Head of Services and Business Operations

Role Summary

The Head of Services and Business Operations is the senior country player-coach responsible for operating performance, customer retention, service delivery, field productivity, supply-chain readiness, country finance-operating integration, people capability, administration, facilities and risk discipline. The role owns the end-to-end operating rhythm, translates COO and country priorities into measurable standards, coaches team leads, resolves cross-functional friction, reviews performance evidence and personally intervenes in high-risk customer, financial, people and operational matters. The role takes ownership for closing blockers rather than merely escalating them.

 

Responsibilities

Customer Retention, Customer Lifecycle and Revenue Protection (18%)

Purpose: Protect recurring revenue and customer lifetime value through retention, renewals, customer health, dispute recovery and expansion governance.

• Own country churn prevention, renewal governance, customer-health review and high-risk account recovery to final resolution.
• Ensure service failures, billing disputes and customer detractors become resolved recovery actions, approved commercial decisions or documented closure.
• Use CSAT/NPS, onboarding quality, account health and usage patterns to drive loyalty, renewals, customer education and coordinated expansion opportunities.
• Coordinate with commercial and finance teams to protect recurring revenue and resolve blocked collections.

Performance evidence: Churn dashboard; renewal pipeline; CSAT/customer advocacy/NPS reports; detractor recovery log; customer-health notes; expansion lead register; executive action tracker.

 

Technical Service Delivery and Field Performance Excellence (18%)

Purpose: Ensure service reliability, field productivity, first-time-fix performance, planned maintenance, hygiene, safety and responsiveness.

• Own country outcomes for technician utilization, MTTR, FTFR, PM compliance, hygiene, safety, ETA accuracy and critical work-order closure.
• Hold technical, dispatch, triage and field leads accountable; resolve repeat failures, stale tickets, dispatch breakdowns, route inefficiencies and quality-audit failures.
• Translate audit and service-quality gaps into coaching, re-audits, training, standards updates and measurable improvement.
• Ensure workmanship, FSM documentation and customer-facing service standards protect customer trust and contract retention.

Performance evidence: Service KPI dashboard; FTFR/MTTR logs; PM report; quality scorecards; FSM health report; escalation log; hygiene/safety audits; coaching records.

 

Finance Oversight, Debt Collections and Business Control (16%)

Purpose: Provide operating oversight without replacing specialist finance accountability.

• Own local operating support for billing evidence, collections blockers, dispute closure, AP/tax inputs, bank-reconciliation support, cash visibility and country-close evidence.
• Hold the country accountable for collections targets with finance and customer/service owners; review aged receivables, billing accuracy, disputes, delinquent plans and cash-conversion risk.
• Ensure credits, concessions, payment plans and write-offs follow proper approval and implementation routes.
• For Uganda/Tanzania, supervise the combined finance officer locally while technical finance matters are reviewed with the Senior Accountant; protect maker-checker and specialist boundaries.

Performance evidence: Aged receivables; collections dashboard; billing exception and dispute trackers; control review notes; AP/tax readiness; cash visibility; approved escalation register.

 

Supply Chain, Inventory and Asset Lifecycle Coordination (12%)

Purpose: Ensure continuity through procurement, inventory, logistics, refurbishment, asset control and vendor readiness.

• Own stock, critical-spares, vehicles, refurbishment, asset movement, recoveries, return logistics, RMA/warranty and procurement readiness.
• Use demand signals from service, dispatch, finance and procurement to prevent stock-outs, downtime and customer delays.
• Ensure asset and inventory records support billing, service, reporting and control.
• Close vendor and procurement issues to delivery, substitution, credit, replacement, rejection or approved closure.

Performance evidence: Inventory accuracy and Min/Max registers; vehicle log; refurbishment tracker; vendor/procurement issue log; RMA log; asset movement records.

 

People, Capability and HR Governance (10%)

Purpose: Build capability, operating discipline and accountability while maintaining people-administration oversight.

