WASH Program Design Director

Position description

Water Mission is a Christian engineering nonprofit that builds safe water solutions for people in developing countries, refugee camps, and disaster areas. Since 2001, Water Mission has served more than 8 million people in 60 countries, sharing safe water and the message of God’s love. Working at Water Mission is as much a calling as it is a career, and we are searching for people with the courage, passion, and drive to help us change the world. Read more about our Statement of Faith and Our Christian Mission.

What is the opportunity?

The WASH Program Design Director will lead the development and enhancement of Water Mission’s WASH programs globally. This strategic role involves designing innovative, sustainable, and culturally appropriate solutions to ensure access to safe water, sanitation, and hygiene practices in underserved communities. The ideal candidate will possess a strong background in program design, project management, and community engagement, coupled with a passion for improving health and well-being in vulnerable populations. In addition, this position will collaborate with the Monitoring, Evaluation, and Learning team to support the implementation, monitoring, and evaluation of Water Mission’s global WASH Programming. This full-time position reports to the Senior Director of Program Design & Standards at Water Mission’s global headquarters in Charleston, SC, USA.

A successful Program Design Director will:

• Maintain a strong Christian witness and model servant leadership to colleagues, partners, the communities we serve, and the public.
• Engage and participate in prayer before and after team meetings.
• Lead and participate in biblically based staff devotions.
• WASH Program Design.
  • Lead the design of comprehensive WASH programs, ensuring alignment with Water Mission’s mission and best practices.
  • Conduct market assessments and community needs assessments to inform program development.
  • Develop technical guidelines, best practice documents, and training materials for WASH interventions.
  • Assist in the design and development of Water Mission’s monitoring and impact measurement management.
  • Provide WASH technical support for disaster response operations when needed including supporting other staff in assessing, designing, and implementing WASH elements of disaster response programs.
  • Proactively seek out best practices and latest methodologies, technologies, tools, and developments in WASH through self-directed study and learning; integrate learning into Water Mission’s program implementation strategies.
  • Serve as a WASH subject matter expert for the organization.
  • Transform and visualize program data to inform decision-making.
  • Ensure and maintain high standards for data analysis and data visualization, using appropriate methods.
  • Identify relevant trends in the WASH sector, relevant to Water Mission programming.
• Data Interpretation and Applied Learning.
  • Foster a learning culture across Water Mission.
  • Lead regular meetings with in-country leadership to discuss program successes, share learnings, and address challenges.
  • Lead the development and maintenance of program log frames; evaluate if programs have desired outputs and outcomes.
  • Regularly share program outcomes and learnings with the programs team.
  • Use data-driven insights to refine and improve program design and implementation processes.
  • Represent Water Mission at conferences, workshops, and meetings to promote the organization’s WASH initiatives.
  • Assist in the development of evaluation and research study design for Water Mission internal initiatives, donor groups, and granting institutions.
  • Provide technical assistance and training to staff and partners in WASH program design and community engagement strategies.
  • Support knowledge sharing and the development of a learning culture within the organization.
  • Provide technical assistance and training to staff and partners in WASH program design and community engagement strategies.
  • Support knowledge sharing and the development of a learning culture within the organization.
• Leadership and Engagement.
  • Provide leadership and development to direct reports. Work with staff to foster an environment of professional growth, in alignment with Water Mission’s strategies and objectives. Consults with peer management and senior leaders to successfully align departmental resources and priorities across Water Mission.
  • Interface with other departments that collect information and data (e.g., marketing and communications, business intelligence and/or IT) to minimize duplication of effort, build cooperation and support the growth of quality information gathering across the organization and data visualization.
  • Contribute to or prepare and administer the annual budget and departmental expenses, ensuring accountability for on-time completion of deliverables based on department objectives, division objectives, and other Water Mission standards, ensuring compliance with policies.
  • Manage and develop assigned staff, establishing goals and objectives, coach and manage performance, including discipline, motivation, and annual reviews; support continuous learning and development that enhances individual performance and organizational capability.
  • Draw on multi-country field exposure to advise program managers, field office staff, and leadership on relevant programmatic issues when requested and through contribution to and/or leadership of multi-departmental project, creative thinking, and analysis teams.
  • Lead direct reports in the presentation of research findings to large audiences in a consumable way to engage non-research staff in research results. Personally present research findings as well.
• Other Duties as Assigned.

What is required?

• Personal and growing relationship with Jesus Christ.
• Alignment with Water Mission’s Statement of Faith and core values of Love, Excellence, and Integrity.
• Master’s degree in public health, Environmental Engineering, International Development, or a related field.
• Minimum of 7-10 years of experience in WASH program design and implementation, preferably in a non-profit or international development context.
• Strong understanding of water supply, sanitation, hygiene promotion, and community-led approaches.
• Proven experience in project management, including budgeting, reporting, and evaluation.
• Ability to work in diverse cultural settings and build relationships with various stakeholders.
• Proficiency in data analysis and use of monitoring and evaluation methodologies.
• International field experience, especially in East Africa and Latin America, preferred.
• Working familiarity with integral mission required.
• Experience with presenting results to stakeholders through a variety of mediums.
• Project planning and management experience required.
• Fluency in reading, writing, and speaking English is required.
• Written and verbal Spanish language proficiency strongly preferred.
• Advanced word processing and spreadsheet software skills required.
• Ability and willingness to travel up to 15-20 percent of the time, mostly in developing countries. Most international trips are 10-14 days in length and require this person to ride in long car rides on rough terrain and stand for long periods of time in hot weather.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills, including the ability to clearly articulate ideas and feedback constructively.
• Home internet bandwidth strong enough to support video conferencing and other job-related responsibilities.
• Commitment to ending the global water crisis.
• Legal authorization to work in the United States without sponsorship.

Application instructions

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