Job Description

Purpose of Role

We are seeking an experienced and visionary African Languages Lead. This is a role for someone deeply committed to advancing access to high-quality, culturally relevant educational materials in African home languages. The successful candidate will guide a team of language specialist, including practitioners, editors, translators, versioners, and quality assurers and ensure the development of linguistically sound and pedagogically effective resources for the Foundation Phase.

Objectives of Role

Strategic Leadership

Provide strategic direction and oversight for the African languages. Develop and manage workflows for authoring, versioning, and quality assurance processes. Lead planning, staffing, and execution of projects in collaboration with cross-functional teams.

Quality Assurance and Oversight

Ensure linguistic accuracy, consistency, and cultural appropriateness across all language materials. Oversee terminology development, orthographic standardisation, and alignment with educational frameworks. Establish and maintain quality standards, style guides, glossaries, and spelling conventions.

Team Management and Capacity Building

Recruit, manage, and support a pool of African home language specialists. Facilitate training, mentorship, and professional development opportunities for team members. Promote collaboration and knowledge sharing within the unit and with other departments.

Content Development and Review

Supervise and support the development and refinement of Foundation Phase literacy and life skills content. Guide the origination of Phonics programmes tailored to language-specific phonics sequences. Provide final reviews and sign-off for key deliverables in multiple African home languages.

Stakeholder Engagement

Collaborate with government departments, educational institutions, and other partners. Represent the unit in forums, conferences, and consultations on language policy and education.

Experience and Qualifications

Relevant (Masters) degree in Education Minimum 5-10 years' experience at a similar level Early grade reading with considerable experience working in teacher development and teaching early grade reading We are especially interested in candidates with experience in one or more ot the following African languages:IsiZulu,isiXhosa,Sepedi,Sesotho,Setswana, Tshivenda, Xitsonga, Siswati, Ndebele. Proven leadership experienceineducation,linguistics,publishing, or language development Extensive knowledge and experience in at least one African language listed below, with fluency in English Strong understanding of language structure, orthography, grammar, and cultural context Demonstrated experience in versioning and editing of educational materials Proven ability to work under pressure and to strict deadlines Familiarity with the South African education landscape and curriculum requirements Excellent communication, project management, and organisational skills Experience with capacity building or mentoring in multilingual education settings Background in early literacy or foundational learning materials
Ability to work collaboratively in a fast-paced, mission-driven environment

Competencies

An interest in and alignment to Funda Wande's vision and values Be extremely organized; but be able to multi-task simultaneously Committed to improving processes and systems Works well under pressure and with changing deliverables Tolerate ambiguity and change in a rapidly growing organisation Confident, proactive, self-reliant, and performance-orientated Great team player * High degree of emotional intelligence