Country Director, Uganda

GiveDirectly has delivered more than $1B in cash directly to 2+ million people living in poverty across 15 countries since 2011. We believe cash transfers are one of the most scalable, cost-effective, and dignified forms of aid, with the research to back it up. Our work has been covered by The Economist, NPR, TED, and The Washington Post. We are one of Time100’s Most Influential Companies of 2026. 

Our culture is candid, analytical, and non-hierarchical. We support high ownership and real professional growth. Curious about what it's really like to work here? Read our values and hear from the people who do. If they resonate, this could be a great fit!

Location: This role must be based in Kampala.

About GiveDirectly Uganda

Since 2013, we've delivered over $94M directly to more than 120,000 people across more than 16 districts in Uganda, including long-term self-reliance programs for refugees, poverty relief projects in Karamoja and other districts, and anticipatory cash ahead of climate-related disasters.

We've proven the model. Now we're ready to go much bigger. Over the next few years, our ambition for Uganda is to dramatically scale transfer volume—reaching thousands more recipients—while building the efficiency to do it sustainably. This isn't incremental growth. It's a step-change in what's possible, and we're hiring the person who will lead it. This person will also lead a talented team deeply committed to the communities they work in and to helping more households move out of poverty.

The role

The Country Director is the most senior GiveDirectly presence in Uganda, with full accountability for the country office: programs, operations, external relations, team, and strategy.

Most of the job is delivery. You own whether transfers go out on time, at target cost, and at GD's quality bar, and whether that holds as volume grows. The rest of the job exists to protect and extend that: controls that keep money and recipients safe as the operation gets bigger, a team that can execute, partnerships that lower our cost or widen our reach, and a strategy that concentrates effort on what actually moves impact.

What you'll own

Program management

Accountable for GD Uganda's programs running on time, at target efficiency, and at GD's quality standards:

• Own the delivery plan: Drive operational excellence across all Uganda programs through a comprehensive project management plan.
• Own the KPIs: Throughput, cost per recipient, payment success/error rates, recipient experience, and enrollment-to-payment cycle time.
• Fix problems at the root: Diagnose delivery issues structurally—redesign processes, staffing models, or systems rather than managing by escalation.
• Be a thought partner: Provide analytical support to help the team clear execution bottlenecks.
• Build for scale: Design the operation needed for the next order of magnitude, not just the one that exists today.
• Steward the budget: Manage country spend to maximize the ratio of donor funds converted into transfers.
• Manage risk: Identify, evaluate, and mitigate strategic and operational risks across programs.

Risk, safeguarding, and integrity

Delivering cash creates real risk, and it scales with volume. Every new district, partner, and payment channel is a new surface for fraud, exclusion error, and harm to recipients. We expect the Country Director to own that exposure personally, not to delegate it to a committee.

• Own fraud and safeguarding outcomes for the country office: design the prevention controls, monitor the leading indicators, and act on what they tell you before problems compound.
• Set a culture where staff and recipients report concerns and trust that something happens when they do, including accessible recipient feedback and grievance channels.
• Chair the country's internal audit, safeguarding, and program coordination forums, and partner closely with GD's global internal audit, compliance, finance, and safeguarding teams.
• Provide leadership and oversight of investigations into alleged misconduct, and handle disciplinary outcomes with zero tolerance for fraud or safeguarding violations.
• Ensure country compliance with global standards, and translate global policy into protocols that make sense in the Ugandan context.

Team management

• Lead a large team across programs, field operations, finance, HR, procurement, internal audit, and safeguarding, directly managing the country management team.
• Build managers who can run their own functions: clear expectations, real feedback, visible growth paths.
• Lead workforce planning and succession, keeping the team lean as the operation grows.
• Set the tone on GD's values.

