Senior Regional Manager-Chief of Staff & Product Lead

GENERAL PROGRAM SUMMARY:

Mercy Corps is a leading global organization powered by the belief that a better world is possible. In disaster, in hardship, in more than 40 countries around the world, we partner to put bold solutions into action — helping people triumph over adversity and build stronger communities from within.

The Jobtech Alliance has a portfolio of grants which allows us to conduct a range of acceleration activities with jobtech start-ups. We partner with jobtech start-ups across 10 African markets to support strategy, product and operational innovations which make their services more viable and scalable, more inclusive and/or delivering better quality jobs for the users they serve. The program deploys a range of supports to start-ups including technical assistance, project delivery support, grant capital and connections to partners.

General Position

The Senior Regional Manager: Chief of Staff & Product Lead plays a key executive-level role on the Jobtech Alliance program. Operating as part of the ‘Office of the Program Directors’ across Mercy Corps and BFA Global, ensuring that tactics align to strategy, that priorities remain priorities, and that the organization has the product and systems to ensure effective delivery at speed and scale. The Jobtech Alliance seeks to utilize technology to deliver best-in-class ecosystem services and start-up acceleration, and this role ensures that we are set-up with the internal- and external-facing products to make this a reality.

Key Responsibilities

STRATEGY, PEOPLE, CULTURE & ACCOUNTABILITY (30%)

• Play a key role within executive function in strategy development across the board

• Lead coordination of quarterly OKR design, management and review, and the accountability metronome

• Ensure regular communication of decisions, cross-departmental coordination, and close engagement with department leads

• Design performance management systems and oversee execution

• Champion organizational culture and team satisfaction

• Support team structure and hiring decisions

• Support systems development for the Jobtech Alliance in integration with Mercy Corps procurement/finance systems to maximise efficiency and speed

PRODUCT LEAD / ORGANIZATIONAL AND ECOSYSTEM INTELLIGENCE SYSTEM (30%)

• Lead the development and maintenance of a sector-leading Jobtech Alliance’s Ecosystem Intelligence system. The product should (1) Drive quality of engagement with the ecosystem (2) Automate and improve internal processes and cross-lane collaboration; and (3) Function as an intelligence and decision-making engine for overall management and individual team members

• Collaborate with departments, including Venture Support team hosted at BFA, to identify specs

• Lead ongoing website updates to improve ecosystem engagement and outcomes

• Identify preferred technical maintenance model and manage contractors

SPECIAL PROJECTS (40%)

• Lead on other major priorities for the ‘Office of the Program Directors’, including market expansion, new opportunities, or support to specific teams that require it. Two current special projects underway include:

• Lead the Ecosystem Function for at least 6 months, to ensure (i) Seamless integration of Ecosystem Intelligence stack (ii) Clarified roles and responsibilities between team members (iii) A clear plan for Phase 2.

• Organizational Learning: Until Research & Learning Director is onboarded, manage calendar of monthly Learning Flywheel sessions, including working with team members to identify themes, and to ensure that sessions are effectively prepared by contacts. Ensure wiring between the organization, ongoing harvesting of insights, and a learning culture.

Supervisory Responsibility

Ecosystem Lead, Communications Manager

Accountability

Reports Directly To: Program Director, Jobtech Alliance

Works Directly With: Start-ups, External partners, Venture Partners, BFA Global, Finance/Contracts Manager, Mercy Corps country teams, Domain and Function Leads. .

Accountability to Participants and Stakeholders

Mercy Corps team members are expected to support all efforts toward accountability, specifically to our program participants, community partners, other stakeholders, and to international standards guiding international relief and development work. We are committed to actively engaging communities as equal partners in the design, monitoring and evaluation of our field projects.

Minimum Qualification & Transferable Skills

• A minimum of 10 years experience that combines work organizational management, and product

• A track record of building product and systems, diving into the depth of not just technological problems but team dynamics

• Experience as a Chief of Staff, supporting executive responsibilities across an organization

• A culture king/queen, who is passionate about people and driving organizational and team performance through culture

• Outstanding analytical capacity, with capacity to bring clarity for others and make quick decisions.

• Excellent EQ and communication skills, with capacity to work collaboratively with partners.

• Experience working in or with startups is a strong plus.

Success Factors

You are a culture king/queen, who is passionate about people and driving organizational and team performance through culture. You are a strategy-to-implementation master, who can meaningfully contribute to strategy in large and complex organizations, while managing a breadth of responsibilities and priorities simultaneously. You enjoy working on individual projects, but you also don’t mind being the metronome; keeping things ticking and ensuring that focus stays on the right things. You love getting into the details, unpacking complexity and making sense for people working on it; this applies to the products you build and the systems you set-up.

Living Conditions / Environmental Conditions

This role is based in Nairobi, Kenya

Ongoing Learning

In support of our belief that learning organizations are more effective, efficient and relevant to the communities we serve, we empower all team members to dedicate 5% of their time to learning activities that further their personal and/or professional growth and development

Team Engagement and Effectiveness

Achieving our mission starts with how we build our team and collaborate. By bringing together individuals with a variety of experiences, backgrounds, and perspectives, we strengthen our ability to solve complex challenges and drive innovation. We foster a culture of trust and respect, where every team member is valued for their contributions, empowered to reach their full potential, and motivated to do their best work.

We recognize that building a strong and effective team is an ongoing process, and we remain committed to learning, improving, and growing together.

Equal Employment Opportunity

Mercy Corps is an equal opportunity employer that does not tolerate discrimination on any basis. We actively seek out different backgrounds, perspectives, and skills so that we can be collectively stronger and have sustained global impact.

We are committed to providing an environment of respect and psychological safety where equal employment opportunities are available to all. We do not engage in or tolerate discrimination on the basis of race, color, gender identity, gender expression, religion, age, sexual orientation, national or ethnic origin, disability (including HIV/AIDS status), marital status, military veteran status or any other protected group in the locations where we work.

Safeguarding & Ethics

Mercy Corps is committed to ensuring that all individuals we come into contact with through our work, whether team members, community members, program participants or others, are treated with respect and dignity. We are committed to the core principles regarding prevention of sexual exploitation and abuse laid out by the UN Secretary General and IASC and have signed on to the Interagency Misconduct Disclosure Scheme. We will not tolerate child abuse, sexual exploitation, abuse, or harassment by or of our team members. As part of our commitment to a safe and inclusive work environment, team members are expected to conduct themselves in a professional manner, respect local laws and customs, and to adhere to Mercy Corps Code of Conduct Policies and values at all times. Team members are required to complete mandatory Code of Conduct elearning courses upon hire and on an annual basis.

As an applicant, if you witness or experience any form of sexual misconduct during the recruitment process, please report this to Mercy Corps Integrity Hotline (integrityhotline@mercycorps.org).