Country Director at GiveDirectly

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.

Role Overview:

You will be responsible for managing all aspects of the GiveDirectly Nigeria country office. Your role will involve building the processes, team, and partnerships that both enable the achievement of short-term goals (i.e. funding targets, annual KPIs) and create the conditions for long-term growth. You will be able to draw on resources from the partnerships, data & tech, finance and operations verticals, but will ultimately be accountable to both recipients and donors for delivering a gold-standard product. We are particularly interested in candidates with demonstrated success driving growth of programs, as measured by dollars raised.. This will be an important part of performance evaluation for this role. 

This role is being offered as a 12-month contract with extension based on performance against key metrics. 

Responsibilities:

Fundraising and Partnership Development

• Own revenue targets: drive fundraising opportunities, build and manage high quality relationships with donors 
• Develop and leverage an in-country network of funders and partners
• Identify strategic partnership opportunities and build a robust pipeline of projects to enable growth
• Design ambitious work-plans and accompanying budgets

Program Management

• Ensure operational excellence across all programs
• Backstop, manage, and guide an operations team in overcoming challenges, staying on schedule, and delivering quality results
• Be accountable for annual KPIs associated with recipients paid, recipient experience, and operational efficiency

Internal Audit

• Collaborate and coordinate with GiveDirectly’s Recipient Advocacy team to prevent misconduct, including designing appropriate controls
• If necessary, provide leadership and oversight of investigations of alleged misconduct, ensuring best in class safeguarding and zero tolerance of fraud

Relationship Management

• Work with national and local government officials to secure permissions for maintenance and expansion of programs
• Communicate about GD to donors, media, and other partners

Team Management

• Motivate and coach a team, including direct management of the country management team
• Build capacity of managers at all levels by ensuring that they have clearly defined metrics for success and regular feedback on progress
• Promulgate practices and norms that animate GD’s core values
• Take reasonable steps to ensure the safety and security of the GD team
• Identify key areas in need of hiring / redundancy planning and buffering to reduce the impact of unanticipated operational roadblocks

Strategic Planning

• Lead strategic planning for GiveDirectly in Nigeria
• Set and manage towards country goals, that create a roadmap for our success in Nigeria

Required Skills and Experiences

• 8+ years of relevant experience – e.g. in program management, consulting, entrepreneurship, social entrepreneurship, partnership development, or country office management – with a track record of demonstrated excellence and increasing responsibility 
• Enthusiasm for fast-paced, innovative environments lacking pre-defined playbooks
• Experience in partnerships and business development. 
• Team management experience, including hiring and building teams
• Strong relationship management abilities
• Exceptional communications skills: written and verbal, including with senior audiences
• Strong organizational and/or project management skills
• A high degree of autonomy and resilience
• Problem solver: you look at problems with an analytical and iterative mindset, with a strong framework for prioritization. You can run robust analyses to inform management and programming decisions
• Experience working in Nigeria
• Fluent in English; fluency in another principal language of Nigeria preferred
• Alignment with GiveDirectly Values, including the ambition to pursue industry-changing success
• Active demonstration of our core competencies: emotional intelligence, problem-solving, project management, follow-through, and fostering inclusivity.

Desired Skills and Experiences

• Experience working in disaster and conflict

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
• A monthly benefits allowance that covers Health, Dental, and Vision monthly premiums
• Unlimited PTO (that we encourage staff to take!)
• Desk allowance and flexible work location

Read more about our ongoing diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts here and about our decision to move our central support teams to remote first here.

About the hiring process

Format: The hiring process follows the same general outline for all open roles:

First interview (30 mins)
Take home skills assignment (~2 hours)
Second interview (1 hour)*
Third interview (1 hour)*
Final interview (1 hour)
Reference checks (30 mins each)

*For some roles, second & third interviews are combined into a panel interview. If there are adjustments or variations on this process, those changes will be communicated during the first interview.

Venue: We conduct interviews over Google Meet with camera on (unless communicated otherwise).

Accessibility: Closed captioning is available during all Google Meet interviews, and interviewers will also post interview questions in the chat box throughout the call. If you need assistance accessing either of these features, please let your interviewer know at the start of your interview! 

We’re committed to running an inclusive and accessible application process for all of our open roles. If there are questions or concerns you have about the accessibility of our hiring process, we warmly invite you to reach out to [email protected]. 

**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.**

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