Partnerships and government relations

• Own GD's relationship with the Government of Uganda, line ministries, district authorities, and the government-led social protection and relief programs we coordinate with.
• Secure and maintain the government permissions that programs depend on at the national and district levels.
• Build and deepen the commercial and delivery partnerships that improve impact per dollar: mobile network operators and payment providers, data and identity systems, and implementing or referral partners who extend our reach.
• Represent GiveDirectly publicly in Uganda, to government, media, and the sector.
• Steward existing donor relationships and host funder and partner visits to the field, working with GD's global fundraising team, which leads donor sourcing and proposal development.
• Shape ambitious program designs and budgets that global fundraising can take to funders.

Strategic planning

• Lead vision-setting and strategic planning for the Uganda country office.
• Set country operational and revenue goals and create a roadmap for success.
• Make and defend hard deprioritization calls.
• Bring Uganda's perspective into GD's global strategy, policy, and cross-country planning.

What you'll bring

We're looking for an experienced operator who has led complex delivery at scale, knows the operation through its numbers, and has built the systems, teams, and controls it takes to grow. The core of what we're looking for:

• 5–10 years of experience in a similar role or function.
• People management experience (experience hiring and building a team preferred).
• Strong relationship management, including hands-on experience engaging government at national or district level, not necessarily as the principal.
• Exceptional communication skills: speaking, writing, presenting, and negotiating, especially with senior audiences and funders.
• Outstanding project management skills.
• Analytical problem solver: you approach problems with an analytical, iterative mindset and a strong prioritization framework. You can run robust analyses to inform management and programming decisions.
• Enthusiasm for fast-paced environments, which may lack a predefined playbook for success and involve significant “learning by doing.”
• Experience in partnerships and business development.
• Strong alignment with GD values.

Strongly desired

• Experience working in Sub-Saharan Africa and fluency in the operating context.

Compensation

At GiveDirectly, we strive to pay our employees generously and equitably. We use an accredited third party salary aggregator to calculate what we believe to be competitive pay based on role, location, and cost of living. We also have a no negotiation policy to ensure we are paying staff equitably across roles. Read more about our compensation philosophy here.

Unless otherwise noted, the benefits stipend may be used to cover benefits or taken as additional taxable income.

• Base Salary: $134,400
• Bonus at Target Performance: 15% (~$20,160, with potential for upside. For reference, with the organization's current performance multiplier, this amount would be $23,587.20 in 2025.)
• Estimated Total Compensation at Target: $154,560+
• Annual Benefits Stipend: $8,453

Working at GiveDirectly

GiveDirectly is an Equal Opportunity Employer. All qualified applicants are considered for employment without regard to the person’s race, color, religion, national origin, sex, sexual orientation, age, marital status, veteran status, disability, or any other characteristic protected by applicable law.

Flagging for US applicants: We invite you to "Know Your Rights" as an applicant.

Commitment to Safeguarding

As a global organization working with communities to eliminate extreme poverty, GiveDirectly takes the safeguarding of its recipients, staff, and partners seriously. To that end, GiveDirectly is a member of the Misconduct Disclosure Scheme, and will systematically check with previous employers about any abuse or misconduct related matters involving potential new hires. We may also employ other robust pre-hire screens, including in-depth reference checks, criminal background checks, and sanctions screens.

These efforts help us continue to build and maintain trust with the communities we work with, and prevent abuse to our recipients and staff.

**GD is committed to observing all local, national and international laws that protect people and basic human rights of all. GD is committed to a policy of “zero tolerance when it comes to preventing,  reporting, or responding to any form of abuse or  exploitation.” and expects anyone who works for GD to uphold the protection and safeguarding of our recipients as a priority.**

Reasonable Accommodations

We are committed to fostering an inclusive and accessible work environment. If you require any accommodations during the application or interview process, or to perform the essential functions of the role, please email us at careers@givedirectly.org with the email subject “Accommodation Needed”. We will work with you to ensure reasonable accommodations are made to support your needs.

Want to put your best foot forward on your GiveDirectly application? Take a look at our Candidate Application Prep Guide!

Referrals

Know the right person for this role? Please consider referring them. We offer a reward of $3,000 for a Senior Manager or above role, and $500 for a Manager role, paid if we end up hiring your referral. Thank you for sending great people our way!