Senior Director, Program Innovation and Design

Job Title: Senior Director, Program Innovation and Design

Work Location: Flexible, Kenya, Uganda, and Rwanda

Reports to: Chief Program Officer

About the Company

Our client is a nonprofit organization dedicated to ending extreme poverty in rural Africa through entrepreneurship and innovation.

Job Summary

The Program Innovation and Design Director will lead the Innovation Lab. Taking Industry knowledge, trends, and evidence to build a robust poverty graduation product that meets the needs and empowers the enterprise entrepreneurs to respond to the increasing global crisis.

Roles and Responsibilities

Product Design 40%

●     Set a holistic innovation strategy for assigned products in collaboration with Technical Assistants, Country Directors, MEL, and field teams, identifying new growth areas and championing current products to completion.

●   Drive technical delivery on Graduation products with a sense of urgency and knowledge of the industry to enable timely product design and rollout using Human-centered design, Lean Impact, and other relevant processes for testing new products.

●        Build external partnerships with academia, program labs, and industry to accelerate new material and process developments to scale products

●        Drive program adaptations to meet the needs of specific projects in different countries and contexts.

Deliver Program Results: Outputs and Outcomes Achieved (30%)

●        Lead the product and service team and design quarterly objectives and key results to track progress.

●        Oversee the design and implementation of activities which develop the capabilities and increase performance towards achieving outputs and outcomes of the Poverty Graduation model

●        Collaborate with Technical Assistants and Country Directors to capacity build staff to deliver on quality programming that allows entrepreneurs to thrive.

Business Owner Success and Satisfaction (10%)

●        Ensure the enterprise is building sustainable relationships with our business owners based on trust through open and interactive communication.

●        Lead organization in identifying and assessing business owner needs ensuring that program activities provide value.

●        Ensure participants can engage with activities and staff in a safe and healthy environment that aligns with safeguarding standards.

Support Global, Regional, and Local Development of the Program (20%)

●        Work with Technical Assistants to support the development of partnerships and proposals on technical areas.

●        Nature and build relationships with like-minded organizations that foster shared learning, and collaboration and drive policy work for the global discussion on Graduation.

●        Collaborate with the MEL on building evidence and being a thought leader in the space.

Academic and Professional Qualifications

●        A Master’s degree in design thinking, program development, or a related field is required.

Knowledge and Experience

●        7+ years of experience in new product development and innovation in the development space.

●        At least 3 years leading diverse teams of technical staff and attracting, recruiting, and retaining talent.

●        At least 3 years using Human-centered design, Lean Impact, and other design tools to develop viable products that solve the world's toughest challenges.

●        Experience collaborating with cross–functional and external partners to help set the innovation strategy and work.

●        Proven record of accomplishment and passion for developing products for the bottom of the pyramid.

●        Passionate communicator that inspires others, conveying clarity on programs to teammates and stakeholders alike.

Functional Skills

●        Understanding of Business Operations

●        Good quantification and analytical skills

●        Planning and organization

●        Performance Oriented

●        Good written and oral communication skills, effective communication,

●        Presentation skills and Interpersonal skills

How to Apply

Interested candidates are encouraged to apply through the following link:

https://bit.ly/seniordirectorprogram