Senior Director of Programs At The Luminos Fund

The Luminos Fund is looking for an experienced and dynamic Senior Director of Programs to contribute to its rapid growth and expansion. The Senior Director of Programs will oversee the design and delivery of custom Luminos curricula, programs, and research in different geographies in pursuit of our strategy to reach 200,000 children in the next five years. The Senior Director will work in close collaboration with Program and Executive Leadership, including with the other Senior Director of Programs who oversees our core country program operations, in pursuit of the Luminos Fund’s education mission.

This full-time position can be based anywhere in GMT -5 to +3 time zones (e.g., Boston, London, Addis Ababa, etc.) with a slight preference for candidates based in Boston and will require up to 50% travel to challenging contexts in Africa and the Middle East.

About the Luminos Fund

The Luminos Fund (www.luminosfund.org) believes that no child should be denied the chance to learn. Launched in 2016, Luminos is scaling up Second Chance: an accelerated learning program that enables children who have been kept out of school by crisis or poverty to catch up to grade level and return to learning – all in 10 months. A registered 501(c)(3) non-profit, we operate programs in Ethiopia, Ghana, Lebanon, Liberia, and The Gambia. To date, we have helped over 152,000 children secure a second chance to learn.

As school reopens across the globe following the COVID-19 pandemic, Luminos is rising to meet the moment – launching new country programs and developing new ways of delivering at scale.

Luminos is supported by premier philanthropic organizations, including Cartier Philanthropy, Dubai Cares, Legatum, and UBS Optimus Foundation. Luminos has been recognized for its achievements globally, receiving the Library of Congress International Literacy Award, the Lipman Family Prize, the WISE Award, and the HundrED Global Innovation Award for the last five years.

Duties and Responsibilities

Project Management

• Lead large-scale government advisory projects, scoping terms of reference, sourcing specialist talent, ensuring excellency in delivery and ultimately, long term impact, partnering in close collaboration with governments, the global Luminos team, and donors.
• Design, staff, and manage large projects to adapt Luminos program elements (curriculum, trainings, and manuals) to specific populations and geographies, including refugees, IDPs, children with learning differences, and girls.
• Provide strategic guidance and project management to lead the development of program toolkits and modules that effectively share Luminos pedagogy and practice with the international education sector.

Monitoring, Evaluation, and Learning

• Develop Luminos’ global monitoring, evaluation, and learning strategy by building on the existing internal and external M&E framework. Build and support a framework of continuous learning.
• Source and develop strong external research partners across all major geographies. Ensure the timely delivery of rigorous, accurate, and actionable external evaluations and research.
• Capture insights from program design and development in blogs and articles, developed in coordination with the Luminos Communications Team.

Staff and Stakeholder Management

• Plan and oversee staffing expansion across multiple country programs in support of aggressive growth goals.
• Recruit, manage, and develop world class talent from a range of different national contexts. Build a strong, diverse team with a wide array of talents, held together by strong, core values and ways of working.
• Manage key in-country relations with various stakeholders, including senior Ministry of Education officials.
• Source and secure speaking opportunities at major national and international conferences. Represent Luminos and our education mission with skill, eloquence, and dynamism.
• Analyze and report on program performance for senior leadership and the Board of Directors.

Fundraising and Donor Relationship Management

• Ensure the delivery of timely, accurate, and accessible reporting across a range of different donor requirements. Supplement stated reporting requirements with more accessible PowerPoint presentations, photo essays, and other materials that help bring the work to life.
• Expertly steward existing donor relationships, listening closely for unspoken needs, and building a strong sense of connection and ownership of the work through strategic sharing of anecdotes and lessons learned.
• Source and build new funding relationships. Map major funders in key program geographies and lead relationship building and outreach.
• Manage drafting of complex program proposals and budgeting, in conjunction with the Luminos Development and Finance Teams.

Qualifications

Required Experience and Skills

• At least 8 years’ experience designing and leading large consulting or research projects in high stakes, international settings. Comfort with facilitation and meeting management, designing research to answer key strategic questions, and delivering reports and other resources with the highest levels of quality.
• At least 5 years’ experience managing and developing both specialist and generalist talents in continuous pursuit of excellence.
• Experience working with Ministries of Education to build, develop, and scale programs and curricula strongly preferred.
• Experience in educational assessment, survey design, and statistical analysis preferred.
• Experience in a startup environment, and building something from nothing, is strongly desired.
• Bachelor’s degree required. Master’s degree in international development or education, with extensive quantitative coursework, is strongly preferred.

Core Attributes

• Belief and demonstrated passion for the mission, vision, and values of Luminos Fund.
• Impeccable integrity and can-do attitude.
• Natural curiosity and hunger for continuous learning.
• Innate sense of responsibility for delivery of quality work, even in adverse circumstances, grounded in a core belief that success lies in the details.
• Self-motivated, with the ability to work independently in challenging international contexts, as required. Experience working with diverse constituents, teams, and colleagues.
• Natural affinity for technology and a love of data.
• Active listening, with an eye towards navigating ambiguity towards the highest possible impact.
• Readiness to problem solve creatively on a myriad of fronts and go above and beyond to deliver outsized success.