The Michael & Susan Dell Foundation is seeking a Manager, Programs, University Success to join our Africa programs team in Cape Town. Reporting to the Head of University Success, Africa, this individual will design and deliver solutions that strengthen placement prospects, early-career outcomes, and long-term career mobility for graduates of the Dell Young Leaders program.
\n\tWe are looking for a strategic thinker and hands-on operator who thrives at the intersection of vision and execution. This role will own a critical outcomes mandate: helping Dell Young Leaders become market-ready, differentiated candidates who are able to secure meaningful employment, further study, and strong long-term career pathways. The successful candidate will not only shape the program\u2019s approach to graduate career success but will work directly with students, alumni, employers, university partners, and internal teams to drive the program\u2019s 98% placement outcome.<\/p>\n
About the Role<\/p>\n
\tThis role balances strategic agility with direct engagement alongside students, graduates, employers, university partners, and internal teams. It requires someone who can understand what the labour market needs, translate those insights into practical student-facing solutions, engage employers credibly, and strengthen the Dell Young Leaders transition-to-work model so students are prepared to compete in the graduate labour market and the program continues to deliver measurable career outcomes.<\/p>\n
You will be expected to:<\/p>\n
Drive Career Success Strategy & Development<\/p>\n
\tExecute and evolve the Dell Young Leaders approach to placement, career readiness, and early-career success.
\n\tDevelop cohort-level placement plans, track progress against leading indicators, and use labour-market insight to strengthen how students prepare, compete, and stand out.
\n\tIdentify new models, tools, partners, and practices that improve readiness, placement prospects, and long-term career impact.<\/p>\n
Deliver and Scale High-Impact Career Programs<\/p>\n
\tDesign and deliver practical career-readiness support across the application process and recruitment cycle.
\n\tAlongside an on-campus team, work directly with students and graduates through coaching, workshops, placement sprints, targeted communications, and application support.
\n\tBuild scalable approaches that serve a growing student and alumni population while maintaining focus on quality, uptake, and results.<\/p>\n
Build and Nurture Employer and Sector Partnerships<\/p>\n
\tCultivate strong relationships with employers, recruiters, sector experts, universities, alumni, and other stakeholders who can expand opportunity pathways.
\n\tEngage employers beyond vacancy sharing through mentorship, work exposure, mock interviews, industry briefings, assessment preparation, and feedback loops.
\n\tPosition Dell Young Leaders graduates clearly and compellingly, helping employers understand their talent, resilience, leadership potential, and workplace readiness.<\/p>\n
Monitor, Evaluate, and Optimize<\/p>\n
\tUse data to monitor placement performance, student engagement, candidate readiness, opportunity pipelines, employer feedback, and early-career outcomes.
\n\tApply evidence to identify what works, course-correct quickly, and stop activities that are not delivering results.
\n\tShare lessons that strengthen the global University Success portfolio approaches and broader transition-to-work models.<\/p>\n
Collaborate and Influence<\/p>\n
\tWork closely with the Head of University Success, Africa, university-based teams, the Africa programs team, and relevant foundation functional teams.
\n\tManage external vendors or delivery partners where needed to ensure timely, high-quality, and cost-effective outcomes.
\n\tRepresent the foundation in partner engagements and sector conversations about graduate employability and student success.<\/p>\n
Who You Are<\/p>\n
\tStrategic Contributor & Executor:\u00a0You have at least eight years of relevant experience managing complex projects with measurable results and are motivated by both planning and implementation.
\n\tStudent-First & Outcomes-Driven:\u00a0You are committed to the potential of African university students from low-income backgrounds and bring urgency, optimism, and persistence to helping them succeed.
\n\tMarket-Aware & Practical:\u00a0You understand what makes candidates competitive and can translate employer expectations into practical preparation.
\n\tAnalytical & Insightful:\u00a0You use data to diagnose problems, guide decisions, and communicate progress clearly.
\n\tCollaborative & Influential:\u00a0You build trust quickly and work effectively across students, alumni, employers, universities, recruiters, colleagues, and external partners.
\n\tInnovative & Agile:\u00a0You are comfortable with ambiguity, adapt quickly, and look for better ways to drive outcomes at scale.<\/p>\n
Key Skills and Traits<\/p>\n
\tDetail-oriented with a focus on delivering high-quality outcomes.
