Head, Program Design & Impact (E1)

Staff whose work requires or potentially could require any in-person interaction with Save the Children colleagues, partners, or beneficiaries must be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 unless otherwise required by law. Save the Children complies with federal, state, and local laws with regard to accommodations related to this policy.

Summary

Save the Children’s U.S. Programs (USP) division is committed to ensuring that all children in rural America have a healthy, strong foundation to thrive as learners and in life. With a focus on the early years of childhood, our goals are to increase kindergarten readiness and grade-level proficiency in reading and math, as well as to improve food security and child protection. Save the Children also does whatever it takes to be there for children in crisis, helping their families and community recover from their losses and building resilience for years to come.

We are seeking a Head, Program Design & Impact (PDI) to oversee the development and continuous improvement of our child-level programs and population-level community impact initiatives. In this role, you will lead program design and community impact teams tasked with developing high-quality, research-based programs and practices that get results in rural communities and in emergencies. As a member of the division’s Senior Management Team, you will collaborate with other department heads to support program delivery, raise awareness and funding, and promote promising practices in rural America and in emergencies.

What You’ll Be Doing (Essential Duties)

Program Design and Community Impact (50%)

• Lead technical teams responsible for the development and improvement of child-level programs and services that address critical needs, ensure the safety and wellbeing of children, and consistently achieve results. Ensure long-term programs and services, including training and technical assistance, are designed for rural settings and customizable to a variety of cultures and contexts.
• Lead the technical team responsible for the development and refinement of population-level community impact approaches, ensuring sustained progress for children in the areas of kindergarten-readiness and grade-level proficiency. .
• Ensure all programs, services, and approaches are grounded in the latest research and responsive to feedback from partners, families, and children. Work with Monitoring, Evaluation, Research & Learning (“MERL”) and Program Implementation (“PI”) teams to develop and implement mechanisms for regularly soliciting input and adapting programs, services, and approaches accordingly.
• Collaborate with MERL to design logic models, M&E plans, and research and learning agendas; ensure appropriate indicators and target outcomes are established, participate in annual evaluations and long-term studies, and support the development and distribution of knowledge products.

Manage PDI Department Operations (30%)

• Lead a professional team of early childhood and elementary education, food security, child protection, psychosocial, and community impact staff working in multiple locations.
• Build a positive, equitable team culture resulting in strong employee engagement, productivity, and collaboration.
• Provide guidance and leadership support; develop the department management team’s leadership and technical capacity.
• Monitor practices, innovations, continuous improvement, and annual results to ensure programs meet or exceed quality standards.
• Increase operational efficiencies and effectiveness; optimize staff resources, systems, and processes, and actively pursue opportunities to increase reach and impact and reduce cost of delivery.
• Oversee departmental strategic planning and budget for all associated projects, initiatives, and contracted scopes of work.

Thought Leadership and Fundraising (20%)

• Serve as the department’s primary point of contact for fundraising efforts ; support the development of large-scale proposals and reports and aid in the cultivation of donor relationships through meetings, site visits, and other engagement events as needed.
• Provide technical guidance and actively support advocacy efforts to drive policy change; contribute to development of policy agendas and participate in meetings with local, state, and federal officials as needed.
• Serve as the department’s primary point of contact for marketing and communications efforts; contribute to activities that increase brand visibility and program awareness, share knowledge products and results, represent Save the Children to the press as needed, and identify other media-worthy moments that highlight our work.

Required Qualifications

• Minimum of a bachelor’s degree or equivalent experience, plus at least 15 years of program design, implementation, and/or evaluation experience
• Strong level of knowledge, skills, and experience to effectively lead a team, develop and engage others, and provide technical advice
• Excellent written and oral communication skills; clear understanding of, and ability to convey, issues related to poverty in rural communities
• Demonstrated ability to engage and influence a wide range of external stakeholders including funders, program and coalition partners, celebrities/influencers, policymakers and elected officials
• Experience developing funding proposals and reports, and managing a large and complex grant portfolio
• Demonstrated ability to communicate and collaborate effectively with individuals and teams at all levels, both internally and externally
• Demonstrated commitment to fostering and maintaining an environment of diversity, inclusion, and belonging
• Professional proficiency in spoken and written English
• Professional proficiency in MS Office suite
• Willingness and ability to travel domestically up to 20%

