Senior Manager, Humanitarian

Location: Remote. 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

GiveDirectly is scaling its emergency response operations to reach more people, faster, with cash in the wake of crises. As a Senior Manager on the Humanitarian team, you will play a key role in launching and overseeing rapid cash responses globally. You’ll drive organizational readiness, design response strategies, manage program implementation, and support fundraising by translating field insights into compelling cases for support. The Senior Manager’s portfolio will be staffed with a Program Manager, to be managed by the Senior Manager. Other responsibilities will include support to staffing and budgeting exercise, and managing internal and external relationships. 

Senior Managers should be able to:

• Understand and clearly communicate about the market/landscape and GiveDirectly’s value proposition in their domain and across domains 
• Build and motivate teams and advocate for resources to sustain them (through proposals, budgets, workplans)
• Oversee excellence in design and implementation, with a constant drive to improve, iterate, and learn

Reports to: Humanitarian Director

Level: Senior Manager

Travel Requirement: Must be able to travel up to 30-40% of the time including ~1-2 times per year for team retreats. Must be able to deploy on short notice in response to an emergency. Note that this role incurs travel to potentially insecure areas.

What you’ll do:

Design and implement high-quality programming:

• Oversee end-to-end design, planning, and execution of improvements to emergency response capabilities, coordinating internal and external stakeholders to ensure successful delivery
• Refine and scale deployment criteria and operational playbooks to accelerate readiness across a growing number of countries
• Conduct operational diligence, feasibility, and risk assessments for individual disaster responses, ensuring alignment with organizational goals and context realities
• Define, track, and report on operational efficiency and impact metrics to support performance management and continuous improvement
• Ensure high-quality management of partners, vendors, and subgrantees to drive excellence in program execution
• Assess and advocate for required resources (e.g., budgets, staff) for project success; monitor ongoing utilization and adapt plans to address gaps or overages

Pursue new funding opportunities and represent the GD Humanitarian team, internally and externally:

• In coordination with the Humanitarian Director, Country Directors, and Fundraising teams, identify and pursue response-specific and unrestricted emergency funding opportunities
• Translate field learnings and operational successes into compelling donor proposals, updates, and campaign materials
• Establish and maintain high quality relationships with designated donors and operational partners
• Represent GiveDirectly at external and internal fora, including but not limited to Town Halls, conferences, and media engagements

Manage and develop high-performing teams:

• Manage a Program Manager and support broader surge staffing efforts to ensure GD can respond effectively to Tier 1 disasters
• Support team goal-setting, impact planning, and performance tracking across emergency responses
• Foster talent development through coaching, career planning, and clear accountability, with a focus on building long-term capacity within the team

Qualifications 

• Alignment with GiveDirectly Values: exceptional alignment with values and an active demonstration of our core competencies: emotional intelligence, problem solving, project management, follow-through, and fostering inclusivity. 
• 4-7+ years of experience in a role focused on problem solving, team management, and/or new business development. Prior humanitarian/emergency experience strongly preferred.
• Analytical problem solving: looks at problems with an analytical and iterative mindset, with strong framework for prioritization and ability to put structure and process to ambiguous problems.
• Strong project management skills and the ability to manage multiple workstreams, prioritize/explicitly deprioritize, and hold a high quality bar.
• Strong technical skills, including data analysis and ease with learning new third-party tech platforms and tools.
• Fundraising: Preference for candidates with a strong partnership and relationship management background.
• Strong communications skills: Skilled in speaking, writing, presenting, and negotiating across multiple stakeholders.
• Enthusiasm for fast-paced environments, which may lack pre-defined playbook for success and involve significant “learning by doing.” Comfort with ambiguity and building systems from scratch.

Nice to have:

• Fluent in a language other than English, especially French, Portuguese, Arabic, or other languages.

Compensation

At GiveDirectly, we strive to pay our employees generously and equitably. We use an accredited third party salary aggregator to ensure that staff’s total compensation package (base compensation + bonus)  falls within the 75th percentile of similar roles, at similar organizations. We also have a no negotiation policy to ensure we are paying staff equitably across roles. Read more about our compensation philosophy here.

• The United States base salary for this role is $109,200.
• The Kenya base salary for this role is $77,500.

If you are not based in the US or Kenya, we will share an estimated salary benchmark for the country you are based in during the hiring process.

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, including bonus
• A robust health benefits plan (exact details will vary by country)
• Flexible paid time off
• Allowances for desk set-up and learning and development

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