Founder's Associate
Jem is seeking an exceptional Founder’s Associate who will work directly with the CEO on a variety of different initiatives; from strategic problem-solving to deep diving into operations, fundraising & product. You will help execute the CEO’s ideas and get involved in all aspects of the business.
Problems and challenges will arise frequently, and Jem’s Founders Associate will tackle these problems head-on, devise innovative solutions, overcome barriers, and relish the opportunity to figure out new or improved ways to do things. You’ll be a sounding board for ideas and shouldn’t be afraid to push back or challenge when you see the need. You should be organised and detail-oriented in any task or project that you undertake. As a generalist, you should thrive on the varied nature of your role - no task is too big, small, or challenging for you. And whilst you will work closely with and learn from the CEO, Simon Ellis, you won’t need constant direction; you should be a self-starter, wholly proactive, and have a natural can-do attitude.The role of a Founder's Associate is naturally varied and will evolve over time. However, here are some of the things you will be involved in from day one:
Maximise the CEO’s time by helping him execute on everything from fundraising to sales and product
Spearhead and coordinate company-wide meetings on behalf of the CEO and COO
Lead strategic projects that enable the Leadership team to optimise decision making e.g analyse the feasibility of additional revenue streams, research potential partnerships, or investigate which international country Jem should expand to next
Support our CEO in the fundraising process by working on business plans, pitch decks, managing early investor relations, and actively sourcing funding opportunities
Organise and update the fundraising data room and investor CRM as and when the need arises
Ensure relevant business data is kept up-to-date and well-presented to aid the leadership team in making business decisions
Implement key processes, decision-making frameworks, and automated workflows in order to help the company move from start-up to scale-up
Work with the CEO to execute and build the international business structure for the future of Jem
The role and priorities will evolve over time, and there will be significant experimentation involved. You will have a lot of responsibilities from day one and will be in a unique position to potentially grow into a leadership position in the future.
At least 2 years of work experience in a fast-paced environment
Ideally have worked in a start-up or scaling business before
Ideally worked with applications such as Hubspot and Metabase
Skilled in Excel
The ideal candidate will have:
The drive to take initiative, work independently and be accountable while also working as a team player who is collaborative and flexible
Excellent ability to problem solve along with solid analytical skills, business acumen, and an understanding of systems optimisation
An energetic attitude with a ‘can-do’ approach
An excellent communicator, innately ambitious, and entrepreneurial in nature.
Demonstrated ability to work in a team environment, with exceptional time management
Comfortable interacting with all levels of management in multiple areas
Why you should join us:
We’re on a mission to drive digital inclusion across workplaces in Africa and disrupt the traditional HR and Communications sector.
In our first 2 years, we created a responsible and frictionless wage access product saving our customers almost 100% of the average loan size in fees.
We are now building a HR and Communications product to engage deskless workers and provide equal access to critical HR services.
Currently, we operate nationally, with plans to scale across Africa to serve 10 million people by 2026.
We were oversubscribed for our recent fundraise in 2021 which gives us a significant runway to scale our team and deploy a broader range of products.
You’ll have the opportunity to use your expertise to shape the future of our product and drive our strategy to directly impact our success.
What we’re doing has never been done before. As a team, we’ll work to solve hard problems and take ownership for what needs to be delivered. This will give you unprecedented growth and learning.
We have built our system in Django (Python), with a ReactJS (Javascript) to service administrators internally and our customers, with a custom chatbot architecture (Python). Our architecture is constantly evolving and we’re always eager to introduce new technologies.
Our commitment to you:
We’re a focused and ambitious team that have chosen the startup life over corporate careers.
We’re optimistic and energetic, so we like to have fun but we push hard.
We are unfailingly transparent and value giving and receiving feedback from one another, our clients and users.
People matter and we have a high degree of integrity.
We make data-informed decisions and we move fast.
We support flexibility and ensure that our people can work wherever (in SA) they perform at their best. Building relationships and collaboration is important to us so we do have awesome new offices in Cape Town and Johannesburg, for those who prefer being together in an office.
Competitive pay, benefits, and assistance with home tech setup and 22 days of annual leave.
To find out more about what we’re doing and what it’s like to work with us take some time to read through our careers page.