purchase Orders and process invoices.
• Work closely with Finance to ensure compliance of Procurement processes and practices.
• Communication – Responsible for effective communication with internal and external parties.
• Assure all budgets and schedules are being met for assigned product.
• Work directly with Operations and printers to ensure inventory counts are accurate and reflect delivered product
• Minute and grass root level coordination with different departments
• Work with Printers, Production and Operations teams to provide accurate and timely status updates on any active print jobs in all countries
• Act as liaison with production team in the US and printers, shippers, publishers and other company related vendors that fall under Print Production in West Africa or other assigned territories.
• Serve as local translator for teams in the US and Africa with printers as required.
• Track and process invoices for all print related vendors.
• Track budgets.

Ad-hoc Projects:

• Work with Supply Chain staff in West Africa to produce all appropriate shipping documentation required for transport across country borders as well customs in each of the West Africa territories or other territories as required
• On-board and document verification of all new vendors
• Act as liaison with shippers and Custom Agencies within West Africa to ensure delivery of product
• Assist West Africa Operations teams in QA, Inspection and other activities as and when required
• Review all training manuals covering all the basic elements of printing for future use.
• Handle assigned print related special projects.

What You Should Have

• Bachelor’s Degree in Print Technology beneficial.
• 2-4 years of experience in the print industry either as a purchaser of print as a publishing procurement officer or having worked at a printer for 2-3 years in a costing and/or international customer care capacity.
• Must have at least 2-3 years of experience working on printing for the Nigeria market. Beneficial to have some experience with printing in a few of the following West Africa countries: Nigeria and Liberia, with an understanding of the laws and regulations of these West Africa countries.
• Must have 2-3 years of experience with either the preparation of Requests for Proposal (RFP) from a publisher or preparing bids in response to a print RFP for pricing from a printer.
• 2-3 years of logistics experience within the West Africa markets.
• Proficiency in English and Hausa. Additional West African language skills beneficial
• Proficiency in Microsoft Office products – specifically Excel and Word
• Knowledge of Navision or equivalent Procurement/Financial systems preferrable
• Familiarity with Adobe Creative Suite/Cloud – InDesign, illustrator, Photoshop, Adobe PDF.

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 start-up or other rapid-growth company.
• A creative problem-solver – Growing any business from scratch comes with massive and constant challenges. On top of that, NewGlobe works in often fragile, sometimes volatile low-resource communities and with complex government systems. You need to be flexible and ready to get everything done effectively, quickly, and affordably with the materials at hand.
• A relentless advocate – The children we serve and teachers we empower never leave your mind. You know them, get them, have shared a meal with them (or would be happy to in the future). You would never shrink back from shaking a parent’s hand or picking up a crying child, no matter what the person was wearing or looked like.  Every decision you make considers their benefit, experience, and value.
• A malleable 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.
• A data-driven decision-maker – When making decisions, you don’t rely on your intuition alone. You collect data, you analyze it and make decisions with clear justifications.
• A curious investigator – You ask why a lot. You don’t just take what you see and accept it. You wonder why it is that way, and are aware that the world we see is created by human choices and actions – and it could be different. You wonder, and see the world as wonderful even when you want to change a part of it that is unjust.

How to Apply
Interested and qualified candidates should:
Click here to apply online