Head of Operations

AltGen South Africa; Cape Town; Hybrid; ZAR 1,200,000 - 1,800,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Hybrid work

Market-aligned pay

Job summary

AltGen South Africa is seeking a senior operational leader to build and run the operating engine of the consulting business from Cape Town. This is a firm-wide leadership role, not a site-operations position.

You will work with the Managing Director and senior technical leaders to align people, projects, capacity, processes and commercial commitments so high-quality work is delivered consistently as the firm grows.

Qualifications

• 10+ years in consulting, professional services, or advisory environments.
• Experience in leading cross-functional teams in knowledge-based settings.
• Track record of scaling operations in a growing professional-services business.

Responsibilities

• Build and lead the people and talent system: workforce planning, recruitment, performance management, development, succession planning, and direct management of the analyst team.
• Establish strong project-delivery and portfolio discipline: resource planning, project milestones, risks, capacity visibility, priorities, and delivery commitments.
• Strengthen commercial operations: CRM, pipeline visibility, proposals, pricing, and follow-through on new work.
• Improve firm-wide processes, systems, reporting, and operating rhythms.
• Lead change management for new technology and AI-enabled ways of working.
• Provide a calm operational partnership to senior experts, balancing capacity, priorities and quality.

Skills

Leadership

People management

Portfolio management

Project management

Capacity management

Change management

Communication

Stakeholder engagement

Strategic thinking

Tools

CRM

Job description

A high-growth boutique consulting and advisory firm is appointing a senior operational leader to build and run the operating engine of the business.

About the Role

This is not a facilities, logistics, manufacturing, or site-operations role. It is a firm-wide leadership position for someone who has operated within a client-led consulting, advisory, research, or specialist professional-services environment.

You will work closely with the Managing Director and senior technical leaders, taking ownership of the systems, people practices, delivery discipline, commercial processes, and operating rhythm that enable exceptional work to be delivered consistently as the firm grows.

Technical leaders will remain responsible for the quality of the firm’s specialist work. Your role is to ensure that people, projects, capacity, processes, and commercial commitments are properly aligned.

Responsibilities

• Build and lead the people and talent system: workforce planning, recruitment, performance management, development, succession planning, and direct management of the analyst team.
• Establish strong project-delivery and portfolio discipline: resource planning, project milestones, risks, capacity visibility, priorities, and management of delivery commitments.
• Strengthen commercial operations, including CRM, pipeline visibility, proposal coordination, pricing discipline, and follow-through on new work.
• Improve firm-wide processes, systems, management reporting, decision-making rhythms, and operational accountability.
• Lead the people-side change management of new technology and AI-enabled ways of working, including workflow redesign, adoption, capability building, and protecting delivery during change.
• Act as a calm, credible operational partner to senior experts, holding the line on capacity, priorities, and quality of execution.

Qualifications

• At least 10 years’ experience in consulting, professional services, strategy, economic or management consulting, climate/energy or development advisory, or a policy/research environment.
• Current or recent experience as a Senior Manager, Engagement Manager, Practice Manager, Chief of Staff, Portfolio or Programme Director, Head of Consulting Operations, or COO within a small-to-medium professional-services firm.

Required Skills

• Proven experience leading people, developing managers, and managing performance in a high-performing knowledge-based environment.
• Strong portfolio, project, resource, and capacity-management experience across multiple client engagements.
• Commercial judgement, with exposure to pipeline management, CRM, proposals, pricing, and the link between delivery capacity and revenue.
• A track record of implementing new systems, improving ways of working, or leading organisational change.
• The ability to work with highly intelligent, independent subject-matter experts without needing to be the technical specialist in the room.
• Clear, confident communication and the maturity to engage senior clients, funders, and stakeholders.
• You do need to be intellectually curious, commercially aware, highly structured, and able to understand a complex specialist business quickly.

Preferred Skills

• Energy-sector experience is beneficial, but you do not need to be an energy economist.

Pay range and compensation package

• Location: Cape Town, with hybrid flexibility
• Package: Competitive and market-related, aligned with the seniority of the role

Equal Opportunity Statement

This role is unlikely to suit candidates whose experience is primarily in:

• Warehouse, logistics, retail, manufacturing, hospitality, facilities, or construction-site operations.
• Pure HR, office administration, IT implementation, or project coordination roles without firm-wide operational leadership.
• Single-project project-management roles without responsibility for people, portfolio capacity, commercial operations, and the wider operating model of a professional-services business.