Director, Strategic Initiatives

About the role

GiveDirectly is scaling its cash‑transfer model and needs a senior leader to design and evaluate external pathways that can dramatically increase delivery capacity. Reporting to the Chief of Staff, you will work closely with the Executive team, Country Directors and external partners to shape multi‑hundred‑million‑dollar strategies.

Key responsibilities

• Build and prioritize a portfolio of external options – from institutional data partnerships to telco and payment provider arrangements – and rank them on scale, speed, feasibility and cost.
• Run primary diligence on high‑potential options, engage directly with potential partners, regulators and counsel, and deliver defensible recommendations.
• Advance selected opportunities from recommendation to live pilot, managing counter‑party relationships and coordinating cross‑functional internal work.
• Define and run competitive solicitations, craft precise RFPs, set selection criteria and evaluate responses.
• Lead negotiations with UN agencies, INGOs, mobile network operators and government bodies, guiding engagements from first contact to signed agreements.
• Produce analysis and written recommendations that enable Executive decision‑making on resource allocation.

Required profile

• Proven experience leading broad, ambiguous mandates in consulting, strategy or operations, preferably at Director or Team‑Lead level.
• Strong analytical instincts with the ability to build comparable estimates for structurally different options.
• Negotiation expertise, especially with institutional partners, and the ability to assess incentives and compliance requirements.
• Clear, direct communication skills that influence senior stakeholders with concise, well‑structured recommendations.
• Alignment with GiveDirectly’s values and a track record of delivering high‑stakes strategic decisions.

What we offer

• Base salary (US: $131,250 / UK: £91,900 / Kenya: $106,280) plus a benefits stipend.
• Target bonus of 15% of base salary.
• Term‑limited contract through December 2027 with potential to become permanent.
• Opportunity to shape strategies that could affect delivery of hundreds of millions of dollars.