Head of Program Operations

TITLE:  Head of Program Operations

TEAM/PROGRAMME:  Program Operations 

LOCATION: Lusaka, Zambia 

GRADE: 1

CONTRACT LENGTH: Two-year Fixed Term

Safeguarding:

Save the Children does not tolerate any form of exploitation, abuse, or harassment against any person. It is the responsibility of all employees and representatives to protect all people who come in contact with our organization. Save the Children commits to applying the same standards to all its employees and subject them to the same processes regardless of their position, influence, or reputation within or outside of the organization.

Diversity, Equity & Inclusion

Save the Children International’s Diversity Policy, aims to promote equal opportunity in employment and to ban any kind of discrimination based on sex, age, social class, disability, HIV status, religion, race and ethnicity. 

ROLE PURPOSE: 

The Head of Program Operations (HoPO) provides strategic and managerial leadership for Save the Children Zambia’s program implementation, Reporting to the Program Director, the role ensures that all programs are implemented efficiently, in compliance with donor and organizational standards, and in alignment with the 2025–2027 Country Strategic Plan (CSP). The HoPO leads the delivery of high-quality programs across all thematic areas—Education, Child Protection, Health and Nutrition, Child Rights Governance, Social Protection, and Climate Resilience—through both direct implementation and local partners, advancing Save the Children’s commitment to localization and impact at scale. The include management of all sub offices, emergency preparedness and response (including DRR), and Country Office supply chain

SCOPE OF ROLE:

Reports to:  Program Director (PD)

Staff reporting to this post:  4-Program/Project Managers (PMs), for (LDSC, SIDA-CSO, CSSP/Cummins & CP, Sponsorship & KNB); 1-Humanitrian and Social Protection Lead; Supply Chain Manager

Budget Responsibilities: US$8 – 10 million CO Portfolio, with approval limit as per SOD (scheme of delegation)

Role Dimensions: The Save the Children Zambia Country Office implements integrated development and humanitarian programs in collaboration with government, civil society organizations, and private sector partners, reaching children and families across multiple provinces; currently with operational bases in Eastern Province, Copperbelt Province, Western Province and Lusaka

KEY AREAS OF ACCOUNTABILITY:

As a member of the Extended Senior Management Team, contributes to:

• Contribute to the strategic discussions to improve program implementation and quality
• Take lead in ensuring that program implementation is done timely and in line with the awards review to improve the KPIs and other SCI performance measuring matrixes 
• Lead the development of an organizational culture that reflects our full spectrum mandate and values, promotes accountability and high performance, encourages a team culture of learning, and ensures teams are adequately supported to deliver quality programmes for children.
• As and when requested, lead/chair the ESMT meeting and give direction to the team
• Coach staff to ensure performance or implementation issues are solved in a consultative manner which empowers staff decision making and ownership of their work.
• Work with PMs if the Field Offices to improve their contribution to the CMT meeting

Program Implementation and Delivery

• Provide overall leadership and management of program implementation across all thematic areas, ensuring activities are delivered on time, within budget, and to quality standards.
• Work closely with the Program Director and Technical Advisors to translate program designs into actionable implementation plans. 
• Oversee the development of detailed implementation plans, procurement plans, and phased budgets in line with donor and SCI standards, by the PMs/Budget Holders (BH). 
• Collaborate with the Program Director to conceptualize and design cost-effective, innovative, high-quality projects
• Lead the Budget Holders (BH) on producing accurate and high-quality forecasting of their project budgets in line with accurate detailed implementation plans (DIP), procurement plans (PP) and other project cycle plans in each forecasting period as per SCI schedule. 
• Ensure adherence of staff in SCI global breakthroughs and compliance with SCI systems such as PRIME, Awards Management System (AMS), Develop to Perform (D2P), and MEAL tools.
• Act as key lead in the implementation of SC High Performing Organization Projects, working with identified CO Champions. 
• Lead field operations, ensuring effective coordination, monitoring, and problem-solving to maintain delivery excellence.
• Drive accountability for key KPIs including budget utilization, reporting, and program quality
• Manage multiple grants across multiple sectors- in various districts and ensure regular project reviews at receiving monthly BVA/financial reports, to ensure activities are implemented on time, with the right quality and spend is on target as per plans.
• Ensure project reviews are done for all projects and subsequently links to portfolio review meetings and address identified issues or raise flag for those requiring SMT intervention

