This is an interim backfill role to cover for an employee who will be out on parental leave. The duration of the assignment is targeted for 12-18 months starting in August 2019. However, the start and end dates may change.
FSP is a dynamic team working at the frontier of technology, financial services, economic development and women’s economic empowerment. We aim to expand the availability of affordable and reliable financial services that serve the needs of all, especially the poorest, so that everyone has the opportunity to build more prosperous and secure lives for themselves, their families, and their communities.
The Deputy Director, Strategy Planning & Management (DDSPM) role provides the link between a program team’s strategy and their operations. You will be responsible for leading the strategic, financial, operational and human resource aspects of FSP and ensuring that we remain a productive, functional, happy and high-performing team.
You will manage the Strategy, Management and Planning (SPM) team, comprised of our program coordinators and finance partner; which has an open, friendly and collaborative culture. In addition to the SPM team, you will be a key member of the FSP leadership team, working closely with the Deputy Directors to manage their initiative pipelines, partnering with the FSP Director on management and strategy matters, and coordinating closely with the Senior Program Assistant to ensure that day-to-day team operations run smoothly.
The chief duties of this role are guiding the planning for the team’s annual strategy reviews with the Co-Chairs and annual financial planning process, including framing and analysis on issues and investments central to strategy and execution, ongoing investment pipeline and portfolio management. You will also be on point for designing quarterly team retreats and coordinating with central operations and divisional teams to implement new business processes and tools within FSP. This will require you to be highly organized, able to work with a broad range of people and be a solver of problems and resolver of conflicts both large and small, strategic and interpersonal.
Strategy development, refinement and management:
- Lead the process, set the direction and execute the process for strategic planning; including articulation of annual strategic priorities.
- Serve as a strategic thought partner to the Director and program staff to provide ongoing strategy development, process monitoring, and evaluation of function and core processes.
- Drive alignment of team’s work to strategy and implementation plans. Design analytical model to define strategy metrics, progress metrics and setting of targets and goals. Continuously refine data, metrics and models.
- Lead or co-lead complex strategic projects that are often cross-functional in nature.
- Cultivate insights and story to communicate portfolio allocation and progress.
Team development and people management:
- Partner with support functions (including Human Resources) and program/functional team management to lead, recruit, develop and train staff who support the activities needed to plan, execute and achieve the strategic plan.
- Responsible for overall “Rhythm of the Business” and meeting structure across the team.
- Promote culture, values, and team effectiveness, including regular team health checks. May design organization structure, facilitate retreats and cross-organization collaboration.
- Monitor succession planning, team performance and development.
- Support Director with workforce planning.
Portfolio and financial management and advising on investments:
- Develop and lead budgets and forecasts. Partner with Finance on the development and maintenance of division's grant and contracts pipeline.
- Core team member and critical advisor in making data-driven investment decisions (provide complementary strategic and investment acumen to the scientific/technical expertise of the Program Officers).
- Develop and execute portfolio and advisory support to program team(s) on development and management of major grants; including identifying success metrics for strategy, portfolio, and individual grants and developing processes/tools to ensure alignment of activities with strategy success.
Serving as a trusted advisor to the Director:
- Act as “sounding board” to the Director on a broad set of topics impacting the overall management of the Programs and Functions (e.g., team effectiveness, management issues, addressing broader Foundation requests, relationships with other Functions/Programs, alignment with leadership, etc).
Cross-foundation/cross-division improvement initiatives
- Contribute to continuous improvement efforts as part of cross-foundation DDSPM community of practice.
- Support implementation of new processes.
- Support continuous improvement and change management initiatives including contribution to the design of processes, policies, and organization to improve efficiency and impact of team’s activities.
We believe that energized people, working well together, fueled by great leadership in an inclusive environment in which they thrive, will do extraordinary things.
We are looking for people who enjoy the opportunity of working on complex problems and collectively building solutions that have the potential for transformative change in the lives of people around the world. We seek a creative and curious leader who has an excellent track record of achievement and leadership in roles of growing responsibility. You should be prepared to work across a diverse set of disciplines, bridging a wide range of expertise all the while being a teammate, with a proven ability to work with flexibility, efficiency and diplomacy in an exciting, challenging environment. We are particularly interested in professionals who will be able to successfully take on the operational dimensions of the role and also have functional experience that can contribute to the development of the FSP team strategy (for example a background in management consulting, academic research, regulatory policy, government advocacy, international development or fintech) as there will be scope for you to take on and drive strategy-relevant projects during your time with the team. A knowledge of the financial inclusion and economic development fields will be a strong advantage. Additionally, we seek:
- Demonstrated ability to lead people and teams to effectively achieve clear, yet complex goals and objectives.
- Experience in working effectively with senior decision makers as it pertains to strategy development and operations.
- Demonstrated ability in portfolio design and management to create optimal investment mix to work towards a set of outcomes.
- Experience developing and handling strong partnerships and relationships both inside and outside the organization, handling conflicts, and building consensus.
- Ability to lead and influence data-driven strategy planning and implementation.
- Effective collaborator and experience working in a matrix environment
- Proven strength in structured problem solving and strategic business planning, with the ability to easily identify and communicate frameworks to analyze issues and synthesize disparate information.
- Adept at project management; including critical path thinking, detail orientation, setting priorities, and planning.
- Strong technical and financial knowledge; including the ability to communicate data and results to inform sound strategic and tactical decisions. Experience developing, evaluating, managing, and monitoring business plans, budgets and financial reports.
- High level of cultural competence.
- Ability to travel up to 10% domestically and internationally.
- Passion for the Foundation’s values with a commitment to deliver results against the Foundation’s mission.