African Languages Lead

Allan And Gill Gray Philanthropy; Cape Town; On-site; ZAR 200 000 - 300 000; Full time

Job summary

A philanthropic organization is seeking an experienced African Languages Lead to advance high-quality educational materials in African home languages. Responsibilities include providing strategic direction, managing a team of language specialists, and ensuring culturally relevant and effective resources. Ideal candidates will possess a relevant Master's degree, 5-10 years of experience, and expertise in early-grade reading, alongside fluency in English. This role specifically targets candidates with a background in education and capacity building within the South African education system.

Qualifications

• Minimum 5-10 years of experience at a similar level.
• Experience in one or more African languages: IsiZulu, isiXhosa, etc.
• Proven leadership in education, linguistics, or language development.

Responsibilities

• Provide strategic direction and oversight for African languages.
• Ensure linguistic accuracy, consistency, and cultural appropriateness.
• Recruit and support African home-language specialists.

Skills

Expertise in early-grade reading

Project management

Communication skills

Capacity building

Fluency in English

Familiarity with South African education landscape

Education

Relevant (Master’s) degree in Education

Job description

Purpose of Role

We are seeking an experienced and visionary African Languages Lead.

This role is for someone deeply committed to advancing access to high-quality, culturally relevant educational materials in African home languages.

The successful candidate will guide a team of language specialists—including practitioners, editors, translators, versioners, and quality assurers—to ensure the development of linguistically sound and pedagogically effective resources for the Foundation Phase.

Objectives of Role

• Strategic Leadership: Provide strategic direction and oversight for African languages; develop and manage workflows for authoring, versioning, and quality assurance; lead planning, staffing, and execution of projects in collaboration with cross‑functional teams.
• Quality Assurance and Oversight: Ensure linguistic accuracy, consistency, and cultural appropriateness across all language materials; oversee terminology development, orthographic standardisation, and alignment with educational frameworks; establish and maintain quality standards, style guides, glossaries, and spelling conventions.
• Team Management and Capacity Building: Recruit, manage, and support a pool of African home‑language specialists; facilitate training, mentorship, and professional development opportunities; promote collaboration and knowledge sharing within the unit and with other departments.
• Content Development and Review: Supervise and support the development and refinement of Foundation Phase literacy and life‑skills content; guide the creation of Phonics programmes tailored to language‑specific phonics sequences; provide final reviews and sign‑off for key deliverables in multiple African home languages.
• Stakeholder Engagement: Collaborate with government departments, educational institutions, and other partners; represent the unit in forums, conferences, and consultations on language policy and education.

Experience and Qualifications

• Relevant (Master’s) degree in Education.
• Minimum 5‑10 years of experience at a similar level.
• Early‑grade reading expertise with considerable experience in teacher development and teaching early‑grade reading.
• Experience in one or more of the following African languages: IsiZulu, isiXhosa, Sepedi, Sesotho, Setswana, Tshivenda, Xitsonga, Siswati, Ndebele.
• Proven leadership experience in education, linguistics, publishing, or language development.
• Extensive knowledge and experience in at least one of the listed African languages, with fluency in English.
• Strong understanding of language structure, orthography, grammar, and cultural context.
• Demonstrated experience in versioning and editing of educational materials.
• Proven ability to work under pressure and to meet strict deadlines.
• Familiarity with the South African education landscape and curriculum requirements.
• Excellent communication, project management, and organisational skills.
• Experience with capacity building or mentoring in multilingual education settings.
• Background in early literacy or foundational learning materials.

Competencies

• Alignment with Funda Wande’s vision and values.
• High level of organisation and ability to multi‑task simultaneously.
• Commitment to improving processes and systems.
• Ability to work well under pressure and with changing deliverables.
• Tolerance for ambiguity and change in a rapidly growing organisation.
• Confidence, proactiveness, self‑reliance, and performance orientation.
• Excellent team‑player qualities.
• High degree of emotional intelligence.