Operations & Office Manager
Zen Educate
Operations
Cape Town, South Africa
Posted on Mar 13, 2026
600000 - 850000 ZAR a year
Location: Cape Town
Working hours: 9am – 6pm UK time, (11AM - 8PM SA time in Winter, 10AM - 7PM SA in Summer)
Salary: R600,000 - R850,000 OTE
Location: Claremont, Cape Town
About Zen Educate
Zen Educate is on a mission to make education staffing fairer, more transparent, and more efficient. By removing unnecessary agency fees, we help schools reinvest money directly into education while increasing educator pay.
As we continue to scale across the UK and US, we are investing in strong operational leadership to ensure the Cape Town office operates at the highest standard of performance, professionalism, and cultural alignment.
The Role
We are seeking an Operations Manager to lead and support the Cape Town office.
This role is responsible for driving operational performance, maintaining a strong and professional office culture, and overseeing the day-to-day management of the Cape Town office. You will manage a team of 5+ team members and act as the primary owner of people, culture, and operational discipline within the Cape Town office.
You will work closely with UK leadership to maintain alignment, but you will have direct ownership of performance, HR matters, and office operations locally.
Key Responsibilities
Operational Performance
-Take ownership of operational performance targets for the Cape Town team, ensuring consistent delivery against key output metrics.
-Monitor daily, weekly, and monthly performance to ensure the team meets or exceeds targets.
-Identify operational inefficiencies and implement improvements to drive productivity and effectiveness.
Culture & HR Leadership
-Act as the primary owner of culture and HR matters in the Cape Town office, including recruitment, onboarding, employee development, and disciplinary action.
-Reinforce behavioural expectations and professional standards aligned with Zen’s values.
-Lead performance management processes, including formal disciplinary conversations where required.
-Foster a positive, motivated, and mission-aligned office environment.
-Partner with the UK People team to ensure HR policies are implemented consistently.
Office Management
-Oversee the day-to-day running of the Cape Town office, ensuring the environment supports productivity, professionalism, and collaboration.
-Manage office logistics, policies, and general administration.
-Ensure strong communication and alignment between the Cape Town office and UK leadership.
Skills & Experience
-3+ years experience in operations management and people leadership, with a proven track record of managing teams, driving performance, and delivering results.
-Experience in office management is preferred, including overseeing day-to-day operations, office logistics, and administrative processes.
-Proven experience managing team performance against targets.
-Experience handling HR matters and disciplinary processes professionally and constructively.
-Strong organisational and problem-solving skills.
-Data-driven, structured, and outcome-focused.
-Strong alignment with Zen’s mission to improve the education system.
What's in it for you?
-Work that you want to talk about
- Competitive salary
- 25 days of holiday in line with UK education term dates, plus UK bank holidays.
-Fun-loving, tight-knit team solving a problem that makes a difference
Diversity and Inclusion
At Zen, we strive to build a culture of equity and inclusion, where everyone is respected, valued and appreciated for their unique traits, experiences and perspectives. We are committed to creating a safe, inclusive and equitable environment where our team can thrive, regardless of age, ethnicity, race, gender identity, sexual orientation, socio-economic status, disability, religion or beliefs. We value our differences and believe that practices of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion help us create a fairer, more compassionate environment for all.
We welcome applicants with diverse backgrounds and different experiences and perspectives — just like the staff who teach through Zen and the children at the schools we work with. We believe in hiring the best people from the widest pool and creating an inclusive culture where people’s voices are heard and all our team can look forward to coming to work.
We are committed to building a team that reflects the diversity of our community and promoting an equitable and inclusive environment for all. We seek out diverse opinions, beliefs, and experiences because they collectively make us stronger; we’ve had former teachers, pilots, fundraisers, engineers, lawyers, marketers, social media experts and more join our team.