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Senior Manager, Programs (Fixed Term Contract)

Nairobi, Kenya

About GiveDirectly

GiveDirectly (GD) aims to reshape international giving – and millions of lives – by providing cash grants directly to the world’s poorest. The Brookings Institution estimates that $70B of cash transfers would be required to eliminate the poverty gap; the aid sector currently spends $135B each year, much of it on evidence-free interventions. GiveDirectly wants to change that, establishing cash transfers as a benchmark for foreign aid – as the index fund is a benchmark for the financial industry – and in the process accelerating the end of extreme poverty.

GD has raised over $1B since launching in 2011, delivered cash to more than 1.5 million people in 15 different countries. We’ve also supported large-scale, experimental research that indicates strong recipient impact of our programs. As a result, GD has been celebrated as one of the most innovative non-profit companies by Fast Company, while the growing cash transfer movement (and GD’s leading role within it) have been featured in the New York Times Magazine, This American Life, Foreign Affairs, and The Economist.

Our culture is candid, analytical, agile, and non-hierarchical. Our global team of ~150, and country operations teams of ~650, together come from 21 different countries speaking 69 different languages. From software engineers to seasoned humanitarian workers, former management consultants to public servants, researchers to field operations -- it’s an incredible group of people.

Our values are central and deliberately opinionated. We genuinely center the people we serve in our decision making, and strive to build an ambitious, dynamic and high performing environment. We strongly encourage you to read through our values carefully, if they reflect how you like to work and energize you, this could be a great fit.

We work hard to create an environment in which all our team members can thrive, succeed and grow.  We support flexibility, take care of each other, have fun, and create professional growth opportunities.

Priority application deadline: Shortlisting will be on a rolling basis.

Role Overview

GiveDirectly is seeking a Senior Manager, Programs to develop opportunities for new business, build partnerships, and design, launch, and manage new programs. The ideal candidate will in addition combine humanitarian analysis experience with strong product management skills to drive continuous discovery to define our products for targeting, run rapid experiments, validate assumptions, and scale solutions across various contexts including in crisis events.

Reports to: Country Director - Kenya

What You’ll Do

End to End Project Management

  • Own a rich project management plan and coordinate with stakeholders to ensure successful end-to-end execution
  • Design operational models for new programs, including assessing trade-offs of different design decisions (e.g. targeting, payments, customer service)
  • Define, track, and report operational and efficiency metrics 
  • Dynamically identify operational vulnerabilities (e.g. fraud, brand risk etc) and create solutions to de-risk
  • Directly supervise multi-layered teams whose responsibilities include field team hiring and management, operations quality assurance, and business diligence support
  • Document learnings and build playbooks to scale best practices 
  • Continuously evaluate and improve targeting approaches for speed, accuracy, and inclusivity, while maintaining humanitarian principles

Business Development

  • Ideate, evaluate, and drive new program opportunities, driving end-to-end deal cycle from pitching to launch
  • Scope new markets, including operational diligence, feasibility, and risk assessments for pilots and inbound proposal
  • Identify and pursue fundraising opportunities for new programs
  • Collaborate with partnerships team to create content to drive donor conversations and position GiveDirectly as a leader in the global cash space

Project and People Management

  • Lead cross-functional project teams, managing internal stakeholders and ensuring strong delivery of projects. 
  • Directly manage one or more Managers to deliver high-quality operations and programming 
  • Create a strong team culture rooted in GiveDirectly’s values. Cultivate and grow exceptional talent.
  • Have an understanding of Anticipatory Action (AA) and ideally have experience with AA or Climate resilience projects.
  • Establish and maintain high-quality relationships with donors and operational partners
  • Drive communication and alignment across a variety of internal and external stakeholders including GiveDirectly senior management, donors, operational partners, researchers, and payment providers

Support GiveDirectly’s collaboration with telecoms, using mobile phone data for targeting

  • Become fluent with CIDER – the open-source Machine Learning tool for using phone metadata for location and socioeconomic status prediction to support program targeting
  • Develop the strategy (technical, operational, governance) and project plan for engaging with  telecom(s) and other relevant partners (e.g. data collection partner) to implement CIDER to support program targeting  
  • Work with Data Scientists and external advisors to determine what technical and assurance mechanisms we need to put in place as part of our collaboration with telecoms, to ensure model quality and trustworthiness

Government Engagement Support

  • Develop familiarity with the Kenya social registry and targeting mechanisms   
  • Contribute to the strategy for how GD should position its work with mobile-based targeting to complement the government’s social registry and cash delivery objectives 
  • Join relevant meetings with the government technical staff to achieve the above

What You’ll Bring

  • Exceptional alignment with GiveDirectly Values and active demonstration of our core competencies: emotional intelligence, problem solving, project management, follow-through, and fostering inclusivity.
  • 4-7+ years of work experience in a problem-solving heavy role (including but not limited to: field management, consulting, analytics)
  • Ability to become fluent with data privacy and protection principles, particularly in relation to the use of telecommunications and geolocation data in humanitarian settings.
  • Experience working with or for mobile network operators
  • Ability to get quickly up to speed with methods to measure consumption/socioeconomic status, such as Proxy-means tests
  • Exceptional ability to work analytically through complex operational questions & run robust analyses to inform management and programming decisions
  • Strong communications skills, including speaking, writing, presenting, and negotiating across diverse audiences
  • Enthusiasm for dynamic environments where work can change quickly
  • Ability to approach tasks with resourcefulness and to work in a highly self-directed manner
  • Ability to manage day-to-day operations while simultaneously building more robust, efficient systems for the long term
  • Deep ownership mindset (i.e. the default assumption that when you identify a problem, you’re likely going to be the one to solve it!) 
  • Willingness to travel and work from differing working locations, some of which will be remote
  • Passion for the role cash transfers can play in giving recipients choice & driving impact at scale 
  • Excellent representational and communication skills, written and oral proficiency in English

Compensation

At GiveDirectly, we strive to pay our employees generously and equitably. We use an accredited third party salary aggregator to ensure that staff’s total compensation package (base compensation + bonus)  falls within the 75th percentile of similar roles, at similar organizations. We also have a no negotiation policy to ensure we are paying staff equitably across roles. Read more about our compensation philosophy here.

  • This role is based in Kenya and the base salary is $77,500.

Why work at GiveDirectly?

At GiveDirectly, we work to ensure that you have everything you need to excel in your role and on your team, including:

  • A positive and supportive team with opportunities for advancement 
  • A demonstrated commitment to helping all staff develop and grow
  • A competitive salary, including bonus
  • A robust health benefits plan (exact details will vary by country)
  • Flexible paid time off
  • Allowances for desk set-up and learning and development

 

 

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 serving some of the world’s most vulnerable communities, 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 sexual exploitation, abuse, and harassment issues relating to potential new hires. We may also employ other robust pre-hire screens, including in-depth reference checks, criminal background checks, and sanctions screens.

GD is committed to observing all local, national and international laws that protect children, vulnerable adults, and basic human rights of all. GD is committed to a policy of “zero tolerance for sexual exploitation, abuse, and harassment (SEAH)” and expects anyone who works for GD to uphold the protection and safeguarding of our recipients as a priority.

These efforts help us continue to build and maintain trust with the communities we serve, and prevent harm to our recipients.

 

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

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