Senior Global Director of Country Operations

GiveDirectly•New York, NY

3d•Remote

About The Position

The Global Director of Country Operations (GDCO) oversees and strengthens the infrastructure and effectiveness of GiveDirectly’s country offices. They serve as the primary point of contact for Global Shared Services (GSS) functions across countries and backstop Country Directors (CDs) to ensure high-quality implementation of global standards. This leader will ensure country back office operations—including finance, compliance, HR, procurement, IT, and risk management—are aligned, efficient, and adaptable to local contexts, ultimately enabling the organization to scale impact and operate with excellence. The ideal candidate should be able to identify and advance macro level improvements in country office management across the org while also being able to roll up their sleeves and work with country offices to implement changes directly. They should be able to work with Country Directors on the journey of maturing GiveDirectly country offices to be effective, well functioning, and excellent in a way that respects, empowers, and holds accountable Country Director leadership while maintaining org wide norms and cross country standards that are simple, streamlined, and effective.

Requirements

Deep experience managing and maturing country offices, particularly in Sub-Saharan Africa
Comfort in a fast paced and changing environment that lacks predefined playbooks and requires “figuring things out” where needed
Adept at financial and budget management. Bonus points for knowledge about financial modeling
Strong risk management experience, including crisis management
Expertise in HR, compliance, procurement, corporate audit, risk, IT, and country registration processes
Strong cross-cultural communication, stakeholder management, and comfort with matrixed organizations
Proven ability to create clarity and structure within evolving systems that can work in diverse contexts
Demonstrated ability to make data-driven decisions
Highly analytical and able to grip the details of country office management for ongoing rigorous systems building and cross country oversight.
Ability to get things done with limited resources and implement scalable solutions
Experience and aptitude leveraging new technologies and AI to advance organizational and country office effectiveness. Comfort taking an agile and iterative approach
Familiarity with INGO standards, donor compliance, and internal controls
Exceptional alignment with GiveDirectly Values and active demonstration of our core competencies: emotional intelligence, problem solving, project management, follow-through, and fostering inclusivity. We welcome and strongly encourage applications from candidates who have personal or professional experience in the low-income and/or historically marginalized communities that we serve.
Language Requirement: English. Additional Language Preferences: French, Portuguese, or Swahili

Responsibilities

Oversee financial management across country offices, both directly and via setting up the right mechanisms for CDs to better manage their country operating budgets ($150M+ per year across all country offices).
Ensure country offices are well-structured, compliant and able to deliver impact at scale, in partnership with CDs
Provide operational support to CDs across financial management, people/HR, compliance, procurement, administration, IT, security.
Lead new country and project office setups, and responsible wind-downs.
Facilitate evolution of country office organigrams and talent management systems to strengthen leadership and long-term sustainability.
Partner with GSS departments and CDs to embed global standards, systems and policies in country operations and adapt them for local context.
Coordinate with Legal & Compliance to keep country registrations and statutory requirements up to date; support sourcing of legal counsel when needed.
Develop and implement a compliance certification process for country offices, that clarifies CD’s accountabilities and provides assurance, through periodic verification, that county offices are meeting core operational and compliance standards.
Run periodic spot checks to identify risks early and support CDs in addressing them.
Serve as primary contact for GSS functions (People, Compliance, Procurement, Corporate Audit, Security, IT, Risk).
Define and refine responsibilities and R&R between GSS and country offices.
Facilitate cross-office information flow and best-practice sharing.
Oversee risk monitoring and mitigation across countries. Manage and maintain cross country risk dashboard
Partner with GSS on ensuring CDs are monitoring and managing country-specific risks and maintaining a global risk register
Backstop, lead, or participate in crisis management
Facilitate a culture of proactive risk management across all country offices
Join and represent Programs in regular GSS/country office coordination meetings.
Lead or contribute to org-wide initiatives to advance and evolve country office management.
Take on special initiatives and projects as assigned
Any other responsibilities as required