Director, Programming Excellence

Mastercard Foundation is a global foundation based across four hubs in Kigali, Rwanda, Nairobi, Kenya, Accra, Ghana and Toronto, Canada. Our programs promote financial inclusion and advance education and learning in Africa, primarily for young people, and in Canada for Indigenous youth. The Foundation was established in 2006 through the generosity of Mastercard when it became a public company. From inception, the Foundation was designed to be a separate entity and independent from Mastercard. Our policies, operations, and funding decisions are made by our President and Board of Directors.

The Foundation believes that youth employment is key to unlocking prosperity, both for youth and their societies. Enabling young women and men from disadvantaged communities to secure dignified and fulfilling work will ensure inclusive development and economic growth in Africa.

We are recruiting to fill the position below:

Job Title: Director, Programming Excellence

Job Requisition ID: JR-0000000690
Location: Nigeria
Employment type: Full-time

The Oppotunity

• The Director, Programming Excellence provides strategic leadership to embed consistent, high-quality, inclusive, and adaptive program delivery practices across the Foundation.
• This role drives the design and implementation of standards, processes, and systems that enable operational excellence in how we work with partners—from selection and onboarding, through implementation and learning, to offboarding.
• This role acts as the institutional custodian of the partner journey and the architect of a holistic programming framework that supports Country and Technical teams in delivering transformative outcomes for young people. Through deep collaboration with other enabling functions—including Strategy & Learning, Research, Foundation Academy, and Knowledge Management—the Director will ensure that programming excellence is not only a technical imperative, but also a cultural and relational one.
• By aligning tools, policies, capacity-building efforts, and partner feedback mechanisms, the Director ensures the Foundation’s programming reflects our values of respect, co-creation, accountability, and continuous improvement.

Way You Can Contribute
Programming Standards, Processes, and Quality Assurance:

• Lead quality assurance efforts across the partner lifecycle, from due diligence through implementation to exit, ensuring alignment with Foundation values and intended outcomes.
• Govern and manage revisions to programming policies, guidelines, and processes in collaboration with Program Operations and other Functional Excellence teams.
• Develop, refine, and maintain the Foundation’s programming processes, standards, toolkits, and templates to ensure consistency, coherence, and alignment across platforms and countries.

Partner Journey Management:

• Develop partner journey indicators in collaboration with M&E and Program teams to assess and improve the partner experience.
• Oversee the end-to-end partner journey, ensuring that partner experiences—onboarding, accompaniment, collaboration, and offboarding—are structured, meaningful, and values-aligned.

Partner Engagement & Accompaniment:

• Design partner accompaniment strategies and practices that reflect the Foundation’s enabling posture and principles of co-creation.
• Lead the design and execution of structured partner onboarding and offboarding experiences, ensuring a seamless and values-based transition across stages.

Capacity Building & Learning:

• Identify capacity gaps and lead the design and rollout of training, workshops, and learning sessions to strengthen program management and delivery capabilities.
• Coordinate with Foundation Academy, KM, and Research teams to ensure knowledge is codified, shared, and translated into action within Country and Technical teams.

Partner Collaboration & Feedback Loops:

• Facilitate communities of practice, peer learning exchanges, and collaborative spaces to foster mutual learning between partners and internal teams.
• Lead mechanisms to capture and act on partner feedback, including surveys, reflection sessions, and other partner-led inputs.

Operational Alignment and Change Leadership:

• Serve as a change leader, promoting adaptive delivery, continuous improvement, and accountability to results.
• Ensure Programming Excellence principles are embedded into the Foundation’s operating model and Ways of Working (WoW) frameworks.
• Partner with Integrated Teams to ensure standardization, alignment, and responsiveness to field realities.

Who You Are

• Professional certifications in Facilitation, Project Quality Management, Learning Design, or Operational Excellence are an asset.
• Proven track record in strategic planning, portfolio management, and large-scale program implementation across multiple countries or functions.
• Collaborative Influence: Works effectively across teams and functions; facilitates alignment and shared ownership.
• Service mindset for responsiveness to requests and striving towards becoming trusted business partners to drive common Foundation goals.
• Master’s Degree in Organizational Development, Education, Public Administration, Social Innovation, or a related field.
• High emotional intelligence, professional maturity, and cultural sensitivity.
• Possess professional maturity, sensitivity with different cultures, and impeccable integrity.
• Inclusive Leadership: Builds trust, invites multiple perspectives, and engages partners as co-creators.
• Experience in designing and facilitating high-impact learning, planning, or review sessions involving diverse stakeholders.
• Deep commitment to the Foundation’s mission, values, and youth-centered approach.
• Alignment and commitment to Foundation mission and values.
• Demonstrated ability to influence senior leaders, manage cross-functional stakeholders, and lead strategic initiatives with high degrees of complexity and ambiguity.
• A team player with strong self-direction balanced with a collaborative and creative approach, with the ability to work under minimal supervision.
• Possess excellent verbal, written, and presentation skills with the ability to articulate information to a variety of constituents across cultures and support a culture of change.
• Execution Excellence: Balances high standards with pragmatism; skilled at managing complexity.
• Deep experience managing operational systems, processes, and tools to drive program performance and governance.
• A highly analytical problem-solver and critical thinker who can define root cause, evaluate alternatives and find solutions effectively.
• Agile, adaptable, and able to execute a range of job duties and changing priorities.
• Aptitude for and keen interest in learning new information design and communication technology.
• Learning Orientation: Embraces experimentation, reflection, and agility in service of impact.
• Systems Thinking: Ability to design scalable, integrated solutions that promote coherence and continuous improvement.
• 12 - 15 years of work experience in Planning, Strategy and/or Project/Program management in both the private and public sectors.
• Strong knowledge of inclusive development principles and experience integrating gender, youth, or marginalized group lenses into operational frameworks.