Type: Full-Time (37.5-40 hours/week)

Salary: Salaries will be benchmarked to the country in which the successful candidate is located. Please see this document for more information on current Program Director salary bands across CPI.

Reports to: CPI’s executive director with co-reporting to the regional director in the geography where the candidate is located

About the Centre for Public Impact (CPI)

At the Centre for Public Impact (CPI), we believe in the potential of government to bring about better outcomes for people. Yet, we have found that the systems, structures, and processes of government today are often not set up to respond to the complex challenges we face as a society. That’s why we have an emerging vision to reimagine government so that it works for everyone.  A global not-for-profit organization founded by the Boston Consulting Group, we act as a learning partner for governments, public servants, and the diverse network of changemakers who are leading the charge to reimagine government. We work with them to hold space to collectively make sense of the complex challenges we face and drive meaningful change through learning and experimentation.  We have regional teams in Europe, North America, Australia/New Zealand, and India as well as a Global Hub team that provides people and culture, operational, and communications support across the regions. CPI’s core values are: 

• courageous - we have the courage to speak the truth, to challenge without fear and tackle the difficult questions

• respectful - we respect differences, we seek to understand them and we look out for one another

• optimistic - we are positive about what we and governments can do for our societies

• inclusive - we are non partisan, we work together and seek ideas and solutions across the divides

About CPI’s Global Development Initiative (GDI)

The international development community has long-acknowledged that we must Do Development Differently, recognising that development practice should be both more adaptive (to respond better to rapidly changing contexts) and place more power in the hands of those it is intended to benefit. Much exploration has been undertaken of the ideas and practices required to support this shift, for example, at a transnational level, the UNDP’s Strategic Innovation Unit (SIU) and Accelerator Labs (ALs) have been exploring the role of learning and innovation in development practice. They have created deep dive sandbox experiments to address complex problems, and created the world’s fastest and smartest learning network of development labs. 

Despite these successes, and a wide acknowledgement of the merits of the DDD vision, the broader goal of shifting development practice more fundamentally remains unfulfilled. CPI joins a growing group of reform-minded individuals and organizations who are championing and experimenting with alternative approaches to public management. We believe our approach to re-imagining government can be adapted toward the outcome of changing the public management context for international development. 

What You’ll Be Doing:

As the incoming Director for the Global Development team,  you’ll spearhead this global initiative, setting the programmatic vision, managing a growing team, and driving our partner and funder relationships as well as our impact on the ground. Core responsibilities include:

Partnership and Resource Development

• Designs and oversees the organization’s GDI relationship strategy with philanthropic and programmatic partners

• Recognizes and develops new partnership opportunities and supports all aspects of partnership development, including contract negotiation, program scope and budget development

• Builds and manages a holistic approach and infrastructure needed to provide a sustainable revenue base for the Initiative (e.g., proactively identifying and pursuing requests for proposals)

• Evaluates, maintains and improves existing partnerships and programmatic efforts with an eye toward building on successes, learning from failure, and capitalizing on emerging trends

• Provides advice on program development and promotion strategies for partnerships

External Engagement

• In partnership with our Global Director of Communications, 

  • Leads communications with senior- and executive-level stakeholders

  • Expands the profile and reach of CPI and its brand

  • Conducts webinars and presentations to raise CPI’s profile awareness regarding the portfolio and impact of our GDI work

  • Helps direct the development of externally distributed materials consistent with CPI’s brand

Impact and Strategy

• Operates as a thought partner to the Executive Director and Regional Directors to set the strategic direction of the initiative

• Distills lessons learned from project work into higher level thought leadership that connects to CPI’s mission to reimagine government informing the partnership strategy

• Ensures that partnerships, procedures and program offerings align with CPI’s Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Belonging priorities

People Management and Development 

• Embraces teamwork to directly implement the partnership strategy alongside the business development team

• Provides constructive, actionable feedback on a regular basis

• Develops leadership skills in staff through delegation and sharing management/decision-making responsibilities

• Builds cross-functional teams to guide and nourish sustainable, long-term growth

• Contributes to team members’ professional development 

• Leads teams that feel supported and nurtured with a sense of belonging and inclusion

Position requirements, skills, and core competencies

We are seeking an impact-minded leader with:

• At least 10 years of relevant professional experience, in either an impact, service-oriented or consulting environment, government/public service context, or fundraising environment

• A strong understanding of how government works, and in particular how our Vision for Government translates into the global development sector. Knowledge and experience of working within international development is also highly advantageous 

• Strong verbal and written communication skills, including public speaking, negotiations and effective communication with diverse audiences, including the ability to speak persuasively about CPI and credibly about our global development portfolio

• Experienced in programmatic design in the public impact and social innovation space, particularly at the local level 

• Excellent managerial and interpersonal skills with a track record of developing people and partnerships

• Demonstrated senior leadership with strategic, policy, and budget planning experience

• Superior planning skills - organized, communicates, follows through, evaluates

• A self-starter with the ability to work productively to meet benchmarks and goals timely

• Comfort with ambiguity and the complexity of our work, where anything is possible but not always known in advance

We are a young and rapidly growing organization and offer ample opportunities for growth and personal development. To thrive at CPI you will be:

• intellectually curious and excited by innovative, human-centered approaches to big challenges

• entrepreneurially minded, with a passion for continuous learning

• committed to cultivating a culture of equity, inclusion, and belonging in the workplace

• a proactive self-starter, comfortable with ambiguity

• energized by tackling tough challenges in a fast-paced, service-oriented environment

• a believer in the positive potential of government to catalyze impact  

• committed to the value of mentorship and collaboration

• humble, empathetic, self-reflective, and good-humored

We are interested in candidates who have skills or expertise which are particularly relevant to our vision. This includes experience and familiarity with complexity and systems theory; co-design skills; experience working with relational methods; learning design expertise; experience working in government; and experience with complexity-informed evaluation approaches. However, while these skills will be considered a valuable asset, they are not essential and we certainly welcome applicants from diverse backgrounds with unconventional skills or experience that may still be relevant and valuable to our work.

We expect applicants for this role will have at least 10 years work experience. Experience of working within the Global Development space, in particular within international development institutions and/or developing country contexts, is desirable. 

Salary, Benefits, and How To Apply

The salary range is variable based on the location of the candidate as described above. Benefits are also variable based on location. CPI provides a generous benefits package and a comprehensive description of benefits will be provided to candidates during the interview process.

We are a remote-first workplace and can provide optional co-working space for candidates who prefer dedicated workspace outside of their homes.

CPI is deeply invested in creating an experience of equity, inclusion, and belonging for everyone on our staff. We actively seek to recruit, develop, and retain a team of talented staff that represents diverse backgrounds, perspectives, and lived experiences.  

CPI is an equal opportunity employer. Applicants will not be discriminated against because of race, color, creed, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, age, religion, national origin, citizenship status, disability, ancestry, marital status, veteran status, medical condition or any protected category prohibited by local, state or federal laws.

To advance our purpose of reimagining government so that it works for everyone, CPI seeks to attract and support a diversity of backgrounds, experience, talent and thought. For this reason, we encourage applicants from all backgrounds to apply. This includes candidates that have previously found it hard to be considered for other positions on the basis of their qualifications, disabilities, personal background or life events. If you would like to apply for the position but see a barrier, please do apply and we will work with you to understand how we might be able to accommodate your needs. You can also read our full Diversity Equity and Inclusion Policy here.

We are using Applied in order to debias our hiring process and ensure that we are shortlisting candidates based on their skills. Your application will be anonymized for review. Although we ask for your CV, it will not be looked at until further down the process. Please apply by 19th August.