General Manager and Head of Joint Venture - Gold Fields Ghana

Gold Fields Ghana is seeking to appoint an experienced and qualified individual to the position of General Manager and Head of Joint Venture. Reporting to the Executive Vice President and Head of West Africa, the successful candidate will be responsible for ensuring that cost-effective production within the operations and infrastructure are in place to support the strategic direction of the West Africa Region.

By being an agent for ongoing organisational change, the candidate will ensure that all operations are well-positioned in a rapidly evolving and competitive environment. As the head of Joint Venture (JV), the successful candidate will represent Gold Fields in ensuring the implementation of the JV Agreement.

Leadership Role

• Provides leadership in terms of strategic integration and the development of team-oriented success-focused mining culture.
• Ensures that the leadership framework is determined, defined and communicated by ensuring that the Operation’s leaders create the correct sense for change e.g. leading the strategy, inspiring and producing correct sequence deliveries against the vision and mission, creating one team to achieve the strategic objectives, creating an ideal business environment, recognizing and rewarding progressions.
• Acts as a representative and ambassador to promote positive relationships and strong partnerships for the benefit of the Operation.
• Acts as an ambassador within the Group both nationally and internationally by forging powerful and influential relationships at the highest levels in the company.
• Ensures that a succession planning process is in place and that sufficient people with the necessary standing, expertise and competencies are available for appointment to key leadership positions by familiarizing themselves with potential candidate’s capabilities, qualifications, experience and potential.
• Monitors the career and resource planning, training and development for staff and ensures that it is focused and that future staff needs of the discipline are met and to advance the goals of competent people, to achieve a positive impact of staff retention and staff morale.

Teamwork Role

• Maintains close liaison with peers from the operations and corporate level to ensure that decisions are taken from the broadest perspective and that decisions and actions are integrated.

• Ensures that channels of communication are maintained with executive staff by attending regular meetings to discuss topical issues, share ideas and develop teamwork, coordination, and cooperation for the benefit of the function and the operations.
• Elicits and coordinates inputs and actions from a range of internal and external stakeholders to achieve required results for the business by involvement and coordination of cross-stakeholders and a positive impact on results.
• Develops, coordinates, and facilitates interaction between applicable disciplines and the business environment by integrating market information, ensuring a consistent message is provided to the external and internal environment and business-enhancing sentiment occurs that is beneficial to the business.
• Consults regularly with senior staff from other corporate functions to achieve outcomes favourable to the discipline or the resolution of issues that affect the Operation or its people, to enhance the image.

Functional Role

• Manages the entire operation by directing and coordinating activities consistent with established goals, objectives, and policies.
• Sets goals, monitors work and evaluates results to ensure that the Operation and Group objectives and operating requirements are met and are in line with the needs and mission of the company.
• Develops and creates innovative initiatives, strategies and policies aligned with organizational goals to enhance internal efficiency and effectiveness
• Implements programs to ensure attainment of business plan for growth and profit.
• Implements improved processes and management methods to generate higher ROI and workflow optimization.
• Contributes to the development and refinement of the Group’s vision and strategy by supporting the overall process of executive decision-making to ensure the Operation maximises its short, medium and long-term profitability and returns to its shareholders.
• Implements, maintains and manages an effective system of controls throughout the company, covering non-financial as well as financial controls.
• Present a yearly budget for Board approval and prudently manages resources within those budget guidelines according to company policy and within ethical governance guidelines.

Joint Venture Management

• Joint Venture (JV) Manager will represent Gold Fields in ensuring the implementation of the JV Agreement.
• Will represent Gold Fields in dealing with any operational and technical challenges arising from the day to day running of Galliano Gold (Asanko) operation.
• Will liaise between Gold Fields and Galiano Gold (Asanko) and will also arrange visits to any of the JV Operations.
• As GF representative you would be responsible for identifying synergies and opportunities from the JV to harness both operations.
• The JV will be managed by the Technical and Management committees and the JV Manager will lead the GF Technical committee and serve on the JV Management Committee.
• Will provide regular feedback to the EVP and head of West Africa Region on Gold Fields' interest in Galliano Gold (Asanko) operations

Strategic Role

• Structures the Production & Technical activities of the operations of the West Africa Region to provide the capacity and capability to achieve the strategic requirements by ensuring that the structure is effective, efficient and competent, and ensuring that business expectations are delivered on time.
• Ensures that the operation’s strategic framework is developed and implemented by scanning the global market, developing practicable scenarios, identifying, and categorizing the key mining drivers.
• Develops and applies measurements to determine the success of outcomes to ensure that results display continual improvement by appropriate measurements used as prime indicators that indicate when a renewal of strategies are required
• Applies the strategic framework to develop long term strategies by obtaining Executive approval for guiding principles, vision, mission, values, executing and aligning plans, business results and audits confirming the strategies at a world-class level.
• Ensures the Operation’s long term global business strategies are distilled and focused for delivery on time by conducting audits to ensure that all commitments are met; measurements confirm maximum leverage through results and strategies focused.
• Presents the operation’s strategies to Executive Management as a basis for informed and confident long term business decisions by collating strategies, reports, indicators, assessments, reviews, and audits.

Key Requirements

• A minimum of a bachelor’s degree in a relevant technical discipline (mining, geology, mine engineering, and metallurgy) and a General Manager’s Certificate of Competency from Minerals Commission, Ghana.
• A postgraduate qualification in a relevant technical discipline and/or MBA, Project Management, Strategic Planning qualifications and Lean Six Sigma will be an advantage.
• At least 15 – 20 years experience in practice at the managerial level in gold mining and processing, of which 10 years must be in a senior management role preferably in an open pit mine operation.
• Must have an excellent safety track record in an open pit / underground mine operation.
• Must have strong analytical and problem-solving skills.
• Mush have a high appreciation for the concepts of Lean Six Sigma for continuous business improvement and high performance.
• Ability to demonstrate business acumen with highly developed communication and presentation skills.
• Ability to lead a team in a high performing culture
• Ability to manage cost and quality by allocating resources according to priority, risk potential and business impact; monitor costs, quality and risk against budget in line with business objectives to deliver cost-effective outcomes of high quality.
• Must have proficient in Microsoft Office Suite or related applications.
• Ability to facilitate collaboration and maintain an effective relationship with individuals in a team to achieve goals/targets.
• Ability to tolerate a high level of stress
• Ability to communicate effectively across all levels.