Vice President, Global Operations & Culture at Women for Women International

About Women for Women International

Since 1993, Women for Women International has helped more than 500,000 marginalized women in countries affected by war and conflict. WfWI serve women in 8 countries offering support, tools, and access to life-changing skills to move from crisis and poverty to stability and economic self-sufficiency.

The mission is to continue moving that work forward. Thety bring women together in a safe space to learn life, business, and vocational skills. Once enrolled, each receives a monthly stipend – a vital component that enables her to participate.

Women increase their ability to earn an income with new skills that are in-demand. They learn about their legal rights, and they become knowledgeable about health and nutrition. The result: stronger, self-sufficient women who are able to create sustainable change for themselves, their families, and their community. Meet founder: Zainab Salbi Women for Women International delivers their programs through the generous support of individual, corporate and foundation donors, partners, and governments. Their work is regularly featured in international media, including BBC, CNN, MSNBC, The Guardian, The New York Times, 60 Minutes, and The Oprah Winfrey Show. Recognized for their global impact Women for Women International was honoured with the prestigious Conrad N. Hilton Humanitarian Prize in 2006, and receives favourable ratings from independent charity groups.

WfWI has agreed a bold new 2020-2030 strategy that aims to, through advocacy and partnerships, bring their impactful model to millions rather than thousands of women, and to transform the structure of the organization to put power closer to the women we serve, This includes ‘internationalizing’ the HQ and governance structure by diversifying board members, and moving headquarters functions and staff closer to the country offices.

You can find further details on their website: https://www.womenforwomen.org/

Vice President, Global Operations & Culture Role Profile

This is a key leadership appointment that is pivotal to shape and grow WfWI. The organization is seeking an exceptional, dynamic, and transformational leader who is driven by the mission of WfWI.

Purpose

Reporting to the CEO, The VP, Global Operations & Culture will lead a team of senior functional leaders to meet current and future needs of the organization being a critical actor in the process for developing people, systems and infrastructure to support consistency and empowerment of country office operations enabling WfWI to meet its organizational objectives while maintaining a sound financial position and mitigating risk. As a member of the Global Leadership Team, the VP, Global Operations & Culture will be an active participant in, and driver of, the organization’s overall strategy.

In addition, the VP, Global Operations & Culture is the staff lead for Global Board committees on Finance and Audit. It is therefore key that the VP has sufficient technical knowledge to provide strategic direction and oversight, and to report within the Global Leadership Team and to the Board, on all functions.

The group of leaders reporting to this role head the Finance, HR and Organizational Development, Business Solutions (IT), Security and Compliance functions, as well as out-sourced legal support.

This role has a unique opportunity: WfWI has initiated an important phase of internationalization which serves to benefit their programs and the women they support. The VP, Global Operations & Culture will be part of the script change chapter of WfWI and guide the executive team and leadership team of the organization to achieve operational effectiveness and sustainability. The VP, Global Operations & Culture will play a key role in building trust and engaging the staff into a common vision, keeping consistency with country operations, managing global financial strategy and budgets, and maximizing the use of WFWI’s current systems to bring the power, accountability and responsibility of country offices, with the support and oversight of an internationalized headquarters team.

Duties and Responsibilities

The VP, Global Operations & Culture will have the following key responsibilities:

Leadership and Culture

• Foster and model an inclusive leadership and management culture embedded in WfWI values of empowerment, resilience, transparency, and respect as well as diversity, equity, and inclusion.
• Lead a systematic process of moving WfWI through a change process to achieve the culture, structure, and systems that will support the long-term growth of the organization in line with our new strategy.
• Champion and communicate a culture of engagement that builds staff ownership of and support for the strategic direction of the organization, especially in relation to the priorities set for each Division of WfWI.
• Lead from within by upholding WfWI internal communications principles working with the CEO and LT to uphold an environment of transparency and strong communication on all policies and practices in global operations, Risk Management & Security, HR and Finance.
• Mentor and support the growth of leaders under his/her management acting as an ambassador both within and outside of the organization for our global team and our impact.
• Promote by personal example a culture of lesson learning and innovation as well as encourage the identification and uptake of best practices and ethical standards.
• Ensure organization-wide teamwork, clarity in roles, accountability, and decision-making; hold managers accountable for superior delivery.

