Director of Technology

The Water Project•Anywhere, NH

About The Position

The Water Project seeks a hands-on technology leader to build, operate, and improve the platforms that connect donors to communities, give staff access to relevant data, and support the organization’s clean-water mission. This is a builder’s role with leadership responsibility: the Director will spend a meaningful portion of the week developing code, building or selecting technology solutions, integrating systems, and shipping features, while leading a small team of 1–3 developers. The role partners closely with Global Programs, Revenue (Philanthropy/Marketing), and Finance to shape technology priorities and is accountable for the reliability, security, and usefulness of the organization’s technology. The Director owns the architecture, roadmap, and health of digital platforms, including websites, internal systems, donation flows, fundraising pages, sponsor dashboards, a project directory, and a live impact map. The role builds and maintains PHP and React applications and WordPress properties, manages hosting and deployments, and ensures donor-facing experiences are fast, accessible, mobile-friendly, and secure. It also manages monitoring, backups, vendors, integrations, and collaboration with Marketing to improve donor attraction, retention, communications, and experience. The role ensures technology serves both donors and the communities supported by the organization. It works with program teams and in-country staff to surface information about water-point health and maintenance, and helps donors and sponsors see an accurate, current picture of the communities they support. The Director owns data architecture and the flow of program, donor, and financial data between Salesforce, web platforms, and analytics tools; enhances reporting and dashboards; and establishes documented standards for data quality, governance, privacy, and retention. The Director identifies and delivers practical AI and machine-learning applications, evaluates and operates tools responsibly, and helps staff use AI effectively. The role oversees Salesforce consultants, connects giving, campaigns, and communications to a reliable supporter view, leads and mentors 1–3 developers, establishes engineering practices, works with department heads to translate goals into a technology roadmap, and manages the IT budget, licenses, vendors, staff devices, accounts, and cybersecurity basics.

Requirements

6+ years of hands-on software development experience, including at least 2 years leading developers or key technical projects.
A genuine connection to the mission of reliable, lasting water access.
Strong, current skills in PHP, React, and modern JavaScript, plus solid HTML and CSS skills.
Ability to use AI tools to generate quality code.
Experience building on and extending WordPress, including custom themes, plugins, performance, and security.
Good SQL and data-modeling skills, and experience with data warehouses, ETL/ELT pipelines, and BI or dashboarding tools.
Practical production experience applying AI and machine learning, including working with LLM APIs, building or fine-tuning models, and evaluating outputs.
Experience with cloud hosting, CI/CD, and securing systems that handle payments and personal data.
Sound judgment to choose the simplest solution that works and discipline to maintain what is built.
Clear communication with non-technical colleagues, donors, and partners.

Nice To Haves

Experience in a nonprofit, international development, or WASH (water, sanitation, and hygiene) setting.
Experience with IoT or remote sensor data, GIS and mapping, or mobile data collection tools.
Working experience with Salesforce, ideally Nonprofit Cloud or NPSP, including integrations via its APIs.
BS in Computer Science or a related field, or equivalent experience.

Responsibilities

Own the architecture, roadmap, and day-to-day health of digital platforms, including websites, internal systems, donation flows, fundraising pages, sponsor dashboards, the project directory, and the live impact map.
Build and maintain features across PHP and React applications and WordPress properties, including backend services and front-end HTML, CSS, and JavaScript.
Keep donor-facing experiences fast, accessible, mobile-friendly, and secure, with particular care for payment and personal data.
Manage hosting, deployments, monitoring, backups, third-party vendors, and integrations.
Work with Marketing to improve donor attraction, retention, progress communications, and donor experience.
Work with program teams and in-country staff to surface data about water-point health and maintenance for action.
Ensure donors and sponsors can see an accurate, current picture of the communities they support.
Own data architecture and the flow of program, donor, and financial data between Salesforce, web platforms, and data and analytics tools.
Enhance reporting and dashboards for leadership, the board, partners, and donors, including functionality rates, service levels, fundraising performance, and impact metrics.
Set and document standards for data quality, governance, privacy, and retention.
Identify and deliver practical AI and machine-learning applications that serve the mission.
Evaluate, integrate, and responsibly operate AI tools and models with guardrails for accuracy, privacy, and community dignity.
Help staff across the organization use AI tools effectively in their daily work.
Oversee Salesforce consultants as they fulfill organizational requests.
Connect online giving, campaigns, and communications to a single, reliable view of each supporter.
Lead, mentor, and manage 1–3 developers; set priorities, review code, and foster an environment where people can do their best work.
Work as a peer with department heads to plan and deliver organizational goals through a realistic technology roadmap.
Establish engineering practices for version control, code review, testing, documentation, and incident response.
Manage the IT budget, licenses, and vendor relationships, and oversee staff devices, accounts, and cybersecurity basics.