Director of Programs

Splash is an international development organization founded in 2007 and headquartered in Seattle, Washington, USA. In 15 years, we have reached over 800,000 children in cities around the world. In 2019, we embarked on an exciting, five-year initiative, Project WISE (WASH in Schools for Everyone), focused on reaching over 800,000 children in three major growth cities - Addis Ababa and Bahir Dar, Ethiopia and Kolkata, India - with improved water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) infrastructure, WASH behavior change programs, and strengthened school-based menstrual health programs. Looking ahead, we aim to expand our impact to new cities across five countries in Asia and Africa.

Splash supports local leaders, institutions, and partners to drive lasting change on the ground. We believe that local capacity to solve problems at scale exists, and our job is to strategically support and magnify the impact of local governments, nonprofit and for-profit actors for the good of children and families across the cities in which we work. 

Our core values guide everything we do including every hiring decision we make. They are: 

• People - People first. People second. People third.
• Quality - Beautiful products that function and last.
• Honesty - No drama, no surprises, no BS. 
• Joy - Kids at heart, seeing potential everywhere.
• Mistakes - Make them, don’t repeat them.

Splash values the unique skills and experiences each individual brings to the organization, and we are committed to creating and maintaining an inclusive and accessible environment for everyone. We provide equal employment opportunities to all employees and qualified applicants for employment. To learn more, please visit  www.splash.org.

The Job

This is a full-time position based in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

POSITION OVERVIEW

The Director of Programs, Ethiopia will lead an established team of 20+ infrastructure, WASH Promotion, behavior change, and menstrual health management staff as well as contractors to complete implementation on time and within budget. They will supervise the team to design, construct, and maintain WASH infrastructure and implement behavior change and sustainability activities at hundreds of school sites across Addis Ababa and other cities across Ethiopia. Additionally, this individual will provide leadership to ensure that the government-funded and-constructed sanitation components of Project WISE are completed successfully.

The position requires a hands-on WASH leader with experience in developing/designing, planning, implementing, monitoring, and reporting on complex programs and budgets; experience with personnel and contractor management; the ability to collaborate effectively with government technical experts and officials at the Bureau, sub-city, and woreda levels, and a strong understanding of risk and conflict management. The position holder will work under the direct supervision of Splash Ethiopia’s Country Director and in close collaboration with Splash’s global leadership team. The successful candidate will play a key role in hiring, training, and managing the performance of program staff.

PRIMARY DUTIES & RESPONSIBILITIES

• Lead the overall development of current and upcoming country programs.
• Create, implement, and track all high-level work plans and budgets, considering logistics, contractor management, behavior change, sustainability, and procurement activities with oversight of the implementation of Project WISE in Addis Ababa and other cities; regularly communicate updates to key cross-functional team members in Addis and U.S.
• Working closely with the Directors of Operations and Finance ensuring efficiency in contractor and vendor selection based on local government requirements and global best practices.
• Continually assess (or determine) the effectiveness and long-term sustainability of all infrastructure program processes and context-based behavior change interventions. Ensure the quality of programs is in line with Splash’s quality standards and government sectoral plan. This includes seeking and promoting innovative ideas and approaches to ensure program quality.
• Work closely with the Partnerships Department to track different grant timelines, requirements, reporting needs, program implementation and budget utilization versus planned works and financial projections and communicate to all members of the Addis team (across departments) as needed.
• Ensure the use of data and evidence to guide and enhance planning and strategy development. Champion high-quality, on-time entry of programmatic data by the program team into Salesforce (our program data management system).
• Liaise with concerned project staff, local stakeholders (Woreda, Sub City, and Bureau level relevant government offices), and school management to ensure on-time and on-budget implementation and sustainability of the project interventions.
•  Support knowledge sharing among global Splash team members, country and global strategy development and refinement, and development of expansion plans.
• As Project WISE replicates in new geographies in Ethiopia, the position holder will be responsible for designing an implementation model with local partners and local government officials. Represent Splash in a professional and positive way, communicating with partners and co-workers with a high level of respect.
• As a member of the Senior Leadership Team, ensure our work in Ethiopia exceeds our rigorous standards and audacious goals while also helping to chart a course toward the future. This includes creating a positive atmosphere and a culture of equity and inclusion for employees across all country offices and at all levels within the organization
• Ensure program team are operating as a high=performance team and have clear accountability lines.

About You

EDUCATION, EXPERIENCE, & PERSONAL CHARACTERISTICS

• Second Degree in Construction Management, Civil Engineering, Water Resource Engineering, Environmental Engineering, and Project Management, or other related fields.
• Highly proficient in WASH program and project design and management, construction management and at least 15 years of experience working on major construction and/or WASH projects including at least 10 years of personnel, project management, and program leadership experience with integration of behavior change and sustainability-oriented interventions; urban construction/engineering experience strongly preferred.
• Ability to collaborate effectively with international and local staff, local implementation partners, contractors, government partners, and vendors.
• Experience in leading program sustainability management and working with schools and local stakeholders on ensuring local ownership of project interventions.  
• Highly proficient with Microsoft Office and Project Management software and methodologies.
• Professional level of written and verbal fluency in English and Amharic.
• 10 years of experience working in Ethiopia.

DESIRED ATTRIBUTES

• You exhibit absolute integrity, honesty, openness, and sound judgment.
• You demonstrate excellent organizational skills, self-motivation, flexibility, and the ability to work and thrive in a fast-paced, energetic, entrepreneurial environment.
• You are an excellent communicator, with the ability to listen, communicate effectively, and build trust with a wide variety of internal and external constituents.
• You enjoy collaboration and have a genuine interest in learning from and developing others.
• Innovative and creative: you constantly seek better ways to accomplish objectives.
• You think critically and put a high value on offering and receiving constructive feedback.
• You have a deep belief in and passion for Splash’s work and the children we serve.
• You represent Splash in a professional and positive way, communicating with partners and co-workers with a high level of respect.
• You are willing and able to participate in meetings outside of normal business hours, as needed.

COMPENSATION & BENEFITS

Annual salary for this position will be commensurate with experience and will be reviewed at least annually.