Head of Operations and Product

About ENGIE Energy Access  

ENGIE Energy Access is the leading Pay-As-You-Go (PAYGo) and mini-grids solutions provider in Africa. The company develops innovative, off-grid solar solutions for homes, public services and businesses, enabling customers and distribution partners access to clean, affordable energy. The PAYGO solar home systems are financed through affordable instalments from $0.19 per day and the mini-grids foster economic development by enabling electrical productive use and triggering business opportunities for entrepreneurs in rural communities. With over 1,800 employees, operations in nine countries across Africa (Benin, Côte d’Ivoire, Kenya, Mozambique, Nigeria, Rwanda, Tanzania, Uganda and Zambia), over 1.9 million customers and more than 9 million lives impacted so far, ENGIE Energy Access aims to impact 20 million lives across Africa by 2025.  

www.engie-energyaccess.com    

www.linkedin.com/company/engie-africa 

Job Purpose/Mission  

Responsible for overseeing and managing EEA's overall supply chain, logistics & product strategy to maximize process efficiency, productivity and business profitability.  The role is also responsible for playing a crucial role in developing and maintaining good relationships with key internal and external stakeholders involved in the Operations, Supply Chain & Product process. S/he will work directly with the sales, customer service and engineering teams (Global & Country) to design, test, execute, analyse, and refine innovative operations systems and processes at Engie Energy Access while having significant impact on the P&L. 

This role has a large team management demand to products, lead production, logistics, inventory management, quality assurance, and refurbishment / repair teams of over 30 team members and continuously build the team for scale and efficiency. S/he is expected to create a culture of teamwork with a focus on quality, honesty, and integrity and hold the team accountable to those standards. To ensure success in this robust design and team training in collaboration with customer experience and commercial teams for full team focus on inventory management, minimizing shrinkage, health & safety, etc is expected. 

Responsibilities 

Inventory & Logistics Management & Process Improvement. 

• Forecast and complete monthly inventory orders from China (6-month lead time) through S&OP process 

• with key stakeholders to ensure adherence to mandated max. and min. country 

• stock levels. 

• Management of cost of production / kitting, distribution, warehousing, and other operations 

• expenses within budget but ensuring operational effectiveness. 

• Monitor and evaluate internal operation processes by collecting feedback from 

• stakeholders to continually evolve and improve our operations to better support. 

• the organization and our customers. 

• Effectively manage shrinkage rates and ensure process design and improvements are in place and constantly updated to minimize shrinkage in the warehouse (s) and in the field / at points of sale. 

• Implement strategies to control and reduce Slow and Obsolete Inventories to maximize inventory working capital optimization efforts in Zambia. 

• Build and maintain strong process structures for the coordination of periodic stock counts, audits and reconciliation with Finance team from physical count to ERP system (SAP) to internal inventory and sales database. 

• Strong coordination of up & down dream supply chains ensuring no delays or resulting stock outs. 

• Critically assess in-county logistics options, distribution routes, and costs to optimize supply chain efficiency of solar power systems, accessories, and after-sales service items. 

• Develop improvements for our last-mile sales and distribution processes and mechanisms to reduce/minimize the cost of distribution, cost of sale, and inventory shrinkage. 

• Ensure Compliance with Health, Security and Safety measures across all Operations & Products teams. 

Warehousing and Production / Kitting 

• Develop warehouse operations systems by determining product handling and storage, warehouse design by planning layout, product flow, and product handling systems. 

• Lead the scale up of operations at all warehouses and production facilities to maximize efficiency and reduce costs 

• Implement and continuously manage organizational best practices at the main warehouse and additional offsite storage facilities to ensure accurate stock records, maximize space usage and minimize costs. 

• Oversee production, quality assurance, inventory management teams and facilities to ensure high quality product outputs of sellable inventory and timely stock preparation and delivery. 

• Oversee refurbishment to ensure high quality product repair and refurbishment for customer service in the field and oversee refurbishment of items to be re-used as swap stock or re-sold to customers. 

Product Management  

• Responsible for the development and implementation of EEA Zambia’s long-term product pricing & strategy plans. 

• Create and curate the unit economics for your country’s product catalogue and pricing for Solar Systems and other upgrades:  

• Full ownership of R&D budget creation and evaluation  

• Drive cross-functional strategic initiatives and conduct strategic research by working with all other departments to implement these initiatives and ensure key milestones are achieved.  

• Support Global Software teams to develop, deliver and market EEA’s digital management service and other software products that enable sales of our core products.  

• Be local support for all digital products and main business contact for improvements and measurement working to improve efficiency and adoption of digital tools.  

• Support in-country digital support through trainings, onboarding, and query resolution.  

• Identify strategic issues, develop hypothesis, and communicate insights and recommendations to key decision-makers. 

• Drive product strategy for the depletion of Slow and Obsolete items. 

Customer Insights & Innovations 

• Evaluate industry trends and conduct a regular competitive landscape analysis of the solar home system market and energy sector in Zambia.  

• Identify, lead, and manage the development and implementation of innovative approaches to business challenges.  

• Work with teams across the company to deliver innovative solutions and improvements to enhance competitiveness and efficiency.  

• Undertake specific ad-hoc projects or initiatives at the request of the Country Director with the aim to increase momentum and actively track performance/progress. 

Required Skills & Experience  

• Bachelor’s degree in Finance, Logistics Management, Supply Chain Management, Business administration, Engineering, or a related field  

• Master’s degree in related field is an added advantage. 

• Maintains professional certifications in supply chain planning such as CSCP, CPIM, CLTD, CIPS, ACSIM or other relevant supply chain management association certifications are important. 

• 10+ years of experience in Supply chain, Logistics or Product management, preferably with 5+ years in leadership roles, with a track record of success. 

• Strong strategic thinking skills and a solid understanding of business dynamics  

• A solid understanding of product management tools and processes, including proficiency in agile methodologies, product lifecycle management, market research techniques, and data analysis. 

• Ability to prioritize departmental (SMART) goals and objectives  

• Ability to interpret data and make sound cost efficient decisions where needed, exhibit sound and accurate judgment. 

• Ability to forge positive relationships and communicate effectively with all levels of management and with all departments. 

• Show initiative by undertaking self-development activities, seeking increased responsibilities, and taking advantage of learning opportunities. 

• Excellent communication skills, experience with social media and other distribution channels with a strong command of English – written and oral;  

• Team player with flexibility to work in a dynamic and multicultural team with high interaction across different departments. 

Technology & Tools: 

• Experience with ERP systems such as SAP, NAV, Oracle is important. 

• Experience in implementing systems and adjacent workflows is an added advantage. 

• Experience with other inventory management and warehousing software such as WMS are an added advantage. 

• Advanced user analytics tools such as Tableau, Mzee, PowerBi, Excel, is an important skill for this role. 

ENGIE is an equal opportunity employer, promoting diversity and committed to creating an inclusive environment for all. All applications are screened based on business needs, job requirements and individual qualifications, without any regard to origin, age, name, sexual identity, orientation or preference, religion, marital status, health, disability, political opinions, union involvement or citizenship. Our differences are our strengths!