Senior Supply Chain Manager

Overview

Senior Supply Chain Manager Jobs in Kenya at VisionSpring

Title: Senior Supply Chain Manager

Company: VisionSpring

Location: Kenya

Job Description

Regional oversight: Southeast Africa – Kenya, Uganda, Malawi, Zambia – and China

The Senior Manager, Supply Chain is responsible for leading the organization’s end-to-end supply chain operations, including demand and supply planning, international shipping, import clearance, warehousing, inventory management, distribution, and supplier performance.

The position ensures that products and materials are available at the right place, time, cost, and quality while maintaining compliance with organizational policies, donor requirements, customs regulations, and applicable laws. This role will report to the Global Director of Supply Chain. 

ABOUT YOU
We are seeking a dynamic, mission-driven supply chain leader who thrives in complex, multi-country environments and embodies VisionSpring’s values. The ideal candidate will bring:

• Proven leadership experience with at least 10–12 years in supply chain, procurement, logistics, or operations, including 3+ years in a managerial role.
• Strong analytical skills with confidence in SAP, Excel, Power BI, and dashboards to interpret operational data and guide decisions.
• Operational excellence across demand planning, replenishment, inventory management, and international logistics.
• Stakeholder management expertise, with the ability to negotiate, influence, and build trusted relationships across internal teams, suppliers, and external partners.
• Governance and compliance discipline, ensuring audit readiness, ethical procurement practices, and adherence to organizational policies.
• People leadership capability, including coaching, delegation, succession planning, and cross-country coordination.
• A resilient, detail-oriented, and mission-driven mindset, comfortable working in a lean, fast-moving, multi-country environment.

ABOUT US

• VisionSpring increases lifelong earning, learning, safety, and well-being through eyeglasses for people vulnerable to poverty. We believe in the wonder of clear vision for everybody. Our vision is to ensure that everyone who needs eyeglasses will have them by 2050, and your role as a Senior Proposal Writer will be instrumental in achieving this inspiring goal. 
• We sell and deliver radically affordable optical products and services and develop markets for eyeglasses. This 700-year-old technology has failed to reach 1 billion people in need of vision correction, most of whom live on less than $4 a day.
• We serve low-income consumers, not as beneficiaries but as customers. Our customers expect high-quality, affordable products and eyecare services, and are willing to spend their limited discretionary income on the immediate and tangible benefits of vision correction.
• As a social enterprise, we are purpose first. We blend philanthropic and earned revenue, drawing on nonprofit and business practices, and utilize sales and efficiency metrics, as well as social impact measures, to bring vision correction to an ever-growing number of people. 
• We catalyze collaborative action in an expansive, multisector partner network and use our evidence and experience to influence systems change and close the global clear vision gap.
• We believe in scaling our impact, not our organization. We are a lean team of doers, which means you’ll have the opportunity to take on significant responsibilities and make a direct impact on our mission.
• Our big goal: Everyone who needs eyeglasses will have them by 2050.

Job Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree in Supply Chain Management, Business, Logistics, Procurement, Engineering, or Finance.
• Master’s degree or professional qualification (CSCM, CIPS, PGDSCM) strongly preferred.
• 10–12 years of progressive experience in supply chain, procurement, logistics, or operations, including at least 3 years in a managerial role.
• Demonstrated experience managing international procurement execution, shipping, import clearance, warehousing, inventory, and distribution.
• Strong knowledge of trade terms, letters of credit, customs clearance, and cargo insurance.
• Advanced analytical skills with SAP, Excel, Power BI, and dashboards.
• Strong stakeholder management, negotiation, and communication skills.
• Experience in governance, audit readiness, and SOP development.
• Proven leadership capability, including coaching, delegation, and succession planning.

Job Responsibilities

Strategic Supply Chain Leadership & Governance

• Develop and implement regional supply chain strategies aligned with organizational priorities.
• Lead annual planning, budgeting, risk assessment, and capacity planning.
• Serve as the main link between country teams, Finance, Global Supply Chain, and leadership.
• Drive governance through SOPs, RACI matrices, documented processes, and structured escalation.
• Identify risks and implement contingency planning for stock-outs, overstock, vendor delays, logistics disruptions, and audit-sensitive issues.

 
S&OP, Demand Planning & Supply Review

• Coordinate monthly S&OP Demand and Supply reviews, consolidating country forecasts, sales updates, and supply constraints.
• Evaluate demand quality, forecast accuracy, stock cover, replenishment requirements, and service risks.
• Present risks, scenarios, and recommendations for leadership decision-making.
• Evaluate forecast accuracy, stock cover, replenishment requirements, and service risks.
• Metrics: Forecast Accuracy, OTIF, Demand-Supply Alignment.

