CARE - Chief Program Officer

Chief Program Officer

About CARE

CARE is an $850 million organization that works around the globe to save lives, defeat poverty, and achieve social justice. We seek a world of hope, inclusion, and social justice, where poverty has been overcome and all people live with dignity and security. We put women and girls in the center of everything we do because we know we cannot overcome poverty until everyone has equal rights and opportunities.

CARE creates local solutions to poverty, and we help people find dignity during times of crisis. Our solutions range from clean water to access to education; from micro-saving to ensuring that everyone has nutritious food; from agriculture and climate change to disaster response.

Our staff live where they work, which means we understand the challenges people face and create effective, sustainable solutions. We’ve been doing this since the end of World War II, for over 75 years, and in many ways, we’re just getting started.

Role: Chief Program Officer

Location: Global

The Role Job Summary

The Chief Program Officer leads a team to develop and promote CARE’s state of the art program strategies and successfully integrate these program strategies into country office projects and operations. They lead the global technical, humanitarian, and program operations units, which includes more than 7,000 employees in regional and country offices that deliver CARE programming worldwide. They also drive bold innovation as well as strong cohesion among teams to increase scale and deepen CARE’s impact. Finally, the Chief Program Officer strengthens collaboration between regional, country, and headquarters teams.

Responsibilities

The Chief Program Officer is a member of CARE USA’s Executive Management Team and helps develop CARE USA’s overall strategic plan. They manage the (1) Vice President, International Program Operations; (2) Vice President, Program, Strategy & Impact; (3) Global Humanitarian Director; and (4) Senior Director, Impact, Learning, Knowledge and Accountability.

Lead program positioning and execution

• Support the CEO of CARE USA & the leaders of CARE international to develop, clearly articulate, and implement CARE’s global program strategy.

• Ensure that CARE’s cross cutting theme of gender equity is incorporated into all programs and projects, so that CARE remains the recognized global leader in gender programming.

• Champion the application of data, technology, and unusual partnerships to maximize resources, facilitate new approaches, and scale impact by 10x.

• Help steer CARE’s business model towards localization and local partnerships while navigating the various challenges inherited in this paradigm shift for the sector.

• Provide financial planning and oversight for a global annual portfolio of $800M+. This includes developing budgets, monitoring expenditures of grants and contracts, developing country funding pipelines, and identifying areas for cost savings.

• Collaborate with global operations departments including Finance, People & Culture, and Digital Solutions to ensure that country teams have the resources, infrastructure, and expertise they need to be agile, efficient, and effective.

• Lead efforts to identify, communicate emerging trends and issues that affect CARE’s work and ensure that programs adapt to these challenges and opportunities.

Actively engage in major fundraising efforts

• Help fundraising teams tell the story of CARE’s work and state of the art program approaches.

• Help cultivate, solicit, and steward major donors and institutional funders.

• Ensure that growing resources are available to support programs, as well as research and development into new programs and strategies.

Elevate CARE as a thought leader in development and humanitarian response

• Translate CARE’s technical strategy into compelling and persuasive presentations and narratives.

• Ensure CARE’s work is highly profiled at global industry conferences, donor meetings, and other events.

• Author compelling articles for external publications, including industry blogs and peer-reviewed journals.

• Develop and maintain strong relationships with thought leaders in the global development and humanitarian space.

Strengthen innovation & partnerships

• Work with executive team to adopt audacious but achievable goals in service of CARE USA’s mission.

• Hold HQ, regional and country teams accountable for strategy integration, program quality, performance, innovation, and partnerships.

• Break down silos to increase learning, sharing, and scaling of CARE’s programs.

• Promote innovation, adaptation, and best practices across CARE’s programs.

• Ensure recruitment and retention of a diverse staff network that reflects the communities where we work.

• Ensure strong succession planning across Country Offices, Regional Offices, and HQ program teams.

Candidate Profile

Education

• MBA, MPH, or master’s degree in international development or other relevant area preferred.

• Bachelor’s Degree is required.

Experience

• 10+ years’ experience working in an executive leadership position in international development or humanitarian assistance, or at a multinational organization.

• Extensive experience leading programs across the full continuum from emergency response and humanitarian to long term development work.

• Outstanding communication and public speaking skills.

• Lived experience of the challenges and opportunities of working in fragile, developing contexts.

• Demonstrated visionary and strategic thinking skills with the ability to rally organizational leaders behind ambitious goals.

• Successful experience with organizational transformation across numerous offices and countries.

• Ability to inspire, motivate and guide global, diverse, and geographically dispersed teams of 500 or more.

• Experience soliciting and stewarding $100M+ donors.

• Ability to define objectives, develop and manage budgets, appropriately allocate resources, and evaluate outcomes.

• Demonstrated success in creating clear and compelling program strategies that excite donors and employees.

How to Apply About Oxford HR

All correspondence, at this stage, should be via Oxford HR. To apply for this post, click on the “Apply” button on the job advert page, complete our online application form, and submit your CV and cover letter as two different documents, which should be prepared before applying as they will be considered in the application process.

The cover letter should be no more than two pages long and explain why you are interested in this post and how your skills and experience make you a good fit.

The document should be saved in PDF in the following format: Your First Name-Your Last Name-Document Name-Date (mmyy) e.g., Pat-Jones-CV082023-CARE or Pat-Jones-CoverLetter-082023-CARE.

Timeline

Closing Date: 30th August 2023

First stage interviews: TBC

Final interviews: TBC

Selection Process

All candidates will receive an update regarding their application after the closing date. We advise candidates to add the role email to their safe senders list and regularly check their spam folder.

Equality Statement

Equality and diversity are at the core of CARE’s values. Staff are expected to work collectively and individually to promote a constructive and sensitive approach to others from a variety of backgrounds, where the work of others is valued and respected.

Queries

If you have any queries on any aspect of the appointment process, need additional information, or would like to have an informal discussion, please email at care-chief-program-officer@oxfordhr.com in the first instance.

Exceptional leaders can inspire change and propel purpose-led organisations towards reaching their world-changing goals. Finding such leaders can be a challenge; and yet their transition into leadership is vital to an organisations mission and success.

Oxford HR is a global leadership consultancy dedicated to searching for and supporting remarkable leaders and teams in purpose-led organisations.

We understand the nuances of purpose-led leadership because we’ve worked in organisations across the breadth of the sector ourselves. We’ve also worked with such organisations since 1995; so we appreciate just what benefits impactful people can bring.