Senior Director, Economic Empowerment (M2)

Role Overview

No matter what your role is, when you join Save the Children, you’re creating positive, irreversible change for children, and the future we all share.

About the Role

The Role As the Senior Director, Economic Empowerment, you’ll be integral to our work in helping vulnerable children achieve a brighter future. You will lead the strategic, operational, and financial planning and execution of a portfolio of economic empowerment projects. You will provide management oversight and technical leadership to deliver on all aspects of the projects, including multi-country implementation, signature program package development, learning and evidence, and thought leadership and partnership building. You will work in close collaboration with headquarters’ business line lead and technical advisors, supervise a team of technical and program management staff, oversee country office project staff, and ensure accountability to donors.

What You’ll Be Doing

• Formulate strategic and operational plans for each major project component (pilot implementation, signature program package development, learning and evidence, and thought leadership and partnership building).
• Provide technical leadership to country teams to design and deliver economic empowerment interventions to assist large numbers of low-income and vulnerable youth to acquire competitive skills and to get a job or build a business.
• Aid country teams to build effective linkages between training providers, private sector employers, and the government to create demand-driven and sustainable solutions.
• Lead the development of signature program packages, testing effective combinations of training and placement interventions, diverse delivery mechanisms, and public and private sector engagement tactics that integrate innovative solutions to accelerate outcomes (AI, ICT, social enterprise, etc.) to inform strategic and operational refinements.
• Capture and document well-tested program tools, guidance, and innovations to guide strategic and operational refinements and to support replication and scale.
• Monitor and report on programmatic and financial milestones at the country and global level. Ensure donors, internal and external stakeholders are adequately informed of progress, of deviations from plans, and of risks.
• Collaborate with country office leadership to identify where management and technical reinforcement is needed, to oversee the timely achievement of milestones by project field staff and local partners, and to undertake vigilant tracking of project- and beneficiary-level risks.
• Lead the planning, coordination, and execution of workforce development strategies aligned with organizational goals, program priorities, and long-term impact objectives, translating strategic workforce plans into actionable implementation frameworks, including timelines, performance indicators, and resource requirements.
• Work with fundraising team, across functions and departments to align program design and future program evolution to strategic agency priorities.
• Serve as the primary representative of the projects and as a economic empowerment and workforce development expert in internal and external forums.
• Provide technical guidance and thought leadership on economic empowerment and workforce development approaches to internal teams and external stakeholders.
• Work with business line lead and technical advisors to build partnerships that bring new capabilities and financial resources.
• Collaborate with account managers of existing grants to support donor relationships and donor stewardship.
• Train, develop, coach, lead, and supervise staff, clearly communicating organization, division and department priorities, and how their work contributes to our mission and supports Save the Children values.
• Ensure that the team has, understands, and operates according to clear protocols and best practices, but remains flexible, collaborative, and communicates openly within the department and agency divisions.

Required Qualifications

• Minimum of a bachelor’s degree or equivalent experience, plus at least 7 years of relevant experience.
• Demonstrated experience in workforce development and entrepreneurship programming, including private sector engagement, across diverse contexts.
• Track record in the design and delivery of innovative strategies to reach low-income and vulnerable youth.
• Demonstrated experience in supervisory management, planning, and budgeting.
• Proven successful proposal development experience, including experience leading the technical aspects of complex, large proposal efforts.
• Demonstrated ability to communicate and collaborate successfully with individuals and teams at all levels.
• Willingness and ability to travel internationally up to 30% time.
• Professional proficiency in MS Office suite.
• Professional proficiency in spoken and written English.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience in workforce development and entrepreneurship programming, including private sector engagement, across diverse contexts.
• Track record in the design and delivery of innovative strategies to reach low-income and vulnerable youth.
• Overseas experience in LAC, Africa or Asia.
• Fluency in French or Spanish.

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 $119,425 - $133,475 base salary.
• Geo 2 - Locations around the US National Labor Cost Average: Target Salary for this position is $107,525 - $120,175 base salary.
• Geo 3 - Locations significantly below the US National Labor Cost Average: Target Salary for this position is $96,050 - $107,350 base salary.

About Us

We are looking to build an inclusive team at Save the Children. We offer a range of outstanding benefits to support this goal: Flexible schedules and time off: Flexible schedules, generous PTO, 11 paid holidays plus 2 floating holidays and hybrid working opportunitiesHealth: Competitive health care, dental and vision coverage for you and your familyFamily: A variety of paid leaves: caregiver, parental/adoption, critical child illness and fertility benefitsEmployee Rewards Program: Annual merit increases and/or additional incentives for eligible employeesRetirement: A retirement savings plan with employer contributions (after one year)Wellness: 15 safety and wellness days annually (if hired on or after July 1, safety and wellness days prorated to 8 days), mental health benefits and support through Calm and company-hosted eventsEmployee Assistance Program: free and confidential assessments, short-term counseling, referrals, and follow-up servicesLearning & Growth: Access to internal and external learning & development opportunities and mentorships