Full-Time Director, Strategy, Learning & Impact
Job Description
ABOUT HUMANITY UNITED:
Humanity United is a foundation committed to building peace and advancing human freedom. We lead, support, and collaborate with a broad network of efforts, ideas, and organizations that share our vision of a world free of conflict and injustice.
Humanity United is a member of the Omidyar Group, representing the philanthropic, personal, and professional interests of Pierre and Pam Omidyar.
POSITION SUMMARY
The Director of Strategy, Learning and Impact will focus on strategy, analytics, research, results measurement and learning. Success for this position will mean that HU’s strategies create measurable, sustainable social change and that HU becomes a best-in-class learning organization that consistently learns from its failures as well as its successes.
This role will support the Head of Strategy, Learning and Impact in the provision of strategic analysis and advice into the development and implementation of HU’s strategic initiatives. He or she will also be responsible for collaborating with, and learning from, the other organizations in HU’s broader family of entities, the Omidyar Group, with respect to strategy, learning and impact matters.
In addition, the role will oversee (in collaboration with HU’s investment teams and learning and impact staff) the design and implementation of a new learning model for Humanity United that covers organizational, initiative and individual-level learning. The learning model will enable HU to understand and evaluate both immediate programmatic impacts and how those impacts contribute to sustainable systems-level social change.
Essential Duties and Responsibilities:
Strategy
– Develop a systems-based framework and approach for HU’s strategic planning
– Create an integrated cycle of planning, monitoring and evaluating, learning, and
adaptation across the organization
– Facilitate and coordinate the review of, and updates to, HU’s overall strategy – including recommendations on developing new programs/modifying current ones
– Prepare summaries of HU’s strategy to help instill clarity internally and coordinate
communication efforts for that purpose
– Provide support and oversight to Investments staff who are embedded in various
program areas, which includes assisting at country-level with designing evaluation
strategies and tools, data collection, verification, analysis and reporting
– Provide strategic analysis and recommendations to support board and executive
management’s decision making and resolution of strategic issues
– Develop, in partnership with Learning and Impact staff, relevant policies and
procedures pertaining to strategic planning, learning and impact
– Reflect the direction and learnings of the broader Omidyar Group of organizations,
which are representative of the interests of HU’s founders, in developing HU’s
strategies
– Partner with communications team to ensure that accurate and compelling data is
integrated into key communications messages
Learning
– Manage Strategy, Learning and Impact strategies, practices, activities and staff in a way that results in improved impact
– Oversee with Learning and Impact staff the development of a learning model for HU that identifies and instills capabilities and processes that will enable HU to become a best in class learning organization
– Support the learning processes and capacity of HU’s partners, including grantees and co-funders with Learning and Impact staff
– Support and respond to learning needs of HU’s staff as they relate to creating an enabling environment for HU’s work
– Instill capabilities, processes and pathways internally to ensure that we become a best in class learning organization – this includes the use of cutting edge research to keep abreast of trends and innovations, in order to provide strategic feedback and course correct our strategies
– Build internal alignment, capacity and support for the next stage of our evolving learning, knowledge management and sharing, and evaluation approaches
– Promote a culture of reflection, learning and data-based decision making
Impact
– Lead efforts to analyze and measure HU’s impact, innovation and influence within the systems in which we operate, including working with and learning from HU’s founders and its sibling organizations in the Omidyar Group
– Develop, implement and manage internal systems for conducting ongoing outcomes measurement and assessment
– Consolidate all current tools and practices for measuring impact to ensure cohesive, consistent, high quality data collection and analysis
– Provide assistance and support to grantees to help strengthen their capacity to practice integrated planning, learning and evaluation
– Summarize and report impact of grants on recipients and communities against overall program goals
– Developing and implementing monitoring, reporting, compliance training for staff (including building core competencies of learning and impact for staff through training)
– Contribute a strong evaluation and impact planning perspectives to all strategy development, grantmaking and initiative reviews, and application discussions.
Qualifications:
– Minimum of 10 years post graduate experience as a strategy professional, with at least 5 years leading a strategy function
– Demonstrated flexibility and non-dogmatic approach to strategy development
– Experience implementing strategies and managing operational challenges
– Strong performance measurement background with experience with both
quantitative and qualitative research methods, tool design and validation
– Advanced degree required with a preference for an MBA or a PhD
– Excellent analytical, strategy and financial analysis skills
– Strong problem solving skills combined with a track record of pivoting in response
to opportunities and challenges
– Understanding of systems thinking and complexity science
– Must be able to facilitate challenging debates and have solid interpersonal skills
– High tolerance for ambiguity, and ability to adapt to changing priorities, strategic
frameworks and definitions of success
– Deep sense of curiosity, with a demonstrated interest in learning and ability to turn
learnings into actionable strategies
– Strong collaborative manager with evidence of at least 7 years of successful
experience managing people and processes
– Experience in the human rights, peacebuilding or comparable fields
– Demonstrated self-starter, able to work independently, with experience working in
entrepreneurial organizations
– Highly versatile skills and “roll up the sleeves” attitude
– Well organized and self-directed; politically savvy and a team player – able to
share information and collaborate effectively across multiple functions and
geographies, with both internal and external partners
– Demonstrated ability to produce results in a high performance environment
– Outstanding interpersonal, communication, relationship-building and negotiation
skills (i.e. ability to listen as well as persuade)
– Ability to travel both domestically and internationally as needed to perform the job (10% – 20%)
– A background in assessment related specifically to impact investing is a bonus
Main Leadership Competencies:
Team building
Influencing
Driving and managing change
Building partnerships/alignment
Creating vision and strategy
Technical Competencies:
Strategic analysis and planning
People and process management • Program design
Program evaluation
Learning