Senior Manager, Product

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 and delivered cash to more than 2 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, span 21 different countries and 69 languages. From software engineers to seasoned humanitarian workers, 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 high ownership, flexibility, take care of each other, have fun, and create professional growth opportunities.

Location: This role is fully remote but must overlap with an East Africa timezone by at least 3 hours. We are unable to sponsor or take over sponsorship of employment Visas in the U.S. or U.K. at this time.

About this role

The Senior Manager, Product will own GiveDirectly’s Cash + Coaching initiative — a high-priority effort to identify, build, and scale the most cost-effective coaching elements that meaningfully enhance the impact of large cash transfers already reaching hundreds of thousands.They are an expert on graduation programs and strategies, and have the product skills to package this into scalable & digital formats. 

Graduation-style programs that pair cash with coaching have demonstrated strong impacts, but are often expensive, high-touch, and difficult to scale. We aim to build lean, digitally enabled, recipient-centered coaching interventions that can be layered onto large transfers at low marginal cost and deployed across countries.

This role is fundamentally entrepreneurial. You will:

• Lead deep collaborations with specific country Programs teams to design and pilot coaching models in real operational contexts
• Partner extensively with external organizations (e.g., graduation NGOs, edutainment firms, chatbot developers, researchers) to adapt and integrate best-in-class content
• Manage vendors and co-development partnerships from concept through rollout
• Translate behavioral science and coaching theory and evidence into practical, scalable delivery systems
• Test and iterate quickly within large-scale cash programs, generating high-quality evidence at speed 

This is an opportunity to take the strongest elements of graduation — and reimagine them in a fast-moving, digitally enabled, autonomy-first model with the goal of reaching millions.

 

Reports to: Senior Director, Product 

Level: Senior Manager

Travel Requirement: Must be able to travel ~1-2 times per quarter to one of our countries of operation in Africa for field visits and collaboration 

What you’ll do:

1) Strategy & Product Vision: Defining the Cash + Coaching Model

• Own the vision and roadmap for Cash + Coaching across content, channel, and dosage
• Distill insights from graduation, behavioral science, and digital coaching theory and research into a clear, scalable product strategy
• Define a modular “menu” of coaching components (e.g., soft skills, transfer planning, digital literacy, market linkages, savings tools) and how they layer onto large transfers
• Make principled tradeoffs between intensity and scalability — identifying what truly drives impact versus what adds cost or complexity
  
  

2) Building & Scaling User-Facing Coaching Products

• Lead development of digitally enabled coaching tools, including:
• AI or rules-based chatbots (e.g., WhatsApp-based planning and follow-through tools)
• Video-based “wise intervention” and edutainment content
• Tablet-based or volunteer-enabled digital curricula
• Develop repeatable, evidence based protocols and curriculum for light-touch in-person touch points, including 
• Training sessions to use digital products 
• Scripts and labelling at community meetings
• Market linkage interventions 
• Analogue versions of digital products for users who cannot access them 
• Translate product concepts into clear technical specifications in partnership with our internal Tech team and external vendors
• Ensure tools are designed for low-literacy, low-connectivity environments
• Sequence releases thoughtfully, balancing speed with quality
  
  

3) Partnerships, Vendor Management & Country Pilots

• Build and manage strategic partnerships with graduation implementers, academic partners, tech and edutainment vendors 
• Evaluate when to build in-house vs. adapt or license external content 
• Lead deep-dive collaborations with country Programs teams (e.g., Rwanda, Mozambique, Malawi) to pilot and refine interventions
• Manage budgets, scopes of work, contracts, and performance of external vendors and collaborators
• Navigate tradeoffs between open collaboration and long-term scalability
  
  

4) Learning & External Positioning

• In collaboration with the research team and academic collaborators, ensure the success oversee rapid pilots and structured experiments of the coaching components you have created 
• Contribute to donor-facing strategy and sector positioning around scalable “graduation-lite” models

• Represent GiveDirectly in sector conversations on digital coaching, graduation, and cost-effective poverty reductions

 

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. We welcome and strongly encourage applications from candidates who have personal or professional experience in the low-income and/or historically marginalized communities that we serve.
• Language Requirement: English, French preferred 
• 8-10+ years of experience designing or leading graduation, economic inclusion, or cash-plus programs
• Direct experience building or scaling digital coaching products (e.g., chatbot, app-based curriculum, edutainment platform, digital financial literacy tools)
• Deep familiarity with the graduation evidence base and coaching methodologies
• Strong project management skills, with demonstrated ability to juggle multiple internal teams, country programs, and external vendors simultaneously
• Experience translating behavioral or training concepts into scalable operational systems
• Excellent written communication and strategic thinking skills
• Preferred
• Experience co-developing products with governments or multilateral partners
• Familiarity with AI-enabled tools, WhatsApp-based delivery, IVR, or digital learning platforms
• Experience working in fast-paced, iterative environments

 

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.

United States

• Base Salary: $115,500
• Bonus at Target Performance: $11,500 with potential for upside. For reference, with the organization’s current performance multiplier, this amount was $13,455 in 2025)
• Estimated Total Compensation at Target: $126,500+
• Annual Benefits Stipend for US: $21,393

This role is fully remote, so if you are not based in the US, we will share an estimated salary benchmark for the country you are based in during the hiring process. 

 #LI-REMOTE

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!