Program Director

Job Title: Program Director

Work location: Sudan

Location Type: Roving – All locations

Reports To: Country Director, World Relief Sudan

Department: Programs

ORGANIZATION SUMMARY:

World Relief is a global humanitarian organization whose mission is to boldly engage the world’s greatest crises. The organization was founded in the aftermath of World War II to respond to the urgent humanitarian needs of war-torn Europe. Since then, for 80 years, across 100 countries, World Relief has partnered with communities to build a world where families thrive and communities flourish.

Today, organizational programming focuses on humanitarian and disaster response, community strengthening and resilience, and refugee & immigrant services and advocacy.

POSITION SUMMARY:

The Program Director provides strategic leadership, oversight, and accountability for World Relief Sudan’s multi-sector program portfolio, operating across complex and conflict-affected environments. As Deputy to the Country Director and a member of the Senior Leadership Team, the Program Director holds delegated authority for programmatic decision-making and ensures the delivery of high-quality, accountable, and compliant programming across all field locations.

The role drives program strategy, design, implementation, and performance, while strengthening partnerships, influencing coordination platforms, and securing new funding. The Program Director ensures that programming is evidence-based, responsive to evolving needs, and aligned with humanitarian principles, organizational priorities, and donor requirements.

ROLE & RESPONSIBILITIES:

Program Leadership and Strategy

• Provide strategic leadership and oversight of World Relief Sudan’s program portfolio, ensuring high‑quality, accountable, and compliant programs across sectors.
• Lead the development and refinement of the country program strategy, balancing immediate humanitarian delivery with resilience building.
• Ensure integration of cross‑cutting considerations including protection, sex, disability inclusion, accountability to affected populations and environmental concerns.
• Collaborate with finance, operations, HR and logistics to ensure resources and processes support program goals.

Program Development & Resource Mobilization

• Lead program design and proposal development processes, ensuring integrated, multi‑sector responses and alignment with organizational and donor priorities.
• Identify funding opportunities, cultivate relationships with donors and partners, and support strategic positioning and resource mobilization.
• Develop concept notes and proposals drawing on needs assessments, lessons learned and best practices, ensuring that budgets enable delivery and compliance.
• Oversee the full grant cycle, ensuring strong performance against donor agreements, compliance with contractual obligations and consistency across proposals, budgets, indicators, procurement plans and reports.
• Lead monthly budget‑vs‑actual reviews with finance/operations and implement corrective actions.
• Coordinate with operations to ensure that goods and services are procured cost effectively and that the supply chain effectively supports program delivery.
• Provide leadership oversight to MEAL systems and promote a culture of accountability, learning and reflection.
• Ensure that MEAL systems support adaptive management, enabling real-time learning and evidence-based decision-making.
• Promote the use of data for program improvement, strategic planning, and donor engagement.
• Strengthen accountability to affected populations (AAP), ensuring feedback mechanisms inform program design and implementation.

Program Development & Resource Mobilization

• Lead program design and proposal development processes, ensuring integrated, multi‑sector responses and alignment with organizational and donor priorities.
• Identify funding opportunities, cultivate relationships with donors and partners, and support strategic positioning and resource mobilization.
• Develop concept notes and proposals drawing on needs assessments, lessons learned and best practices, ensuring that budgets enable delivery and compliance.

Grant Management & Compliance

• Oversee the full grant cycle, ensuring strong performance against donor agreements, compliance with contractual obligations and consistency across proposals, budgets, indicators, procurement plans and reports.
• Lead monthly budget‑vs‑actual reviews with finance/operations and implement corrective actions.
• Coordinate with operations to ensure that goods and services are procured cost effectively and that the supply chain effectively supports program delivery.

Monitoring, Evaluation, Accountability, & Learning (MEAL)

• Provide leadership oversight to MEAL systems and promote a culture of accountability, learning and reflection.
• Ensure that MEAL systems support adaptive management, enabling real-time learning and evidence-based decision-making.
• Promote the use of data for program improvement, strategic planning, and donor engagement.
• Strengthen accountability to affected populations (AAP), ensuring feedback mechanisms inform program design and implementation.

Representation & Coordination

• Represent WRS in coordination forums, technical working groups, and donor engagements, and maintain constructive relationships with government ministries, UN agencies, donors, peer organizations and communities.
• Support advocacy and contribute to high level decision making with the Country Director and SLT; deputize for the Country Director as required.
• Influence humanitarian response priorities through active engagement with UN agencies, donors, and peer organizations.

People Management & Capacity Building

• Manage and mentor program managers, technical advisors, and other program staff, promoting high performance, development and adherence to values and safeguarding policies.
• Build, coach and inspire high performing, diverse teams across field locations; set clear roles and objectives, provide routine feedback and lead formal performance reviews.
• Identify training needs and build technical and management capacity through coaching, mentoring and structured learning sessions.