• Own performance cadence, staffing coverage, leave planning, coaching, capability plans and corrective actions a cross country teams.
• Maintain onboarding/offboarding, training, staff records, contract tracking and performance-review discipline through closure.
• Resolve finance-staffing concerns through reprioritization, coaching, Senior Accountant support, temporary coverage or approved resourcing.

• Coordinate workload, safety readiness, professional conduct and succession needs; promote prevention through evidence and standards.

Performance evidence: Team cadence records; coaching logs; skills matrix; induction tracker; review schedule; leave/contract register; HR checklist; corrective-action log.

 

Administration, Facilities and Business Services Governance (8%)

Purpose: Ensure administration, facilities, office support and service vendors reliably support operations.

• Own facilities, utilities, security, cleaning, repairs, office assets, local vendors, event readiness and business-continuity issues to closure.
• Ensure routines support finance evidence, customer records, procurement documentation, staff readiness, document control and auditability.
• Escalate failures that threaten service delivery, controls or customer commitments.

Performance evidence: Facilities closure log; office asset register; vendor tracker; admin checklist; meeting/event records; continuity tracker.

 

Operating Standards, Risk, Compliance and Continuous Improvement (12%)

Purpose: Embed disciplined standards, risk controls, evidence quality and continuous improvement.

• Own country operating cadence, KPI reviews, SOP governance, risk register, compliance evidence and corrective-action closure.
• Maintain audit readiness for water quality, technical documentation, finance evidence, HR records, contracts, licenses and operational registers.
• Lead transformation milestones that reduce cost per ticket, billing disputes, admin lag, repeat failures, stock disruption and handoff friction.
• Convert recurring failures into process changes with clear owners, deadlines and measurable impact.

Performance evidence: OBP tracker; SOP register; risk/compliance register; audit packs; CPST tracker; corrective-action log; process maps; KPI minutes.

 

Stakeholder Relations, Executive Reporting and Cross-Functional Alignment (6%)

Purpose: Maintain internal and external alignment so operating interfaces work as one system.

Provide concise, decision-ready updates covering customer, service, finance, collections, supply chain, people, facilities and risk.

• Own leadership action follow-through until closure, rebase line or approved decision.
• Coordinate sales-to-service, service-to-billing, finance-to-customer, warehouse-to-field and HR-to-operations interfaces.
• Maintain critical customer, vendor, regulatory, government and executive relationships; facilitate complex reviews until ownership, timing, evidence and closure are clear.

Performance evidence: Executive dashboard; review minutes; stakeholder log; handoff metrics; issue-resolution tracker.

 

Requirements

Education and Professional Background

• Bachelor’s degree in business, Operations, Engineering, Finance, Accounting, Supply Chain, Management or a related discipline; equivalent senior operating experience may be considered.
• Professional exposure or certification in service operations, continuous improvement, customer experience, project management, finance controls or people management is advantageous.
• Training in field service management, health and safety, quality systems, leadership, risk or compliance is beneficial.

 

Professional Experience

• Minimum five years of progressive leadership experience in service delivery, business operations, customer lifecycle management, supply chain, finance oversight or multifunctional operations.
• Demonstrated ownership of recurring-revenue protection, customer retention, field service performance, collections support, service-to-billing handoffs, stock readiness, people discipline and operating standards.
• Experience leading managers, team leads or specialists in a player-coach capacity, including direct intervention in high-risk escalations until closure.

 

Technical and Management Skills

• Strong grasp of P&L drivers, cash conversion, billing and collections, AP/AR dependencies, budgeting, forecasting and control boundaries.
• Ability to interpret and act on churn, renewals, CSAT/NPS, MTTR, FTFR, PM compliance, CPST, inventory accuracy, collections and compliance dashboards.
• Process governance capability covering SOPs, audit trails, risk registers, corrective actions, service and finance evidence, operating cadence and cross-functional closure.
• Service-industry fluency, preferably in water dispenser leasing, field service, subscription, asset leasing, equipment maintenance or customer-site operations.