\n\tStrong project management skills and ability to link on-the-ground execution to broader strategic objectives.
\n\tSkilled at managing external relationships and influencing outcomes across diverse stakeholders.
\n\tExcellent communicator, able to simplify complex ideas for students, employers, partners, and internal audiences.
\n\tStrong analytical skills and comfort using data, technology, and digital tools to improve reach, personalization, workflows, reporting, and impact.
\n\tStrong business acumen to understand employer needs and how to position graduate talent effectively.
\n\tHigh ethical standards, sound judgment, and accountability when representing the foundation and working directly with students and partners.
\n\tProficiency in Microsoft Office, with strong Excel and PowerPoint skills.<\/p>\n
After-hours and Travel Requirements<\/p>\n
\tFlexibility for occasional weekend or evening events.
\n\tOccasional domestic travel.
\n\tPotential international travel every other year.<\/p>\n
Apply via company website ( https:\/\/www.msdf.org ) or<\/p>\n
www.dell.org<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"template":"","meta":{"_promoted":"","_job_location":"","_application":"http:\/\/www.dell.org","_company_name":"Michael & Susan Dell Foundation","_company_website":"https:\/\/www.msdf.org","_company_tagline":"Globally, South Africa spends one of the highest percentages of Gross Domestic Product (6 percent) on education. Despite significant government spending and charitable investments to reform South Africa\u2019s public school system since the end of apartheid, overall student performance has declined. ... read moreThe traditional South African education system offers limited quality options for learners from poor communities and unequal access to quality instruction, which is reflected in learner results: only one of 18 learners ends up with a post-high school qualification and only a third of financial-aid students that gain access to university will graduate. Compounding this, there remains a large gap between employer expectations and education outcomes. This stems principally from the approach to education in schools and universities which largely overlooks the soft and hard skills required to do work in today\u2019s professional world. Despite these challenges, South Africa is an exciting and forward-looking country. A mix of factors create an environment ripe for scalable, sustainable solutions. A well-developed infrastructure and political system. Universal acceptance of the urgent need to improve education and employment outcomes from across all spheres of society. An openness to cross-sector collaboration. These factors combine together to create a unique opportunity to positively and sustainably influence the lives of children and youth living in poverty. Our primary objective is to increase access to quality education, and improve educational outcomes for children from South Africa\u2019s poorer communities. We\u2019ve learned that educational data-when put to use correctly-can dramatically improve learner outcomes. That\u2019s why we\u2019ve partnered with the Department of Basic Education (DBE) to launch the Data Driven Districts (DDD) initiative and enable data for 80% of South Africa\u2019s 12 million learners to be accessible and actionable by 2020. The project provides schools and district officials the ability to see relevant education data immediately and graphically via a dashboard. The team also coaches officials on how to draw meaningful insights from the data so as to trigger actions that will improve learner outcomes. We\u2019ll continue to partner with and support organizations that use information and proven methodologies to identify school and classroom interventions that will improve learner outcomes. We\u2019ll also continue to fund high quality and innovative school operating partners that can substantially increase access to quality education and improve outcomes for children from poorer communities.","_company_twitter":"","_company_video":"","_filled":0,"_featured":0,"_remote_position":0,"_job_salary":"","_job_salary_currency":"","_job_salary_unit":""},"job_listing_region":[15],"job-types":[12],"class_list":{"0":"post-37577","1":"job_listing","2":"type-job_listing","3":"status-publish","4":"hentry","5":"job_listing_region-western-cape","7":"job-type-full-time"},"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/jobs.dataaxisnode.com\/southafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/job-listings\/37577","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/jobs.dataaxisnode.com\/southafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/job-listings"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/jobs.dataaxisnode.com\/southafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/job_listing"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jobs.dataaxisnode.com\/southafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/jobs.dataaxisnode.com\/southafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=37577"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"job_listing_region","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jobs.dataaxisnode.com\/southafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/job_listing_region?post=37577"},{"taxonomy":"job_listing_type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jobs.dataaxisnode.com\/southafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/job-types?post=37577"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}