Elevate Operations Systems Management

• Lead the improvement and simplification of existing operational structures, policies and procedures for high performance results-based management.
• Enable data-driven decision making for leadership by leading the optimization of systems and procedures to ensure that reliable finance and operations data, information, and knowledge are accessible in as close-to-real-time as possible to key decision-makers throughout the organization.
• Oversee and support the development of a long-term technology strategy and roadmap for the global organization and create interim solutions in line with the long-term strategy.
• Foster all levels of the organization to commit to achieving WfWI’s transformation. This includes articulating levels of commitment needed, assessing commitment, and planning the actions necessary to drive higher levels of commitment from key individuals and groups in WfWI.

Optimize Global Finance Operations

• Oversee and support an annual global financial planning and budgeting process. Lead regular budget reviews to monitor and report WfWI’s global performance against plan and ensure that budget holders make necessary adjustments.
• Oversee the development and implementation of global financial policies, procedures and controls.
• Serve as management liaison with Finance & Compensation Committee and Audit Committee of the WfWI Board of Directors.
• Ensure timeliness, accuracy and usefulness of financial and management reporting for federal and state funders, foundations, donors, and WfWI Board of Directors.

Enable Staff Engagement and Performance Excellence

• Oversee and support the human resources strategy that aligns with the overall mission and strategy of the organization, resulting in innovative best practices and policies that will service the HR needs and help build a high-performing culture of success, accountability, transparency and collaboration.
• Serve as strategic business advisor to the Leadership Team and as strategic thought partner for the CEO in the areas of organizational and management issues.

Organizational Risk Management

• Oversee the identification and measurement of organizational and ethical risks, including financial, operational, programmatic and reputational risk, and the provision of guidance to functional departments and Country Offices in development and implementation of risk mitigation plans.
• Oversee the efforts of the functional teams to monitor on the status of risk mitigation plans to the Finance and Audit Committees and the Global Board.
• Oversee and support the efforts of the Head of Security in management of organization security framework, security plans and policies and monitoring of security environment.
• Ensure the development and maintenance of the global organization processes and policies framework to support the organization’s efficiency.

Required Education, Experience and Qualifications:

• Bachelor´s Degree in Business Administration, Finance or equivalent. Desirable: MBA in Management or related field with a minimum of 10 years of management experience at senior level, including having previously had oversight of global operations in both financial and human resources.
• Proven experience leading systems and change management with specific experience establishing the culture and systems to support virtual teams dispersed and working globally.
• Understanding of global business and development trends, with an ability to anticipate future consequences of those trends and build them into long-term planning, familiar with the requirements of the non-profit sector and/or philanthropy.
• Deep understanding of country office operations and their challenges.
• Having lived and worked in at least two continents (some experience in the U.S. an advantage, as is experience in any of the countries in which we have operations and ability to travel globally, including spending up to 30% time away from home base, with regular visits to HQ in US and other HQ centers and country offices.
• The culture of WfWI values transparency, individual empowerment and cooperation. The successful candidate therefore will have a highly collaborative management style and strong relationship-management skills. The VP, Global Services & Culture will be an active team-builder, with multicultural sensitivity.
• Ability and willingness to work in challenging and changing environments, and to see through challenges and find solutions.
• Ability to foster a creative, professional, and open management culture that empowers staff to fulfill their potential and encourages innovative thinking. Excellent capacity building, team building/management, and coordination skills and a comfort in a global environment. An ability to delegate responsibilities effectively and coach and mentor staff.
• Understanding of, and commitment to, Safeguarding best practices.

Terms of Appointment

• This is a full-time position with the successful candidate being contracted on a permanent basis. Salary is competitive and commensurate with qualifications and experience. A pension plan, life and medical insurances are included in the benefits package. WfWI is an Equal Opportunity Employer. WfWI is strengthened by the diversity of its colleagues, and welcome applications from people of all cultures.
• This position is open to candidates who are authorized to work in countries where we have WfWI offices such as Nigeria, Rwanda, Democratic Republic of Congo, Iraq, Afghanistan, South Sudan, the United Kingdom, and Germany.

Location: Nairobi or London preferred

Other locations such as Nigeria, Rwanda, Democratic Republic of Congo, Iraq, Afghanistan, South Sudan, the United Kingdom, and Germany may be considered.