General Manager - Business Operations

ABOUT US-

Founded in 2002, Global Schools Group is a Singapore-headquartered, community-oriented education institution whose mission is to cultivate and nurture young minds into global leaders of the future and is significantly contributing to achieving significant learning outcomes for every child. In the last two decades, the Foundation has grown to 64 campuses in 11 countries. Our seven international schools are spread across Southeast Asia, Middle East and Europe.

Global Schools Group (GSG) is an education pioneer with a network of premier international schools. The Foundation schools infuse the best educational approaches from around the globe into a unique pedagogy which imparts value-based learning that goes beyond academics. The 64 GSG schools provide world class education to over 45,000 students from 70+ nationalities. The schools offer various curricula, including IB, Cambridge and CBSE.

JOB TITLE - General Manager- Business Operations

JOB LOCATION - Riyadh

JOB PURPOSE -

The role holder is responsible for providing leadership to the business functions for campuses in the Middle East region. Responsible for developing and implementing country-specific strategies, policies and procedures and managing operations while ensuring alignment with the GSG brand and reporting to the Country Director to achieve the organization’s business plans.

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES -

Leadership

• Leads and provides direction to all the business functions in the country.
• Designs and delivers country priorities and strategies in line with the organization's business plans and brand.
• Ensures policies and procedures are country-specific while maintaining alignment to the group.
• Manages the operations of campuses and functions in the country.
• Advises the leadership team on country-specific insights.

Financial Performance:

• Collaborates with the Finance Function and Country Director in developing relevant measurable performance metrics for the country, and proactively tracks performance against the metrics to ensure fiscal control, profitability and financial feasibility in the country.

Sales & Admissions:

• Responsible for admissions numbers and enrollment growth to forecast sales and revenue for all campuses in the geography.
• Achieve set targets and review admission numbers on a weekly, monthly, quarterly & yearly basis.

Budgeting:

• Establishes the annual budget for the country along with the Country Director.
• Reviews operational and manpower costs for each campus in the geography.
• Conducts discussions with the Finance Head and Principals, if needed.
• Seeks approval for the country budget from the Country Director & GSF Management.
• Finalizes the country budget based on feedback.
• Provides approvals for items outside the budget.

P&L and Approvals:

• Responsible for the P&L for the country.
• Oversees expenses regularly especially those that have exceeded a certain threshold, and escalates to the Country Director & GSF Management if needed.

Legal:

• Ensures statutory compliance, quality assurance and internal and external audits.

Operations:

• Supervises the Operations and Procurement teams to ensure the effectiveness of facilities management.
• Leads the Operations and Procurement teams to procure capital expenditure items for the campuses (e.g., furniture, electronic equipment, etc.).
• Manages the campus operations teams to ensure the smooth functioning of all school operations.

Human Resources:

• Supervises the Business Partner HR to make strategic manpower decisions for the geography (e.g., creation of new positions, headcounts, recruitment, etc.).
• Supports the implementation of new policies and operational processes (e.g., payroll, staff welfare, induction, etc.).

Marketing & Sales:

• Responsible for meeting the admission & student numbers of the country operations.
• Supervises the Marketing and Sales heads of the country operations to develop the marketing strategy, and guide the brand message for the geography.
• Oversees the offline marketing agencies appointed in the geography and ensures the marketing messages are tailored to the specific geography.

Finance:

• Supervises the Financial Controller of the country operations to ensure budgeting, accounting, cash flows & adherence to process compliance.

Projects:

• Works closely with the projects team in the head office to help identify new school sites for development & expansion.
• Collaborates closely with the Projects team in taking the new projects to launch status.
• Supervises the Human Resources team to continuously increase competency within the geography to meet future organization needs through the development and recruitment of talent.
• Leads the recruitment, selection, orientation, and training of employees in the geography.
• Builds and manages high performing teams within the geography by providing leadership, role clarity, training and career development.

JOB REQUIREMENTS

Postgraduate with at least 15 to 20 years of relevant experience.