This job posting is for the role of Senior Director, Program Innovation and Design. The work location for this position is flexible and includes Kenya, Uganda, and Rwanda. The Senior Director will report to the Chief Program Officer of a nonprofit organization dedicated to ending extreme poverty in rural Africa through entrepreneurship and innovation.
The Program Innovation and Design Director will lead the Innovation Lab. The Director will use 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.
The Director will be responsible for several key areas, including product design, delivering program results, business owner success and satisfaction, and supporting global, regional, and local development of the program. The Director will need to work collaboratively with Technical Assistants, Country Directors, MEL, and field teams. The Director will use human-centered design, lean impact, and other relevant processes to test new products and accelerate new material and process developments.
The Director will lead the product and service team and design quarterly objectives and key results to track progress. The Director will oversee the design and implementation of activities that develop the capabilities and increase performance towards achieving outputs and outcomes of the Poverty Graduation model. The Director will also ensure that the enterprise is building sustainable relationships with business owners based on trust through open and interactive communication.
The ideal candidate for this position should have a master's degree in design thinking, program development, or a related field. The candidate should have 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. The candidate should also have a proven record of accomplishment and passion for developing products for the bottom of the pyramid.
The candidate should have functional skills such as 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.
Interested candidates can apply for the position using the link provided in the job posting.