Director, Programming Excellence

THE OPPORTUNITY

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. 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.

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.

WAYS YOU CAN CONTRIBUTE

1. Programming Standards, Processes, and Quality Assurance

• Develop, refine, and maintain the Foundation’s programming processes, standards, toolkits, and templates to ensure consistency, coherence, and alignment across platforms and countries.
• 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.

2. Partner Journey Management

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

3. Partner Engagement & Accompaniment

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

4. 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.

5. Partner Collaboration & Feedback Loops

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

6. Operational Alignment and Change Leadership

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

WHO YOU ARE

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

The Mastercard Foundation values the unique skills and experiences each individual brings to the organization and we are committed to creating and maintaining an inclusive and accessible environment for everyone.

Completion of satisfactory business references and background checks are essential conditions of employment.
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