Preferred Qualifications

• Master’s degree or PhD in education, social sciences, or other related field
• Subject matter expertise in rural education and hunger

Compensation

Save the Children is offering the following salary ranges for this position, dependent on candidate location:

• Geo 1 - NY Metro, DC, and other locations with labor costs significantly above national average: Target Salary for this position is $188,700 – $210,900 base salary
• Geo 2 - Locations around the US National Labor Cost Average: Target Salary for this position is $171,700 – $191,900 base salary
• Geo 3 - Locations significantly below the US National Labor Cost Average: Target Salary for this position is $154,700 – $172,900 base salary

Actual base salary may vary based upon, but not limited to, relevant experience, base salary of internal peers, business sector, and geographic location. Employee may be eligible for an incentive program. Save the Children also offers paid vacation, accrued at least 12 days a year, depending on paygrade and length of service, paid safety and wellness leave of at least 1 day per month worked for a full time employee which is pro rata reduced for employees working less than a full time schedule, and at least 10 paid holidays a year. Employees may be eligible for additional bonus compensation. Save the Children also offers outstanding benefits that include health, dental, vision and life insurances, short-term and long-term disability coverage, an Employee Assistance Program, a retirement savings plan with employer contribution, family leave, paid parental/adoption leave of 60 days, commuter benefits, paid caregiver leave days, 1 paid volunteer day a year, paid critical child illness leave days, dress for your day, and much more.

Why you should join the Save the Children Team…

Save the Children US offers outstanding benefits that include health, dental, vision and life insurances, short-term and long-term disability coverage, an Employee Assistance Program, 403(b), generous vacation, personal sick leave, family leave, parental/adoption leave, commuter benefits, dress for your day, and much more.

Click here to learn more about how Save the Children US will invest in YOU!

About Save the Children

No matter your role when you join Save the Children, each and every day you will challenge yourself to devote your skills, talent and expertise to changing the world for kids. It’s an ambitious goal, and a meaningful one no matter how you see yourself professionally: an accountant, a writer, a data analyst, a teacher, a driver, a designer, or any one of the hundreds of dozens of roles we’re looking to fill every day.

You see, Save the Children believes every child deserves a future. In the United States and around the world, we give children a healthy start in life, the opportunity to learn and protection from harm. We do whatever it takes for children – every day and in times of crisis – transforming their lives and the future we share.

Our work for children and their families requires that we commit—at every opportunity—to work together to identify and dismantle persistent systemic and structural racism, inequality, and any other forms of discrimination in this country and beyond. As an anti-racist organization, Save the Children will not tolerate discrimination in any form—in our employment practices, amongst our staff, in our leadership or toward the people we serve. We stand in solidarity with all people to fight for equal rights, justice, inclusion, and belonging.

We provide equal employment opportunities (EEO) to all employees and qualified applicants for employment without regard to race, color, religion, gender, gender identity or expression, ancestry, sexual orientation, national origin, age, handicap, disability, marital status, or status as a veteran. Save the Children complies with all applicable laws.

Save the Children is committed to conducting its programs and operations in a manner that is safe for the children it serves and helping protect the children with whom we are in contact. All Save the Children representatives are explicitly prohibited from engaging in any activity that may result in any kind of child abuse. In addition, it is Save the Children’s policy to create and proactively maintain an environment that aims to prevent and deter any actions and omissions, whether deliberate or inadvertent, that place children at the risk of any kind of child abuse. All our representatives are expected to conduct themselves in a manner consistent with this commitment and obligation.

Save the Children is committed to minimizing safety and security risks for our valued employees, ensuring all are given training, support and information to reduce their risk exposure while maximizing the impact of our programs for children and families. Our shared duty, both agency and individual, is to seek and maintain safe working conditions for all.