Risk Management & Access

• Work closely with the SMT to manage operational, security, fiduciary and reputational risks.
• Support access strategies and remote management arrangements in constrained environments, ensuring program integrity and accountability.
• Contribute to security and duty of care planning from a program perspective, ensuring decisions are grounded in realistic assessments of risk and capacity.

Program Partnerships & Localization

• Identify, assess, and build the capacity of local partners, ensuring due diligence, equitable partnerships, and localization of assistance.
• Manage sub‑awards and partnerships, including due diligence, capacity strengthening, monitoring and compliance with anti‑fraud controls and donor requirements.
• Establish and nurture strategic partnerships with government, donor, civil society, academic, and private sector stakeholders.

Mission, Vision, & Values

• Lead and model an approach to leadership and service.
• Foster a culture of compassion, integrity, and excellence across all operations.
• Other duties as assigned by the Country Director.

SUPERVISORY RESPONSIBILITIES:

This role includes direct supervision of Project Directors, Program Managers, and Technical Advisors. Responsibilities include managing daily activities, monitoring performance, approving timesheets, leading check-ins, documenting performance issues, and ensuring compliance with World Relief policies. Managers at World Relief are also considered spiritual leaders and are expected to model and reinforce the organization’s Christian values in daily work.

JOB REQUIREMENTS:

• Committed to the mission, vision, and values of World Relief
• Education: Master’s degree in international development, public administration, business, public health or a related field.
• Experience: Minimum 7–10 years of progressively responsible experience in humanitarian or development programming, including at least 5 years in a senior leadership role overseeing multisector, multi-donor portfolios in conflict-affected or fragile contexts.
• Technical Skills: Demonstrated expertise in program design and management, grant management, compliance, MEAL systems, budget management, and partnership development; familiarity with integrated programming across health, nutrition, WASH, protection, food security, livelihoods and resilience programs.
• Knowledge: Strong understanding of humanitarian principles and donor compliance (e.g., USG, ECHO, EU, UNICEF, WFP), Sphere Standards and the Core Humanitarian Standard.
• Leadership & Communication: Excellent leadership, staff management, strategic planning and communication skills; ability to represent the organization to donors and external stakeholders.
• Communication: Fluency in written and spoken English required; Excellent writing abilities in standard English required; Arabic proficiency is an asset.
• Other: Willingness to travel extensively to field sites, including insecure and austere environments; ability to live and work in challenging conditions.

PREFERRED QUALIFICATIONS:

• Additional qualification (e.g., MBA, MPH, Public Policy).
• Previous experience with faith-based or multisectoral international NGOs.
• Experience mentoring national professionals and building capacity within local systems.
• Experience working in Sudan or similar conflict-affected contexts; Arabic language skills are desirable

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TYPICAL PHYSICAL DEMANDS:

The physical demands described here are typically representative of those that must be met by an employee to successfully perform the essential functions of this job. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions. Please review job description for exceptions to these requirements.

• While performing the duties of this job, the employee is required to have ordinary ambulatory skills sufficient to visit other locations
• The ability to stand, walk, stoop, kneel, crouch, and manipulate (lift, carry, move) light to medium weights of 10-15 pounds.
• Requires good hand-eye coordination, arm, hand and finger dexterity, including ability to grasp, and visual acuity to use a keyboard, operate equipment and read application information.
• The employee is frequently required to sit, reach with hands and arms, and communicate.

WORK ENVIRONMENT:

• Extended periods of time may be required for computer work, reading from a screen, data entry, utilizing office equipment such as copiers and fax machines, as well as participation in phone or online meetings.
• Year-end archiving activities involve repeated lifting and bending.
• Physical, emotional and intellectual demands
• Equipment used: Employee computer (desktop or laptop), printer, and copier.
• All of the above duties and responsibilities are essential job functions subject to reasonable accommodation. All job requirements listed indicate the minimum level of knowledge, skills and/or ability deemed necessary to perform the job proficiently. This job description is not to be construed as an exhaustive statement of duties, responsibilities or requirements. Individuals may be required to perform any other job-related instructions as requested by their supervisor, subject to reasonable accommodation. This position description is not all-inclusive and is always under review.

We are proud to be an EEO/AA employer M/F/D/V. We maintain a drug-free workplace and perform pre-employment substance abuse testing.

For World Relief staff, strong commitment to the mission, vision, and values of World Relief is essential, and Christian faith is a prerequisite for employment, based upon United States federal guidelines provided in Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

Legal Background in the United States

World Relief strictly prohibits and does not tolerate unlawful discrimination against employees on the basis of person’s race, color, sex, national origin, age, disability, genetic information, or any other characteristic protected under applicable federal, state, or local law, which does not conflict with the protections afforded World Relief as a faith-based employer

Pursuant to the Civil Rights Act of 1964, Section 702 (42 U.S.C. 2000e 1(a) World Relief has the right to, and does, hire only candidates who agree with World Relief’s Statement of Faith.

How to apply

Click on the link below to submit your application:

https://jobs.lever.co/wr/eee2471c-14f8-49f8-91e5-a34dc9ecb1ae