Job Description

Water Mission is a Christian engineering nonprofit that builds safe water solutions for people in developing countries, refugee camps, and disaster areas. Since 2001, Water Mission has served more than 8 million people in 60 countries, sharing safe water and the message of God’s love. Working at Water Mission is as much a calling as it is a career, and we are searching for people with the courage, passion, and drive to help us change the world. Read more about our Statement of Faith and Our Christian Mission.

Under the direction of the Vice President of International Operations, the Senior Director, Africa Region provides executive leadership for Water Mission's Country Programs across the region. The role is responsible for developing Country Directors, ensuring organizational alignment, fostering healthy and effective Country Programs, and serving as the primary International Operations leader responsible for removing organizational barriers, coordinating regional priorities, and ensuring Country Programs receive the support needed to successfully achieve Water Mission's mission and strategic objectives according to Water Mission values, standards, and procedures. This role will require establishing full-time residence in Nairobi. Additional short-term travel in East Africa and to Charleston, USA (Water Mission’s Headquarters) will be required in this role.
Our culture: As a key leader in Water Mission, the Sr. Director, Africa Region is responsible for leading staff in developing a biblical worldview culture that leads to God-honoring excellence in all their work and reinforcing the following: providing accurate data, meeting KPIs, empowering staff to have the skills and mindset needed to acknowledge mistakes or problems as opportunities to find appropriate solutions, and empowering staff to consistently work with excellence and integrity in solutions that are consistent with Water Mission's mission, vision, values, and standards. The Sr. Director also fosters a collaborative matrix culture built on shared ownership, timely communication, mutual accountability, and effective partnership between Country Programs, Regional Teams, and Headquarters support functions to ensure Country Programs receive the coordinated support needed to achieve Water Mission's mission.
The Sr. Director, Africa Region should be able to work in field settings for up to one week regularly and occasionally for longer periods.
Duties and Responsibilities
1. Mission Driven
◦ Maintain a strong Christian witness and model servant leadership to colleagues, partners, the communities we serve, and the public.
◦ Engage and participate in prayer before and after team meetings.
◦ Lead and participate in biblically based staff devotions.
2. Key Duties
◦ Lead a team of over 150 full-time and part-time staff and volunteers at regional and country program levels.
◦ Partner with regional and headquarters support functions to ensure Country Programs receive timely, coordinated, and effective technical and operational support while respecting functional leadership responsibilities.
◦ Serve as the primary International Operations escalation point for Country Programs by facilitating resolution of organizational barriers, coordinating cross-functional support, and partnering with Headquarters leaders to resolve issues that affect implementation, operational performance, or organizational effectiveness.
◦ Monitor and evaluate Water Mission Africa Regional performance against budgets, goals, and key metrics as established in the Operations and Five Year Plan.
◦ Regularly assess the health of Country Programs through leadership development, organizational effectiveness, risk management, and support effectiveness, taking proactive action to strengthen country performance and remove barriers to success.
◦ Champion and foster a culture of quality, excellence, and integrity in the delivery of WASH solutions in Kenya.
◦ Ensure Country Programs maintain effective management systems and accountability for accurate operational, financial, and project information including holding teams accountable for budget management, KPIs, and Project Management.
◦ Identify staff knowledge, skill, and ability gaps and plan employee training activities as required to grow employee performance.
◦ Proactively engage with other organizations and Government offices at all levels in the WASH sector to advance our mission and vision and evaluate people and organizations for potential ministry partnerships.
◦ Collaborate cross-divisionally to support the grant process, including application, management, fulfillment, and reporting.
◦ Perform supervisory duties including, but not limited to, supervising direct reports (Country Program Directors, Operations Director, and Africa Region Operations Specialist while fostering effective collaboration with regional and headquarters functional leaders who provide matrix support to Country Programs.
◦ Collaborate with functional leaders to align regional priorities, coordinate support, and resolve cross-functional barriers that impact Country Program performance.
◦ Champion initiatives for the care and well-being of staff.
◦ Encourage staff to demonstrate Christian values and behaviors in their work, focusing on organizational values of love, excellence, and integrity.
◦ Support Country Directors in developing country strategies that align with Water Mission's organizational strategy and approved programmatic frameworks.
◦ Oversee preparation of written budget proposals, proposals, and cost estimates.
◦ Provide regular communication and updates to Water Mission Headquarters regarding administrative, financial, and programmatic updates/needs.
◦ Prepare and deliver presentations to Water Mission staff, partners, volunteers, and donors as needed.
◦ Develop and retain talented, mission-driven employees.
◦ Help oversee, direct, and develop Water Mission’s Living Water Strategy in Africa.
3. Other tasks as may be assigned.
Qualifications, Skills, and Experience
1. Relationship and Alignment
◦ Personal and growing relationship with Jesus Christ.
◦ Alignment with Water Mission’s Statement of Faith and core values of Love, Excellence, and Integrity.
◦ Alignment with the principles of servant leadership as embraced by Water Mission.
2. Qualifications and Experience
◦ Bachelor’s and/or master’s degree from an accredited university in Management, Engineering, Development or Business, Public Health, or any other related discipline.
◦ Proven experience managing >5,000,000 USD programs.
◦ At least seven years experience living in a developing country; African country preferred (equivalent experience will be considered).
◦ 10+ years in a leadership or management position with experience training, mentoring, and developing leaders in organizations in the WASH sector.
◦ Must be fluent in English; additional fluency in Kiswahili is an added advantage.
◦ Experience or technical knowledge of the WASH sector.
◦ Construction, engineering project management, and/or WASH Program Design experience preferred.
◦ Leadership experience in Christian ministry, evangelism, and discipleship.
◦ Experience in establishing and maintaining multiple partnerships with Christian ministries, NGOs, governments, UN organizations, and other development agencies.
◦ Advanced computer skills (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Office 365, SharePoint).
3. Skills and Abilities
◦ Strong verbal and written communication skills in cross-cultural settings.
◦ Ability and willingness to work flexible hours when necessary.
◦ Ability and willingness to travel domestically and internationally, as required, according to job requirements.
◦ Commitment to ending the global water crisis.
◦ Ability to work at a desk in front of a computer for long periods of time.
◦ Home internet bandwidth is strong enough to support video conferencing and other job-related responsibilities.