Programme Management Lead

Hybrid (London & Remote) with occasional international travel

Fixed term contract for 12 months

Save the Children UK has an exciting opportunity for a collaborative and influential individual with project management experience to join us as our Programme Management Lead in our Global Programmes division to ensure the effective management of programmes and associated awards in our East and Southern Africa portfolio and lead a team of Senior Programme Managers and Programme Managers for the portfolio’s work.

About Us

Save the Children UK believes every child deserves a future. In the UK and around the world, we work every day to give children a healthy start in life, the opportunity to learn and protection from harm. When crisis strikes, and children are most vulnerable, we are always among the first to respond and the last to leave. We ensure children’s unique needs are met and their voices are heard. We deliver lasting results for millions of children, including those hardest to reach.

About the role

As the Programme Management Lead you will support to the Senior Programme Managers (SPMs) and Programme Managers (PMs) who are responsible for the day-to-day management of the programmes and related awards part of the portfolio. You will be responsible for providing assurance that risks are managed and mitigated and issues are handled in an effective manner, as well as driving the implementation of the Countries as Agent of Change (COAC) agenda, ensuring our efforts are primarily driven by country needs and priorities and strengthening the in- country teams’ capacities.

The Programme Management Lead defines and implements the resource mobilisation and funding management strategies and priorities for the portfolio and will act as SCUK’s regional or sub-regional ‘expert’ for the organisation, acting as a ‘desk’ within SCUK for any primary queries or briefings, and helping support an effective interface between SCUK and the relevant Regional Office (RO) and Country Offices / SC Members (CO).

The Programme Management Lead works closely with a wide range of SCUK stakeholders, including senior leadership staff. Within the Save the Children movement, the role is expected to interact with Senior Management Teams at the RO and COs, teams at SCI-centre and other SC Members.

In this role, you will:

Support to in-country strategic quality programming

• Lead the COAC (Country Offices as Agent of Change) agenda across senior leadership in SCUK, by making the COs’ priorities, analysis and decision-making the centre of SCUK support to Save the Children
• Lead and ensure that the implementation of SCUK funding strategies are aligned with and in support of Country Strategic Plans (CSPs) in the COs covered by their
• Build and maintain relevant donor relationships at regional or multi-country programme level, serving as the focal point for HQ-level donor staff, for the regions and/or programmes under the

Lead resource mobilisation strategies

• Define, in close collaboration with the relevant Regional Office and/or account management teams and with input from SPMs, SCUK funding strategies and priorities for the countries and/or programmes under their Contribute to the achievement of organisational funding targets, by leading strategic conversations and acting as relationship broker across relevant teams in SCUK and SCI.
• Identify areas of potential growth in funding within the region or with the donors under their remit, based on information provided by relevant teams. Provide support to SPMs and PMs in materialising this potential growth as they develop specific funding

Risk management and portfolio oversight

• Provide oversight, support for the management of the funding portfolio under their responsibility, accountable for the overall performance related to their portfolio. Responsible for decision- making on complex issues, representing a medium to high risk, that raise in their
• Together with SPMs, keep a comprehensive view and monitoring of risks and issues developed across the Identify and act upon systemic challenges and barriers to quality programming and funding within the region and/or programmes under their remit.
• Accountable for KPI performance and monitoring of data quality related to programme and funding Provide comparative analysis and identify systemic barriers to quality programming and funding management to relevant stakeholders (Programme Management Team, PP, SCUK, SCI).

Team leadership and management

• Line management of 7-9 people, across SPMs and PMs working in their portfolio, with focus on setting and review of annual objectives and priorities, facilitating professional development, monitoring well- being and implementing line management
• Provide effective and timely day-to-day support and manage workload for SPMs working in their
• Key contributor to the development of the Programme Management Team’s annual workplans and strategies, as well as to the Programme Partnerships Department’s strategies, including the department’s commitment to Lead the implementation of such plans and strategies within their team’s remit.

About you

To be successful, it is important that you have:

• Significant experience of working in the international aid sector, including in overseas roles, with practical experience and understanding of related contextual and operational Good working knowledge of one or more countries supported by SCUK.
• Extensive experience in managing large, diverse and complex funding portfolios, across different donors and countries, and with risk management
• Extensive experience working with institutional donors such as FCDO, UN and multilateral agencies (e.g. UNICEF, OCHA, World Bank), as well as corporate and philanthropies donors, particularly in areas of project and grant/contract management, donor compliance requirements, operational support
• Experience in people management and strong leadership skills, with capacity to provide clear and effective direction. Familiar with matrix management or similar non-traditional team management set-ups.
• Experience of establishing strong working relationships with colleagues from different organisations, functions, and cultures
• Willingness to travel
• Commitment to Save the Children’s vision, mission and values.

To learn more about the position, please review the Job Description in the attached Documents.

What we offer you:

Working for a charity provides one of the best benefits there is – a sense of purpose and reward for helping others. However, we understand the importance of giving back to our employees to ensure a happy and healthy working environment and work/life balance.

• We focus on flexibility, inclusion, collaboration, health and wellbeing both in and outside of work.
• We provide a wide range of benefits which will reward your hard work, motivate you, and inspire you to work to improve the lives of children every day. You can read more about our benefits here.

Closing date: 26/02/2023

Please note:

To avoid disappointment, you are advised to submit your application as soon as possible as we reserve the right to close the vacancy early if a high volume of applications are received. This is to ensure that we can manage application levels whilst maintaining a positive candidate experience. Unfortunately once a vacancy has closed, we are unable to consider further applications.

Ways of Working:

Remote First – The majority of our roles can be performed remotely, however you may work from the office as often as you wish. Whilst you will be predominantly working from home, we may at times require you to come to your contracted office (up to 2-4 days per month or 6-8 days per quarter). Note: This will be agreed with your Line Manager and team. This is intended to be time spent on collaborating with colleagues and relationship building.

On-site – There are certain roles that cannot be performed remotely and so your role will be based in an office location and you may occasionally be able to work from home.

Flexible Working – We are happy to discuss flexible working options at interview**.**

Commitment to Diversity & Inclusion:

Save the Children UK believes in a world that is fair, inclusive and equitable where all children have the opportunity to change their world. We apply this to our workforce and we are committed to developing and supporting a diverse, equitable, and inclusive organisation where all employees have a sense of belonging and feel that they can be “Free to Be Me”. We are not looking for just one type of person – we want to recruit people who can add fresh perspectives, innovative ideas or challenge that disrupts the risk of group think.

We are especially interested in people whose childhood experiences – of life on a low income, of migration, of being in a racialised community, of the care system, of being LGBT+ or in an LGBT+ family or living with (or with someone with) a disability – help us to see things we might otherwise miss. Whatever your story is we want to hear it because we know that different voices, ideas, perspectives and knowledge, working together will enable us to better the lives of children around the world. This is the reason why we are all here.