About the Organisation
SmartStart is a successful national network of NGOs & partners realising quality, affordable early learning for all 3-5 year olds — through scaling a network of providers, and achieving specific ecosystem transformations with governments and partners.
About the Job
SmartStart is committed to improving early childhood outcomes in South Africa through a scalable social franchise model. The Head of Sense Making, Data and Insights will be responsible for heading the SDI department collaboratively with other departments for synergies across the Hub, the SmartStart network, and the entire ECD ecosystem.
Key Responsibilities
· Leading and developing SmartStart’s network-wide approach(es) to monitoring & feedback as well as sense-making for appropriate action
This entails
o Leading coherent target-setting by network management
o Reviewing, revising and developing coherent, fit-for-purpose indicators and dashboards as appropriate to particular roles & contexts
o Sense-making: people’s iteratively interpreting data to make sense of experience & environment
o Sense-making entails navigating, way-finding, figuring out, explaining, narrating, etc.
o Sense-making is what precedes, informs & follows decision-making and/or action-taking
o Sense-making is individual-and-social and ongoing, and oriented to flexibly appropriate action
o Recording-&-reporting: regular performance recording-&-reporting for Hub & network (incl. mgmt.)
o Preparing a core performance report quarterly (incl. extended annual report at year-end) appropriate for funders
o Appropriate action: responding appropriately in context, including improving and/or innovating
o Reflecting: guiding & supporting reflective practice
· Leading SmartStart’s using and managing data and information as resources for sense-making and decision-making across the network and platform as well as the ecosystem
This entails
o Leading the ongoing introduction and improvement of data management and governance across the network (with the IT Head). And, in complement, leading the reorienting of the data function from a black box service to a partner activating, amplifying, and enabling distributed data use & management
o Leading iterative assessment of key data assets, opportunities & needs, capabilities, and risks
o Maintaining a map or maps of key data sets, their sources, and designated owners
o Guiding and supporting improving data: ethics and relevant compliance (including but not limited to POPIA); availability & accessibility; capturing & collection; integrity & quality (incl. accuracy, consistency, and reliability); usability for sense-making & decision-making; security and compliance with associated regulations
o This includes introducing & supporting the use of relevant tools, guides, processes etc that are user-friendly for data owners & stewards (eg. a data set useability & hygeine checklists)
o Fostering a data-engaged culture
· Leading SmartStart’s strategic approach to big picture information and data systems as resources for sense-making and decision-making across the network and platform as well as the ecosystem (with key partners, including Ilifa Labantwana, DBE and National Treasury)
o Mapping and managing population data & using this in guiding multi-year and annual planning, targeting, and projections — including scenarios and/or futures thinking as apt
o Leading development of SmartStart’s data systems to cohere productively with relevant state and other data systems (including but not limited to eCares) and partners (including but not limited to the national department of basic education and Ilifa)
o Attending to other strategically significant information as this emerges and evolves
· Leading the central insights function, including leading rapid learning through iterative experimenting and short-term studies
This includes leading and co-creating rapid learning projects
o Rapid learning: learning through fast feedback loops and from & with others
o Iterative experimenting: trying things, with discipline and rigour, to learn
o Short-term studies: focused investigations to answer specific questions over a few weeks or months, whether through analysis of existing data, fieldwork, or both
o Collective intelligence: sharing information, insights and/or know-how and surfacing what emerges
o Reflective practice: asking questions & questioning assumptions about one’s own work and ways of working (standing on the balcony outside the dance, double-loop learning, reflexivity, etc)
· Collaborating with the Research, Reflection & Evaluation Head and wider Innovation & Learning portfolio team in
o Developing an apt research & evaluation agenda for SmartStart and conceptualising research and/or evaluation questions, studies, and terms of reference, etc.
o Making SmartStart’s practice more reflective
o Creating knowledge from SmartStart people’s experience and expertise
Requirements
Essential Skills and Experience
Min. masters degree or equivalent in a relevant field
Min. 8 years’ relevant & diverse experience in complex organisational-systemic contexts incl.
Min. 4 years in senior role(s) successfully leading data-related functions and managing data-related teams
Experience of social impact initiatives, programmes and/or organisations
Advantageous: fluency in one or more African languages
Specific (incl. technical) Knowledge & Understanding and/or Skills & Abilities
Comfort and confidence leading sophisticated work with data
People-and-user-centered approaches to data and information
Thoughtful familiarity with M&E/MEL/MERL approaches and practices
A track record of, and strong appetite for, seeing patterns and building coherence amid complexity
Advantageous: proficiency in/with: PowerBI and/or similar interactive data visualisation software, Microsoft Dynamics 365 and/or similar CRM software, A/B testing
To apply
In order to apply, email your application by Monday 19th January 2026 to callum@actionappointments.co.za - send your completed AA bio form, letter of motivation and updated CV (all in MS Word format).