 
Supply Planning, Replenishment & Inventory Health

• Monitor inventory positions by country, warehouse, program and SKU.
• Recommend replenishment quantities, buffer stock levels, and redistribution actions.
• Prepare replenishment plans based on demand forecasts, inventory levels, lead times, and budgets.
• Lead ageing inventory reviews, slow-moving stock analysis, and obsolescence risk mitigation.
• Execute operational buying processes including purchase orders, vendor coordination, and goods receipt.
• Collaborating with Global Procurement Leads to align sourcing strategies with global objectives.
• Monitor supplier performance, lead times, landed costs, and responsiveness.
• Metrics: Inventory Turns, Stock Ageing, Working Capital Impact, Supplier Performance, Cost Savings,

 
International Logistics & 3PL management

• Manage international shipments by air, sea, and land, including customs clearance and freight partner coordination.
• Review shipping documents (letters of credit, invoices, packing lists, certificates of origin, insurance).
• Ensure timely endorsement, clearance, and delivery of imported goods.
• Set standards and expectations with 3PL partners on receiving, storage, dispatch, and reporting.
• Review warehouse and 3PL Performance and manage persistent 3PL underperformance and support transition planning.
• Metrics: Logistics Cost Efficiency, Transit Time Reliability, delivery lead times, 3PL Service Levels.

 
Order Management, Customer Fulfilment & Distribution

• Coordinate order-to-delivery flow from proforma invoice support to POD follow-up and invoicing.
• Validate customer order requirements, product availability, and timelines.
• Track open orders, delivery delays, remittance visibility, and customer escalations.
• Lead regional teams with clear accountability and performance oversight.
• Metrics: Customer Satisfaction, OTIF, Order Fulfillment Rate.

 
Warehouse & Inventory Management

• Ensure accurate receipt, inspection, storage, issuance, transfer, and recording of inventory.
• Establish appropriate minimum, maximum, safety-stock, and reorder levels.
• Lead periodic cycle counts and reconciliations, ensuring timely variance closure.
• Ensure warehouses comply with safety, security, and quality standards.
• Metrics: Inventory Accuracy, Stock Cover, Variance Closure.

 
Audit, Compliance & Risk Management

• Maintain audit-ready records for procurement, inventory, shipping, sales orders, invoices, distribution and 3PL documentation.
• Coordinate with respective stakeholders to ensure compliance with organizational policies, donor requirements, applicable laws and operational facts.
• Document SOPs, RACI matrices, and control points to strengthen governance.
• Identify supply chain risks and implement business continuity and risk-mitigation measures.
• Promote ethical procurement practices and ensure transparency.
• Metrics: SOP Adherence, Audit Response Accuracy, Risk Mitigation Effectiveness.

 
Data, Analytics Continuous Improvement & Reporting

• Develop dashboards and reports covering inventory, forecast accuracy, OTIF, procurement status, and risks.
• Use SAP, Excel, Power BI and other digital evolutions to generate insights for leadership decisions.
• Prepare monthly updates, KPI dashboards, and executive summaries.
• Lead process improvement projects to streamline procurement, inventory controls, and reporting cadence.
• Develop mitigation plans, escalation pathways, and contingency options.
• Metrics: Data Quality, Reporting Timeliness, Insight Accuracy and Process Efficiency Gains.

 
Team Leadership & Capability Building

• Lead, coach, and support supply chain team members across Planning, order management, and warehouse operations.
• Clarify responsibilities, assign owners, and build backup coverage for critical activities.
• Develop team capability through skill matrices, SOP training, and succession planning.
• Metrics: Role Clarity, Delegation Effectiveness, Continuity Readiness.

Job Benefits

Compensation:

• Salary range is based on location, experience and education and will be communicated during the interview stage.
• We offer comprehensive benefits, including medical insurance and generous leave time.

To Apply:

• A thoughtful cover letter.
• A CV/résumé 

Applications without this context are at a disadvantage.

– A skills assignment is part of the interview process.
– Please note, only candidates invited to interview will be contacted.

At VisionSpring, diversity, equity, and inclusion are directly aligned with our core value to advance equity. Our mission is predicated on removing a fundamental barrier to full economic and social participation—uncorrected blurry vision. The values that underpin our mission energize our commitment to a diverse and inclusive team. A diverse team also allows VisionSpring to approach problems with nuance and develop unique insights that drive an outsized positive impact in the world. We actively recruit, develop, and retain talented people from diverse backgrounds and support everyone in being exactly who they are. VisionSpring is an equal opportunity employer and welcomes people from all experiences, abilities, and perspectives to apply.