International Director, Practical Action

Overview

Practical Action works alongside communities to find practical solutions to the poverty they face. We see technology as a vital contributor to people’s livelihoods. Practical Action's definition of technology includes some form of physical hardware and the technical knowledge or skills to use it or develop it, and currently we focus on four areas: access to energy; agriculture; urban water & sanitation, and disaster risk reduction.

Practical Action has an operational base in 13 countries across Asia, Africa and Latin America, and projects in many more, and we’re continuing to expand. Through Practical Action'S work on the ground they helped to improve the lives of 1.2 million people, with a group budget of £26m.

Practical Action continue's to have high ambitions, including expansion into new locations (this year we opened a new office in Malawi), and diversifying our ways of working (we now have a “knowledge office” in Senegal, and have formed a Peruvian consulting company); and to create a movement for change to bring about Technology Justice around the world.

Full description

With the appointment of a new CEO, and the current five year strategy coming to an end, this is an exciting opportunity to help shape the future direction of the organisation.

This is a senior role reporting to, and working closely with, the CEO. It has major responsibility for ensuring the organisation creates impact at scale. It requires a sense of corporate responsibility – not just for the operations the post holder is directly responsible for but how those operations link to and are co-dependent on the success of all other areas of the organisation.

You will need to work closely with the other Directors and be responsible to line manage and provide support to the Country and Regional Directors and the Programme team.

Through the Country & Regional Directors, the post holder will be indirectly responsible for a budget up to £30m. Through the work of the Programme Support Team, the post holder will be responsible for an annual budget of approximately £1m.

You will need to have at least 10 years’ experience of working in the field of development, including at least 5 years’ experience of working in a senior management team role, preferably in Sub Saharan Africa, South Asia or Latin America in an NGO environment. You will have the ability to lead, manage, delegate, motivate, develop and harness the skills of others, whilst providing clear direction and demonstrating transparent decision making. You will have a high level understanding of international development programming, including design; funding; and M&E.

You will have the capacity to understand and communicate policy messages to a range of external audiences ranging from other development professionals to members of the UK general public. Sound financial skills including the capacity to build budgets, analyse financial reports and communicate financial information is required. A master’s level, preferably in a relevant technology, agriculture, or social science discipline is required.