Team Lead Innovation & Venture Building*

The position is to be filled as soon as possible, with an initial contract duration until December 31, 2025. There are good prospects for an extension. Employment location can be either in Bonn/Berlin, Germany (preferred), or in one of Welthungerhilfe’s East African country offices. For employment outside Germany (e.g. East Africa), it is essential to have a valid work permit for the respective country. Please add your work permit and residency status details to your application.

Are you passionate about (digital) innovation and an expert in developing and scaling innovative products, services, and businesses in the Global South? As Team Lead Innovation & Venture Building, you will be part of Welthungerhilfe’s (WHH) global Innovation Unit, building ventures that contribute to ‘Zero Hunger’ from idea stage up to (social) business registration. Currently WHH’s Innovation Unit manages a portfolio of 12 digital and non-digital innovation products and is invested in 6 social businesses.

Your responsibilities

• Strategy Development: Develop and implement our innovation strategy and objectives, primarily focusing on incubation aspects (from ideation, testing and prototyping, to business model development and validation), while ensuring its aligned with the WHH’s global strategy
• Leadership & Team Management: Recruit, lead, and mentor a global team of innovation project managers, fostering a culture of creativity, curiosity, and continuous improvement
• Project Planning & Steering: Oversee the end-to-end incubation process, from ideation to social business creation; Develop, plan and steer (multi-country) innovation projects and ensure the implementation is in time and within budget
• Client Engagement: Oversee our collaborations with “incubation clients” (usually local NGO partners, businesses, as well as in-house teams) with whom we implement projects and develop products; Advise clients and partners on technical, methodological, business planning and implementation aspects
• Pipeline Development & Fundraising: Drive the identification, evaluation, and prioritization of innovation ideas/products, in particular through our annual WHH innovation competition called InnoLab; Implement our innovation fundraising strategy through high quality proposal and a professional project life-cycle management
• Partner Collaboration: Design and implement suitable partnership models with academia, the private sector, non-profit organizations, and government stakeholders; Foster cross-functional teams, bringing together experts from different WHH units and country offices to work on innovation initiatives
• Communication & Reporting: Communicate progress, impact, and challenges of innovation projects to senior management and key stakeholders; Represent the Innovation Unit internally and externally

Your profile

• A university or college degree in Innovation, Business, International Relations or similar
• Experience with agile project management (SCRUM) and Design Thinking
• Good understanding of and experience in international development cooperation, proposal writing and budget planning is an asset
• Experience working with or for an incubator, accelerator, start-up, venture builder or impact investor, specifically in the Global South would be a strong asset
• Passion about innovation, digitalization, venture building and social impact in the Global South
• Excellent analytical and problem solving skills
• Excellent communication and moderation skills, cultural awareness, and experience in interacting with senior stakeholders (including governments, donors, and partners)
• Ability to work under pressure and in challenging local conditions
• Self-starter, hands-on and team-player personality
• Readiness to receive necessary vaccinations for working in Welthungerhilfe’s project countries
• Excellent written and spoken English language skills; German and/or French would be an asset

Our offer

We offer you the opportunity to work in a responsible and interesting field as part of an extremely dedicated team. Welthungerhilfe attaches great importance to the personal and professional development of its employees and the balance of their work and private life. This includes flexible working hours as well as working from home. Remuneration is based on our gender-independent salary scale. In addition, Welthungerhilfe offers numerous other benefits, which are listed under “Our benefits”.