Acumen Academy Insights & Operations Associate, West Africa

Acumen Academy is looking for an Insights and Operations Associate with at least 3 years of experience to support the development of offerings to our community of builders, who are ~1800 strong and growing.

About Acumen
Acumen is changing the way the world tackles poverty by investing in companies, leaders and ideas. We invest patient capital in businesses whose products and services offer important opportunities to people living in poverty. To date, Acumen has positively impacted over 500 million lives by investing $154.4M in 167 innovative, early-stage companies in Africa, Latin America, South Asia, and the United States. But investment isn’t only about capital, we’ve been investing in innovators for years, connecting with emerging leaders around the world and engaging them in collective dialogue, moral inquiry, and skill building.

About Academy
Acumen Academy is the world’s school for social change. We’re looking to support a new generation of social innovators and leaders with the character and competence to solve problems of poverty and build a world based on dignity. We seek to inspire a new generation by sharing stories of visionary role models and business models with the world.

About the Foundry
Through the Fellowship program, Acumen invests in developing the moral leadership skills of social builders. Acumen Fellowship graduates enter the Foundry, a global community with a shared ethos and vision: to build a world based on dignity that centers people and planet. The Foundry is the alumni community for the +1,600 graduates of our Fellowship or Accelerator Programs.

About the Role:

We are seeking an Insights and Operations Associate with at least 3 years of experience to support the delivery of our programs through effective administration, operations, and data management. This role involves designing, implementing, and managing processes for data collection, and program operations. By ensuring seamless program delivery, driving data-driven decision-making, and monitoring program effectiveness, you will play a key role in strengthening our impact and advancing our mission to tackle poverty and create systemic change.

At Acumen, we believe that when social innovators come together in a community based on trust and shared goals, they can achieve systemic change. Our goal is to create a community where social - innovators can:

• Get to know each other and help each other out.
• Partner with ecosystem organizations to increase capital and organizational support for the social innovators.
• Understand what the community needs by collecting and analyzing information through large data sets.
• Make it easy for community members to connect with each other by providing the right tools and resources.

Ultimately, we want to make a big impact by bringing social innovators together and supporting their efforts to create positive change.

To enhance your comprehension of the work we do and advance through our selection process, we strongly recommend that each applicant familiarizes themselves with the following resources:

1. The essence of Foundry
2. The pillars of Foundry
3. A case-study of how the Foundry is connected and accompanies each other

The Insights & Operations Associate will play a key role in supporting the delivery of our programs by managing administration, operations, and data processes. Specifically, the Associate will support and manage the processes required to deliver regional and global Foundry programs to our community of 1,800+ alumni.

Key accountabilities include but are not limited to:

Program Administration & Operations

• Manage logistics for the execution of regional and global Foundry programs, including due diligence and reference checks, technical support for workshops and events, drafting application summaries, and coordinating communications with participants. 
• Manage referral and nomination processes for existing Foundry offerings, partnership programs, and emerging opportunities.
• Maintain and oversee a program calendar for all Foundry programs and services, ensuring alignment with both regional and global initiatives.
• Oversee logistical arrangements for regional programs and events, including venue sourcing, booking and coordinating travel and accommodations for Fellows and Foundry Members.

 Outreach and Selection

• Support the design and execution of global outreach strategy, including managing communications for outreach and building application forms.
• Evaluate applications and make recommendations to inform the final selection
• Provide regular updates to internal and external stakeholders on outreach and selection status. 
• Support Foundry Members during outreach and recruitment by promptly troubleshooting and connecting them with relevant resources.  

Data and insights management

• Collect, synthesise and manage all regional Foundry data and tools to support accurate reporting and decision-making.
• Conduct regular audits to ensure data accuracy and reliability. Develop tools for gathering participant feedback and generate well-organized insights to inform regional program success, planning, and strategy development.
• Monitor participation in regional offerings, workshops, and events by tracking key engagement metrics such as attendance, contributions, and follow-through on commitments. Maintain an up-to-date database to capture and organize community activity data and provide regular updates on engagement trends.
• Support an existing process for collecting data relevant to evaluating key foundry programs’ effectiveness.

*In the context of this job description, any reference to "regional" specifically pertains to West Africa. 

Qualifications & Skills:

• A minimum of 3 years work experience in fast-paced projects
• Analytical mindset to understand data, insights, and impact
• A commitment to Acumen’s mission of solving the toughest problems of poverty, and a passion for leadership development 
• Ability to manage multiple work streams with a multiplicity of stakeholders and to prioritize effectively (project management)
• Good organizational and planning skills (Foresight, organizes information in an actionable way)
• Proactive; Ability to take initiative and roll up the sleeves; anticipate needs before they arise and take action without being asked
• Communication skills to work with global, cross-cultural colleagues, partners and community members
• Demonstrated success in building collaborative relationships with both external and internal stakeholders
• Effectively collaborates with and across teams, seeks, and provides constructive feedback
• Self-reflective and aligned with Acumen values
• Permanent authorization to work in Nigeria. 

This role reports directly to the Manager for Acumen Academy in West Africa, with a dotted-line relationship to the Global Foundry Manager, and involves close collaboration with colleagues across Acumen. 

Application Deadline

The deadline to receive applications is  Monday 24th March 2025. Interested candidates are encouraged to apply early as applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis.