What we’re looking for:

• Proactive thinker and systems builder, who can both resolve today’s issues and also prepare us for tomorrow’s opportunities
  
• Track record of delivering results and owning increasing responsibilities
  
• Gets things done. Thrives in a lean, fast paced, and hands on environment
  
• Excellent ability to influence and manage diverse stakeholders, including change management
  
• Able to juggle a wide range of responsibilities reliably and nimbly
  
• Diverse work background: Has demonstrated adaptability across high-performing contexts and demands e.g. in AI/tech, management consulting, or other private sector
  
• Operations breadth across functions like finance, HR, procurement, compliance, ethics, IT, audit, and/or risk, compliance, ethics, IT, corporate audit, and/or risk management.
  
• Deep experience living and/or working in Sub-Saharan Africa.
  
• Excited about GD values and mission
  

Strengthen and standardize country operations

• Ensure clear roles, crisp accountability, and strong operating routines.
  
• Define and implement simple, scalable operating models across HR, finance, procurement, compliance, IT, security, and risk.
  
• Embed global standards in context-appropriate ways that reduce friction so dollars reach recipients faster and more reliably.
  

Coordination between program teams and central functions

• Coordinate and represent country office realities in global standards setting, priority setting, and resource allocation
  
• Ensure rollout of global standards in ways that are context appropriate, user-friendly, meaningful, and rigorous
  

Drive strong financial management and performance

• Oversee financial management across all country offices ($350M+/year), ensuring budgets enable scale and mitigate risk.
  
• Establish clear KPIs, dashboards, and operating reviews to maintain cost-efficiency.
  

Lead country expansions and transitions

• Oversee new country launches and compliant wind-downs with clear playbooks and risk mitigation.
  
• Coordinate across functions to ensure smooth execution.
  

Strengthen systems and institutional capability

• Translate operational insights into repeatable systems, tools, and automation that reduce manual work.
  
• Champion continuous improvement and technology adoption to scale efficiently and nimbly.
  

Enable proactive risk and cross-org alignment

• Maintain a global risk framework and lead or support crisis management when needed.
  
• Serve as the operational bridge between country leadership and global teams, ensuring priorities are well-resourced and executed consistently.