Client Acquisition Team Lead

About Onja

Onja is a social enterprise training underprivileged youth into world-class software developers.

We find the brightest students in Madagascar who can’t afford to continue their education, and train them in English language and software development. After just two-and-a-half years they are ready to work as remote front-end software developers in international tech teams.

Once in a job, our developers earn a good salary that helps them support their families and pay forward the opportunity to a new wave of students. They unlock exciting careers that fulfil their potential, and accelerate the development of their nation (see ‘How Onja Works’ below).

Our first cohort, ‘Wave 1’, consists of nineteen talented and committed graduates who are now working remotely for our partner companies in Europe and the US. With this immensely successful first cohort, and a proven social model, our goal is now to scale our impact: we aim to take on 360 new students over the next four years. 

Our fast-growing team is very united, committed to the mission, and hardworking, but we also maintain a relaxed and peaceful atmosphere that you'll find everywhere in Madagascar.

Onja is in Toamasina, a lively city with beautiful beaches, nice restaurants, and plenty to do and see. Toamasina is Madagascar’s second largest city (population 300,000) yet is surrounded by plenty of natural beauty, and even has a national park nearby.

About the role

Are you passionate about creating a positive change in your community? Would you like to be part of the pioneering team of a fast-growing social enterprise and experience an English-speaking, multicultural work environment? Are you proactive and like getting things done?

At Onja, we believe in the potential people have regardless of their background. We upskill underprivileged youth to work as software developers and allow Malagasy youth to accelerate Madagascar's development.

The Client Acquisition Lead will support the Enterprise Growth Manager to execute our go-to-market strategy and scale our client acquisition from current success to placing 90+ developers annually. This is a sales-focused role for a purpose driven person who thrives on building relationships, driving results, and growing business through human connections. You'll use modern sales tools and data-driven approaches to attract top technology partners primarily in Europe, the US and beyond.

The ideal candidate: You are a self starter that combines strong interpersonal skills with an entrepreneurial mindset and rapid learning ability. While we can teach you the technical aspects and industry specifics, what matters is your ambition, relationship-building focus, and determination to scale our business alongside your own professional development.  If this sounds like you, we’d love to hear from you.

We believe in hiring based on skills, attitude and cultural fit rather than specific qualifications.

Your responsibilities will include:

• Drive sales success by executing outreach campaigns by email and LinkedIn, with a focus on building genuine relationships with potential clients and partners.
• Build and maintain high quality lists of potential clients, ensuring data accuracy and continuously improving our understanding of ideal customers.
• Write compelling outreach messages and emails, constantly testing and improving performance based on what works best.
• Own the follow-up process for all leads - this means staying on top of every opportunity, engaging prospects at the right time, and guiding them through our sales process.
• Track, analyse and report on campaign performance and sales metrics to hit our targets.
• Prepare contract documents for potential clients using our standard templates (training provided).
• Support existing partner relationships by responding to queries and coordinating meetings.
• Work with our marketing team to create content and occasionally update basic marketing materials, including developer CV’s for partner outreach.
• Identify new strategies that can enhance our outreach efforts and improve upon the systems we already have in place.
• Support contract renewals and handle client requests, including coordinating gifts for developers and other relationship-building activities.
• Keep our customer database and sales systems organised for efficiency as we grow.
• Take ownership of preparing our sales process for rapid growth, showing initiative and drive to exceed targets.

Candidates can anticipate that reference checks will be conducted as part of our thorough evaluation process.


Why work with us

• Do impactful work:  Working with Onja gives you the ability to make a real tangible difference with your work, and have a deep sense of purpose in your every-day.  Our mission is to nurture talented, underprivileged youth to lead impactful careers in tech, unlock opportunities for others and accelerate Madagascar's development.
• Grow your skills fast: As a young fast-growing startup we are all in “over our head” and this is a great place to grow.  You will be challenged but you’ll also be part of a very supportive team and caring environment. Our social model is innovative with exciting potential to scale, so there is a great opportunity for you to grow your career along with us.
• Work with very talented individuals who are very socially inclined:  At Onja you’ll join a community of talented and passionate people from around Madagascar and the world. 

How Onja Works

Onja is a social enterprise with a sustainable model:

• Search for brilliant minds who would otherwise be limited to low-paid, unfulfilling careers.
• Students receive two years of English and software development instruction. Meet a developer here: https://onja.org/blog
• Graduates earn (and continue learning) at our outsourcing enterprise. 
• All profits are used to train the next wave of students and the cycle begins again

We want our recruitment process to be fair and inclusive, so please do let us know if there are any reasonable adjustments we can make. For example, if you are neurodivergent, we can accommodate and discuss modifications to our hiring process with you.