Program Principal - IQ Talent Marketplace

Introduction and overview

The Education Outcomes Fund (EOF) is dedicated to improving education and employment outcomes for children and youth globally. Our small but mighty team is working at the cutting edge of development finance, leveraging our platform at the UN and our innovative, results-focused approach to change the way education is financed to support the next generation of youth.

EOF is looking for an exceptional senior professional to fill the role of Program Principal in EOF’s Program Team. If you are an outstanding problem solver, passionate about improving education and employment outcomes for children and youth, and looking for a challenge in a fast-paced, entrepreneurial environment, we would love to hear from you. Please send your CV and cover letter to [email protected] by End of Day Sunday 21 April. Please ensure that you include the role you’re applying for in the email subject line.

About the Education Outcomes Fund

There are few greater challenges faced by the global community than the twin crises of learning poverty and youth unemployment. In response, the Education Commission (chaired by Gordon Brown, former UK Prime Minister and UN Special Envoy for Global Education) and the Global Steering Group for Impact Investment (chaired by Sir Ronald Cohen) came together with our founding CEO (Her Excellency Dr.) Amel Karboul to create EOF. We aim to improve the education and employment outcomes of 10 million children and youth, by supporting governments to utilize a range of innovative finance instruments at scale, including outcomes funds and other results-based financing (RBF) instruments.

EOF supports improvements in the quality of education and skills programs, with a special focus on girls and underserved populations, including those in the hardest to reach rural areas. It measures (and pays for) what matters – both core skills like literacy and numeracy, but also critical 21st Century skills such as socio-emotional skills, ICT skills, and other broader fundamentals of a quality education. It helps close the persistent gap between the skills needed by employers and those attained by today’s youth.

For all the above, EOF pays primarily on the basis of the results achieved, ensuring that taxpayer-funded domestic resources, aid, and philanthropic funds are only used to pay for what works. This is a game-changing way to finance results in education, focusing attention and realigning systems on the most challenging but most important measure of a program’s performance: whether it is improving lives.

Together with our supporters, we believe this is the early stages of a much larger movement, with huge potential to increase learning outcomes for children and youth around the world, though improved aid effectiveness and government spending.

The opportunity

As EOF continues to expand, we are seeking an outstanding Program Principal to play a leading role in developing our rapidly growing pipeline of programs. The Program Principal role is a key leadership position to help determine the strategic direction of our programmatic portfolio, and we need a highly motivated and capable individual who shares our passion for the mission and has the capacity to ensure we succeed.

You will become a leader in our Program Team, working closely with governments, donors, and service providers/impact investors to oversee the design and implementation of programs and provide day to day guidance to Program Managers, as well as build on EOF’s thought leadership in this space. The Program Principal will report to EOF’s Chief Programs Officer and work in collaboration with the rest of the Program Team, as well as with the EOF CEO and Executive Committee.

If you want to contribute to a rapidly growing organisation, with an exciting mission, opportunities for a high level of responsibility and growth, and to become part of a strong team with a culture of growth and professional development, then EOF could be the place for you.

Travel to our program countries to work closely with Government and local stakeholders is an exciting part of this role, with occasional travel for organisational retreats as well. Within the program team, 4-6 trips per year would be typical, although more may be required.

About you

We’d love to hear from you if the following sounds like you:

1. Education:

• A minimum of a Master’s degree in economics, political science, finance, education or a related field.

2. Work experience:

• A minimum of 10 years relevant professional experience, including experience managing complex programs and teams. Relevant experience includes, but is not limited to, the following sectors:
• International development;
• Charity or public sectors;
• Strategy consulting;
• Think tanks/research institutes;
• Investment or development banking.
• Experience managing grants programs with required reporting requirements is required. Experience managing large complex projects (>10M USD) is an asset.
• Experience in education or skills for employment is required.
• Experience working at a senior level with governments and donors (comfortable working with and engaging at a C-Suite or Ministerial level) is required.
• Experience in innovative financing, in particular with RBF instruments or incentive structures, is strongly preferred.
• Experience working in Africa and/or the Middle East is preferred.
• Experience managing teams and supporting team members with their professional development is required. Experience managing remote teams is preferred.

3. Key competencies

We expect you to have the following skills and competencies:

• Exceptional problem solving skills: You are intellectually dexterous, able to pull insights from complex information, and recommend action based on these insights.
• Clear and confident communication skills: You are comfortable communicating with a range of stakeholders and can adapt your style according to the audience.
• Drive to achieve results: You take responsibility for and ownership of your performance, and are proactive in finding solutions to problems.
• Think and act strategically: You understand the big picture and are able to anticipate risks and identify strategic opportunities.
• Entrepreneurial mindset: You are dynamic and would be excited to contribute to EOF as a young and rapidly growing organisation. When you see things that could be improved, you put your hand up and help improve it, rather than being a passive bystander.
• Work collaboratively with others: You enjoy contributing to a wider team effort and collaborating with people from different backgrounds to achieve your goals, respecting differences and ensuring that all can contribute and succeed.
• Embrace change and uncertainty: You understand that our work is complex and dynamic, and respond to shifting priorities with composure and agility
• Demonstrate self-awareness and ethical awareness: You are self-aware of your own strengths, limitations, working style, and deeply held convictions and biases. You display ethical awareness through behaviours that are consistent and compliant with the standards of conduct for international civil servants, UNICEF’s values, and relevant UNICEF policies and procedures.

4. Languages

• Fluency in English is required.
• Fluency in French is preferred.

General information and application process

General information

• We have a global mandate and a global team, with staff based across most continents. However, most of our team are London-based, and candidates may need to be available during a significant portion of UK working hours (to be determined on a case-by-case basis).
• The indicative gross annual salary package is between GBP 90,000-110,000, with flexibility depending on the skills and experience of the selected candidate. This is for applicants based in London and will be adjusted based on the place of residence, in line with UN post adjustment rates. Upward mobility in salary is expected for strongly performing team members.
• This position will initially be for a 12-month consultant contract, although we are looking for permanent, full-time staff to join and help grow the organisation, subject to performance. Contracts will be renewed annually for all core team staff subject to performance, and there is the potential for some long-term core staff to move onto UN staff contracts, again subject to funding and performance.

Application process:

Shortlisted applicants will be invited to a written test, followed by multiple rounds of interviews and reference checks.

We encourage interested applicants to apply early as we will review applicants on a rolling basis.

Unfortunately, due to the potentially large number of applications, we will not be able to provide feedback to candidates that are not shortlisted.

EOF has a zero-tolerance policy on conduct that is incompatible with the aims and objectives of the United Nations, including sexual exploitation and abuse, sexual harassment, abuse of authority and discrimination. EOF also adheres to strict child safeguarding principles. All selected candidates will be expected to adhere to these standards and principles and will therefore undergo rigorous reference and background checks. Background checks will include the verification of academic credential(s) and employment history. Selected candidates may be required to provide additional information to conduct a background check.