Operations Administrator Team Lead

AES Global; Johannesburg; Hybrid; ZAR 600,000 - 900,000; Full time

Job summary

AES Global is seeking an experienced Operations Administrator Team Lead in Johannesburg to run the internal operations team. You will lead a small, skilled group spanning administration, HR and finance, acting as the voice of the function to senior management.

The role sits within a hybrid, client-facing, matrix environment. You will manage, mentor and develop the team, own central operations projects, and drive process improvements across billing, contracts and onboarding.

Qualifications

• 8+ years of relevant experience in administration, HR and finance exposure.
• A three-year undergraduate or postgraduate degree from a recognised institution.
• Strong financial literacy and commercial administration experience across contracts, invoicing and accounting.
• High computer literacy and real comfort with the Microsoft 365 suite.
• Comfort dealing with senior leadership.
• Strong organisational and administrative skills with multitasking and prioritisation.
• Detail orientation with sound analytical and problem-solving instincts.
• Initiative, ownership and flexibility with an approachable manner.

Responsibilities

• Provide professional line management to a small team of operations administrators.
• Mentor and develop team members through structured one-on-ones and feedback.
• Work with the team to understand real staff dynamics and needs.
• Maintain team cohesion across client networks and central operations.
• Own central operations projects outside client teams and communicate scope to senior management.
• Sign off work orders on behalf of account managers and monitor internal systems.

Skills

Team leadership

Operational management

Stakeholder engagement

Organizational skills

Analytical thinking

Education

Undergraduate or postgraduate degree

Tools

Microsoft 365

Job description

A Johannesburg technology services business is looking for an experienced, versatile Operations Administrator Team Lead to run its internal operations team.

This team is the glue in the account management function — a small but critical group handling a wide spread of work across people, logistics, finance, customer service and events. Each of them is embedded in a client-facing team where they spend most of their energy, while still belonging to a central group where they share, grow and support each other. You would do the same job alongside them, lead them, and be their voice into senior management on how the function is set up and how well it works.

What you’ll lead

• Professional line management of a small team of skilled operations administrators
• Mentorship and career development through structured one-on-ones and honest feedback
• Working alongside them enough to see how people are really getting on
• Holding the team together while they sit inside different client teams
• Owning a handful of central operations projects outside the client teams
• Representing the team to senior management on scope and effectiveness

What you’ll do alongside them

• Scheduling and running the logistics for client meetings, workshops and team events
• Creating, tracking and editing a high volume of staff profiles, with real attention to detail
• Working with commercial and finance to keep billing on time and terms clear
• Learning the commercial processes, which differ from client to client
• Editing and signing off work orders on behalf of account managers
• Monitoring internal systems data and sorting out what looks wrong
• Organising onboarding for people joining new teams, down to first-day invitations
• Tracking budgets and spend on behalf of account managers
• Finding ways to take administrative load off the account managers

What you’ll need

• 8+ years of relevant experience, with a background spanning administration, HR and finance exposure
• A three-year undergraduate or postgraduate degree from a recognised institution
• Strong financial literacy, and commercial administration experience across contracts, invoicing and accounting
• High computer literacy and real comfort across the Microsoft 365 suite
• Comfort dealing directly with senior leadership
• Strong organisational and administrative skills, with the ability to multitask and prioritise
• Detail orientation, with sound analytical and problem-solving instincts
• Responsiveness and a clear sense of urgency — most tasks turn around same-day
• Initiative, ownership, flexibility and an approachable manner

Nice to have

• Experience of a consultancy business model
• Experience working with leadership teams

Johannesburg. Hybrid, with regular time on site. Permanent.