COUNTRY DIRECTOR - RWANDA

Job Description

JOB SUMMARY

CARE Rwanda is seeking a Country Director (CD) to provide overall leadership and strategic direction for all operations within the country office, ensuring alignment with CARE’s global mission to save lives, combat poverty, and promote social justice. 

CARE seeks a visionary leader whose approach, experience, and behaviors reflect the following attributes: 

• Leads with Purpose and Clarity 
• Adapts to Complex Contexts 
• Demonstrates an Entrepreneurial Mindset 
• Models Integrity and Accountability 
• Builds and Empowers Diverse Teams 
• Engages and Influences Externally 
• Drives Operational Discipline and Risk Awareness 

The Country Director is accountable for program quality, operational excellence, and risk management in complex and fragile contexts, ensuring that resources are effectively managed and compliance standards are met. As CARE’s primary representative, the CD cultivates and maintains high-level relationships with government authorities, donors, civil society, and the private sector. The role requires proactive resource mobilization, including developing innovative funding streams beyond traditional bilateral and institutional donors, and positioning the organization as a trusted and influential partner. 

In this role, the CD champions innovation in programming, advancing community-led and locally owned solutions that meet the needs of vulnerable populations, especially women and girls. By fostering inclusive partnerships, the CD strengthens organizational resilience and sustainability, adapting to shifting political, economic, and security dynamics. 

The CD also leads, mentors, and inspires a diverse team, driving a culture of accountability, learning, safety, and inclusion. With entrepreneurial thinking and visionary leadership, the person in this role ensures high performance, sustainable impact, and transformative change for communities.

RESPONSIBILITIES

Strategy and Execution

• Lead the development and execution of the Country Office’s multi-year strategy, ensuring alignment with CARE’s global and regional priorities while responding to the national development agenda. 
• Drive organizational transformation and entrepreneurial innovation in roles, systems, and approaches, ensuring the CO remains agile, relevant, and competitive in a fast-changing environment. 
• Exercise adaptive and opportunity-driven leadership, tailoring strategies to shifting political, social, and economic contexts while leveraging emerging opportunities. 
• Build organizational capacity for strategic foresight and scenario planning, enabling evidence-based decision-making and resilience to shocks.

People Leadership and Development

• Provide visionary leadership to a diverse team, cultivating a culture of innovation, inclusion, collaboration, accountability, and alignment with CARE’s values. 
• Champion a results-oriented environment by setting clear expectations, monitoring performance, and driving continuous improvement. 
• Identify and develop exceptional talent, ensuring robust succession planning, leadership pathways, and entrepreneurial thinking across all levels. 
• Strengthen resilience and organizational continuity through innovative knowledge transfer and capacity-building processes.

Resource Mobilization & Representation

• Design and implement comprehensive resource mobilization strategies to secure diversified funding from institutional, multilateral, philanthropic, and private sector partners. 
• Cultivate and expand relationships with traditional and emerging donors, government institutions, civil society, and private sector actors. 
• Apply business-minded leadership to explore innovative financing models, including impact investments, CSR partnerships, social enterprises, and local resource generation, to strengthen sustainability. 
• Represent CARE externally, positioning the CO as a credible and influential partner, enhancing its visibility, and shaping donor and policy agendas.

Operational Excellence & Risk Management

• Oversee operational systems to ensure efficiency, cost-effectiveness, and compliance with CARE global standards. 
• Lead risk management and safeguarding efforts to protect staff, partners, and program participants, ensuring strong security, fraud mitigation, and regulatory compliance. 
• Ensure financial sustainability through effective budgeting, cost recovery, and prudent allocation of resources. 
• Monitor and adjust management structures to remain fit-for-purpose and proportionate to income.

Program Quality and Impact

• Ensure that programs are evidence-based, community-centered, and innovative, leveraging technology, entrepreneurial models, and digital solutions to deliver scalable and transformative impact. 
• Ensure compliance with program quality standards, M&E systems, and timely delivery of high-quality projects. 
• Foster local ownership by strengthening civil society capacity, co-creating solutions, and advancing CARE’s localization agenda. 
• Leverage partnerships with government, private sector, and communities to scale innovation and deepen program impact.

Required Qualifications:

• Bachelor’s Degree in related field
• 6-8 years in senior management position in development field.
• Partnership Development: Expertise in cultivating, managing, and leveraging partnerships across sectors, including government, NGOs, and local organizations.
• Advocacy: Strong skills in influencing government policy and representing CARE’s interests in various forums.
• Team Management: Proficiency in recruiting, developing, and managing teams, including the ability to build the skills of existing staff and manage diverse teams across different contexts.
• Risk Management: Ability to identify, assess, and mitigate risks to ensure the safety and effectiveness of programs.
• Resource Mobilization: Experience in engaging with donors and securing funding to support program initiatives.
• Program Oversight: Strong skills in overseeing program implementation, ensuring innovation, quality, and alignment with strategic objectives.
• Cross-Sectoral Coordination: Ability to coordinate efforts across multiple sectors to achieve common goals.
• Operational Management: Managing operations, particularly in direct implementation contexts, to ensure efficient and effective service delivery.
• Diplomacy & Representation: Strong diplomatic skills, with experience working within cluster systems and representing the organization to external stakeholders.
• External Relations: Ability to foster cooperation with local and international actors, ensuring that partnerships contribute to organizational objectives.
• Change Management: Strategically planning, implementing, and communicating changes to ensure that they are well-received, adopted, and integrated by employees and stakeholders.

Preferred Qualifications:

• Master’s Degree in related field
• Sector-Specific Knowledge: Familiarity with the sectors CARE operates in, including health, education, food security, and emergency response.
• Communication Skills: Exceptional written and verbal communication skills, including the ability to articulate complex ideas clearly and persuasively.
• Networking: Established network within the international development sector, particularly with potential donors and partners.
• Monitoring & Evaluation: Knowledge of monitoring and evaluation (M&E) frameworks to track program impact and outcomes.
• Financial Management: Strong financial acumen, including budgeting, financial reporting, and ensuring cost-effective use of resources.
• Crisis Management: Experience in managing crises and responding to emergencies in challenging environments.
• Digital Literacy: Successfully adopts and champions new technology (digital solutions) to the relevant context. Is aware of technological trends and improves or solves business challenges by identifying, applying, or creating technological solutions.

About the Organization

There are individuals who may use CARE’s name and trademark in emails and on websites in an attempt to solicit fees from interested job-seekers. Some examples of these fees are placement fees or immigration processing fees. CARE does not use recruiting or placement agencies that charge candidates an up-front fee of any kind. Occasionally, CARE does employ recruiting or placement agencies to help us identify candidates for specific employment within CARE. If you’re contacted by a legitimate recruiting or placement agency, there should be no charge to you. If you suspect that you have been a victim of fraud from someone purporting to be CARE, please contact us at legal@care.org. Please do not email legal@care.org to apply for this position. Instead, click "apply now" below in order to submit your interest.

CARE is an Equal Opportunity employer. We provide equal employment opportunities to all employees and qualified applicants for employment without regard to race, color, sex, religion, ancestry, national origin, age, disability, marital status, or veteran status, or any other characteristics protected under applicable law.

Starting salaries are based on internal equity, candidate experience, and the cost of labor where the job is based. Salaries listed only apply to jobs based in the US.