Overview
Head of Country Operations Jobs in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania at African Queen Marketing Management
Title: Head of Country Operations
Company: African Queen Marketing Management
Location: Dar es Salaam, Tanzania
About the role
We are building device distribution and ownership across high-growth African and Asian markets, bringing modern smartphones to customers through local distributors, retail and operator partners. Our consumer device brand is built around easy ownership and a strong after-sales experience.
We are looking for a Head of Country Operations to launch, run and scale our operating model in a single country — from first shipment to a stable, repeatable, country-wide operation. This is a hands-on leadership role for someone who has built or scaled local operations from the ground up, not only managed mature systems.
This is a build-and-scale role. You take the model from idea to working execution on the ground, see what doesn’t work, fix it fast, and turn local lessons into repeatable standards.
What you will own
1. Country launch and execution.
- Lead launch readiness and execution: distributors, channel, retail points, service partners, and onboarding flows ready before go-live.
- Run the pilot day-to-day, catch issues early, and escalate fast.
- Turn launch lessons into repeatable standards and prepare the model to scale country-wide.
2. Distribution & channel.
- Know the local distributors, dealers, retail networks, and operators; help select the right partners.
- Keep visibility of stock by location, channel, and status, and keep the channel disciplined.
- Organize and supervise sales agents: discipline, training, and onboarding quality.
3. Retail & shop-in-shop.
- Open and run our device brand support points inside high-traffic existing retail, central cities first, then country-wide.
- Negotiate locations with landlords and retail partners and hold the customer-experience standard.
4. After-sales service.
- Oversee service partners and warranty, and the on-the-ground customer experience: fast, prepared, warm.
- Make sure every service interaction meets the standard customers are promised.
5. Operational integrity & fraud control.
- Keep the channel clean: spot and act on device leakage, channel manipulation, and process abuse across the chain.
- Hold field and service discipline so stock, onboarding, and service stay reconciled and honest.
6. Local marketing & operator programmes.
- Support joint “operator + financial partner + device” programmes with local operators.
- Give HQ a clear read on customers, channels, language, culture, and competition.
Building your local team
A core part of this role is building the country team — not hiring “people in general,” but bringing in people who already have the right relationships, can build their area from zero, then lead and scale it across the country. You assign each person clear tasks on the principle of one person, one job, and you hold them to it.
You will build and lead these direct roles:
- Marketing Manager — the key hire: someone who personally knows the commercial and product leaders of every mobile operator in the country and can sign joint operator + financial-partner + device programmes.
- Distribution & Channel Manager — distributors, dealers, warehouses, device movement through the channel.
- Retail / Shop-in-Shop Manager — opening and standards of our device brand support points in high-traffic retail.
- Service & After-Sales Manager — service centers, warranty, and customer experience on the points.
- Field / Onboarding Supervisor — sales-agent discipline, onboarding quality, field control.
- Operations / Reporting Coordinator — daily reporting, stock reconciliation, issue log.
Who you are
A practical operator who can build and scale execution in real market conditions through local partners and teams — someone who has built or scaled local operations, field execution, channels and partner networks, not only managed ready-made processes.
- Strong knowledge of the local market and distribution environment.
- Solid understanding of the device supply chain end-to-end: import, warehousing, distributor, dealer, retail, operator, and customer onboarding.
- Existing relationships with local distributors, retail networks, mobile operators and fintech / financial partners — able to open doors and move things forward.
- Ability to assess channel quality, cost, efficiency, and scalability.
- Experience with multi-party models involving local partners and institutional players.
- A strong field background, not only an office one.
- Proven ability to launch operations from zero and turn lessons into standards.
- Experience managing local teams and partners.
- Understanding of operational risk and fraud control across a distribution and service chain.
- High personal ownership and discipline; comfortable in fast, imperfect environments.
Language
- Fluent local language.
- Working English for HQ communication and reporting.
- Additional regional languages are an advantage.
Reporting & setup
- Reports to the Chief Operating Officer, HQ.
- Based in the country of launch, with regular travel across the country.
- Works closely on the ground with the local master distributor and partner network.
How to apply
If you have launched or scaled a country operation from the ground up and can build the local team to do it again — we want to talk. Apply with a short note on a market or operation you personally built, what you started with, and what it looked like once it was working.
Credit, KYC, and financing decisions sit with licensed financial partners. This role leads distribution, retail, service, and field execution.
