Strengthen Country Operations

• Oversee financial management across country offices, both directly and via setting up the right mechanisms for CDs to better manage their country operating budgets ($150M+ per year across all country offices).
• Ensure country offices are well-structured, compliant and able to deliver impact at scale, in partnership with CDs
• Provide operational support to CDs across financial management, people/HR, compliance, procurement, administration, IT, security.
• Lead new country and project office setups, and responsible wind-downs.
• Facilitate evolution of country office organigrams and talent management systems to strengthen leadership and long-term sustainability.

Ensure Global Standards & Compliance

• Partner with GSS departments and CDs to embed global standards, systems and policies in country operations and adapt them for local context.
• Coordinate with Legal & Compliance to keep country registrations and statutory requirements  up to date; support sourcing of legal counsel when needed.
• Develop and implement a compliance certification process for country offices, that clarifies  CD’s accountabilities and provides assurance, through periodic verification, that county offices are meeting core operational and compliance standards.
• Run periodic spot checks to identify risks early and support CDs in addressing them.

Coordinate with Global Shared Services (GSS)

• Serve as primary contact for GSS functions (People, Compliance, Procurement, Corporate Audit, Security, IT, Risk).
• Define and refine responsibilities and R&R between GSS and country offices.
• Facilitate cross-office information flow and best-practice sharing.

Lead Risk & Crisis Management

• Oversee risk monitoring and mitigation across countries. Manage and maintain cross country risk dashboard
• Partner with GSS on ensuring CDs are monitoring and managing country-specific risks and maintaining a global risk register
• Backstop, lead, or participate in crisis management
• Facilitate a culture of proactive risk management across all country offices

Other Responsibilities

• Join and represent Programs in regular GSS/country office coordination meetings.
• Lead or contribute to org-wide initiatives to advance and evolve country office management.
• Take on special initiatives and projects as assigned
• Any other responsibilities as required

Example Deliverables

• Design and implement an operational quality/compliance checklist across all country offices, via which CDs understand and certify country standards on an annual basis
• New offices go live and old offices are sunsetted smoothly, compliantly, and within target timelines
• Drive measurable improvements in country back office processes – in terms of speed, cost, and/or senior headspace required for run rate tasks
• Synthesize and streamline our model for replicating and scaling operations at 85% budget efficiency (or higher) in key country contexts

What you’ll bring:

• Deep experience managing and maturing country offices, particularly in Sub-Saharan Africa
• Comfort in a fast paced and changing environment that lacks predefined playbooks and requires “figuring things out” where needed
• Adept at financial and budget management. Bonus points for knowledge about financial modeling
• Strong risk management experience, including crisis management
• Expertise in HR, compliance, procurement, corporate audit, risk, IT, and country registration processes
• Strong cross-cultural communication, stakeholder management, and comfort with matrixed organizations
• Proven ability to create clarity and structure within evolving systems that can work in diverse contexts
• Demonstrated ability to make data-driven decisions
• Highly analytical and able to grip the details of country office management for ongoing rigorous systems building and cross country oversight.
• Ability to get things done with limited resources and implement scalable solutions
• Experience and aptitude leveraging new technologies and AI to advance organizational and country office effectiveness. Comfort taking an agile and iterative approach
• Familiarity with INGO standards, donor compliance, and internal controls
• 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. Additional Language Preferences: French, Portuguese, or Swahili