Title: Senior Associate – Customer Engagement
Location: Nairobi
Reports to: Program Manager, Program Delivery
About Food 4 Education
Food for Education (F4E) is an African-led, women-led social enterprise that uses technology, smart operations and logistics to provide low-cost, high-quality meals that improve nutrition and education outcomes for primary school children in Kenya.
We are growing quickly. Our mission is to scale models that prioritise efficient supply chain management and sustainable sourcing, so we can continue lowering the cost of school lunches. We have delivered over 100,000,000 meals since 2012 and are expanding to reach our goal of serving at least 1,000,000 public primary school students in Kenya every day by 2027.
Position Overview:
The Senior Associate – Customer Engagement is a cross-functional leader responsible for delivering an outstanding experience to learners, parents, and school communities through coordinated engagement, customer support, and digital strategies.
You will oversee a team of 13 (3 direct reports) across customer service, quality assurance, and reconciliation, while also directly leading CRM and USSD strategy. Your leadership will ensure every parent-facing touchpoint—whether digital, phone, or in-person—is empathetic, clear, and impactful.
We’re looking for someone with a positive, can-do attitude, who is solution-oriented, thrives with shifting dynamics, and is eager to build meaningful connections with parents and communities.
Our Values
At Food for Education, our values are guiding principles that provide us with purpose and direction and set the tone for our interactions with all stakeholders:
- Build with excellence and curiosity - We’re not afraid to try new things and iterate as much as we can to find the best and most efficient way to get results;
- Be the change you seek - We acknowledge that continuous improvement is a shared responsibility;
- We do what we say; and say what we do - We embrace an ownership mentality;
- Ask why; and commit- Share openly and question respectfully and commit fully. When we understand the why, we are able to work with a purpose.
Key Initiatives You’ll Lead
Beyond daily operations, you will drive strategic initiatives that raise the bar on parent and community engagement:
- Parent-Facing Touchpoints: Audit and improve every parent interaction (calls, WhatsApp, USSD, SMS, community forums) to ensure clarity, empathy, and trust.
- Omnichannel Engagement: Launch a unified engagement strategy that integrates phone, social media, digital, and offline channels into one seamless parent experience.
- Proactive Communication & Education: Build programs that anticipate parent questions through onboarding, FAQs, guides, and multilingual resources.
- Data-Driven CX Innovation: Leverage CRM insights, dashboards, and feedback loops to launch pilots, test new ideas, and scale what works.
Core Focus Areas (ENGAGE Framework)
- E – Experience: Deliver exemplary learner, parent, and community-centered experiences across all channels.
- N – Nurturing: Build trust through empathetic and inclusive engagement.
- G – Growth & Digital: Extend F4E’s reach via digital communication, CRM initiatives, campaigns, and retention strategies.
- A – Assurance & Quality: Oversee call centre quality, monitor performance, and uphold service standards.
- G – Guidance: Mentor and align CX, QA, and Reconciliation teams for consistency and excellence.
- E – Evidence-based: Use data and reporting to drive improvement and decision-making.
Key Responsibilities
1. Team Leadership & Strategic Oversight
- Manage 3 direct reports and a broader team of 13.
- Lead and coach the CX, QA, and Reconciliation functions.
- Set performance objectives, KPIs, and review cycles for each team.
- Foster collaboration across teams to deliver unified, parent-centric communication and service.
2. Customer Engagement & Experience
- Guide onboarding, parent education, and responsive support strategies.
- Ensure timely, empathetic, and consistent service delivery across all channels.
- Continuously improve the parent journey through data-driven insights.
3. Call Centre Quality Management
- Provide oversight to the Call Centre Quality Assessor.
- Ensure thorough quality checks across phone, WhatsApp, SMS, email, and chat.
- Review and improve key metrics, such as response accuracy, resolution time, and customer satisfaction.
- Approve escalation protocols and address recurring service gaps.
4. Channel Performance Monitoring
- Monitor all engagement channels (phone, SMS, WhatsApp, USSD, social media, email).
- Ensure 100% adherence to SLAs and response time targets.
- Drive corrective actions when performance drops below standard.
- Consolidate and present channel performance reports with insights.
5. CRM & Digital Communication Strategy
- Oversee integrated digital campaigns for outreach, awareness, and retention.
- Ensure effective use of CRM systems for segmented campaigns and lifecycle messaging.
- Improve CRM data quality and automation to enhance impact.
- Align messaging across USSD, SMS, email, and social channels.
6. Marketing & Campaign Management
- Lead digital and offline campaigns to engage parents and communities.
- Ensure campaigns are context-sensitive and available in local languages.
- Incorporate feedback loops to strengthen campaign effectiveness.
7. Reporting & Insight Generation
- Consolidate insights from service, QA, and campaign performance.
- Develop monthly and quarterly reports highlighting successes, challenges, and opportunities.
- Present updates and recommendations to the Program Manager and other stakeholders.
8. Cross-Functional Collaboration
- Partner with Program Delivery to ensure alignment between service delivery and engagement.
- Work with Product & Tech to improve parent-facing tools and resolve issues.
- Collaborate with Communications and the Tap2Eat communication agency to ensure alignment and consistency in all customer-facing communication.
- Work with Community teams for unified engagement strategies.
- Represent Customer Engagement in donor visits, planning, and field meetings.
Qualifications & Skills
- Undergraduate degree in a relevant field.
- 5+ years in managerial/supervisory roles (CX, digital marketing, call centre, or related areas).
- Experience managing diverse teams across communication and service delivery.
- Strong analytical skills with CRM and digital engagement platforms.
- Excellent leadership, interpersonal, and collaboration skills.
- Deep empathy for underserved communities and inclusive communication practices.
- Knowledge of call centre systems is an advantage.
Key Competencies
- Sees the big picture and delivers measurable impact.
- Inspires, supports, and builds trust with teams and parents.
- Thrives in fast-changing, dynamic environments.
- Brings a can-do attitude to shifting demands.
- Creative in designing campaigns and engagement approaches.
- Works across teams to align, motivate, and deliver.
- Clear, compelling, and effective across channels.
We are an equal opportunity employer
All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to age, ancestry, colour, family or medical care leave, gender identity or expression, genetic information, marital status, medical condition, national origin, physical or mental disability, political affiliation, race, religion, sex (including pregnancy), sexual orientation, or any other characteristic protected by applicable laws, regulations and ordinances.
Career Growth and Development
We have a strong culture of constant learning and we invest in developing our people. You will have weekly check-ins with your manager, and regular feedback on your performance. We hold career reviews every six months and set aside time to discuss your aspirations and career goals. You will have the opportunity to shape a growing organisation and build a rewarding, long-term career.
We aim to contact all our applicants, but due to the high volume of applications only shortlisted candidates are contacted. If you do not hear from us within two weeks your application might not be successful on this occasion. This does not mean you will not be considered for future roles so please keep an eye on our job board and apply for positions that match your skills and experience.
