Director of Supply Chain Operations

Role Overview

The Director of Supply Chain Operations will play a critical role in carrying out Imagine’s mission to scale tablet-based learning solutions that enable children to become literate and numerate. They will join a highly committed and collaborative team that is working together to empower every child everywhere to achieve their full potential.

They will lead the design and optimisation of our in-country supply chain architecture in the low-resource contexts in which Imagine works, ensuring that devices don’t just arrive in-country — they reach learners, stay operational, and last as long as possible. This role requires deep collaboration and partnership with country logistics teams to architect and operationalise contextually relevant in-country supply chains to reliably conduct forward and reverse logistics for devices and materials in real-world field conditions. This role provides thought leadership and tools for inventory and stock management, route planning and last‑mile distribution, forward logistics (deployment to schools), reverse logistics (returns, redeployment, end‑of‑life), repairs and refurbishment strategy, and local logistics partner management.

Key Responsibilities

Regional Supply Chain Architecture

• In collaboration with country teams, develop in-country supply chain architectures across portfolio countries with the goal of ensuring that learning is not disrupted by downtime or asset loss.
• Lead geospatial mapping and analysis to build digital maps of the terrain, road networks, road infrastructure, and key points of interest to inform route planning and placement of warehouses and service centers.
• Based on geospatial data analysis, develop the strategy for the strategic placement of warehouses and service repair centres.
• Based on geospatial data analysis, determine routes and vehicles for distribution and replacement of assets.
• Drive research and cost-benefit analyses to develop robust strategies for last-mile distribution in each country (e.g, in-house, outsource, CSR partnerships, etc).

Distribution, repairs, and maintenance logistics

• Develop cost-efficient strategies for forward and reverse logistics to support the deployment, returns, and end-of-life processes.
• Develop multiple strategies for repairs, maintenance, and replacement operations that evolve with the scale of the program, are sustainable in the long-term including after full handover to government, extend device lifespan, and minimize turnaround time.
• Determine the strategy and tools to enable data-driven route planning for ongoing maintenance / service visits. Ensure this is based on geospatial data, has context-specific understanding of road conditions, and can be continuously updated as weather patterns and local conditions change.