Emergency Preparedness and Response Management

• Lead the development of the Zambia Country office’s Emergency Preparedness plan, CO’s organizational readiness to respond to emergencies in line with the global SCI emergency goal and benchmarks
• In coordination with Program Director and SMT, maintain consistent and coherent engagement in key inter-agency emergency preparedness and response coordination mechanisms including the Cluster system, CSOs, as well as with Government Institutions, such as DMMU.
• Together with the Humanitarian Lead, ensure that all CO staff across departments and sub offices know the EPP, their role in it, and are familiar with, adhere to, and implement the procedures and processes detailed in the Rules and Principles for emergency response, applying standards as CHS and SPHARE. 
• Support the Humanitarian & Localization Lead to timely meet the SCI humanitarian deliverables such as CO Alerts & Response Announcements in coordination with field FP, SMT and liaise with RO for publications; as well as working on early warning (EWS), anticipatory action plans and subsequent application for HF and other funding supporting NBD. 

Supply Chain Management

• Effectively oversee the Supply Chain Department, ensuring that all CO activities (procurements, fleet, assets, warehouse & TIM, base setup, etc.) are coordinated.
• Support Supply Chain Manager to plan and implement logistics and procurements plans.
• Ensure close monitoring of assets and stock management.
• Ensure effective use of the organization’s online Sourcing and Payment system (ProSave).
• Ensure that CO supply chain capacity meets standards and are effectively supporting program requirements. 
• Ensure appropriate and adequate emergency logistics procedures are detailed in the CO EPP in order to enable rapid scale up.
• Ensure CO supply chain manuals are up to date.
• Ensure vehicles/fleet maintenance/insurance is adequately managed and lead for implementation of the Fleet Service Charge Project.
• Ensure goods and services procured are cost effective and of standard quality.
• Work closely with the procurement team in strategic sourcing, thus negotiating best deals with suppliers and Endeavor to attain value for money (VfM) as per SCI policy and procedures.
• Ensure FWA are in place for the mostly used categories for CO, to be cost effective, improve supply chain efficiency and increase turnaround time of PR.

Ensure effective management, proper documentation and recording of fixed assets of the organization.

Coordination, Quality, and Compliance

• Work closely with Technical Advisors and MEAL teams to ensure program quality and adherence to technical standards.
• Contributes towards risk management plans and/or assessments and proactively identifies project risks on an ongoing basis and takes corrective action
• Ensure that implementation is informed by evidence, learning, and child-centered approaches.
• Support integration across sectors and projects to enhance synergy and cost-effectiveness.
• Lead regular implementation reviews, risk assessments, and corrective action planning.
• Ensure compliance with donor contracts, procurement regulations, and SCI financial controls.

Representation and External Engagement

• Represent Save the Children at relevant coordination platforms, operational working groups, and donor or government meetings as delegated by the Program Director.
• Strengthen relationships with key government ministries (MOE, MOH, MCDSS, Ministry of Green Economy and Environment) and align implementation with national priorities.
• Promote visibility of Save the Children’s work and facilitate strategic engagement with implementing partners and donors at field level.

People Management and Development

• Provide effective leadership, supervision, and coaching to program Managers, Field Managers and partnership staff.
• Foster a culture of collaboration, accountability, and continuous learning across teams.
• Ensure regular performance reviews, capacity building, and succession planning within the implementation and partnership teams.
• Uphold Save the Children’s values, safeguarding, and code of conduct in all leadership and management practices.

BEHAVIOURS (Values in Practice)

Accountability:

• Holds self-accountable for making decisions, managing resources efficiently, achieving and role modelling Save the Children values
• Holds the team and partners accountable to deliver on their responsibilities - giving them the freedom to deliver in the best way they see fit, providing the necessary development to improve performance and applying appropriate consequences when results are not achieved

Ambition:

• Sets ambitious and challenging goals for themselves and their team, takes responsibility for their own personal development and encourages their team to do the same
• Widely shares their personal vision for Save the Children, engages and motivates others
• Future orientated, thinks strategically and on a global scale.

Collaboration:

• Builds and maintains effective relationships, with their team, colleagues, Members and external partners and supporters
• Values diversity, sees it as a source of competitive strength
• Approachable, good listener, easy to talk to

Creativity:

• Develops and encourages new and innovative solutions
• Willing to take disciplined risks.

Integrity:

• Honest, encourages openness and transparency; demonstrates highest levels of integrity

QUALIFICATIONS

Master’s degree in Development Studies, Social Sciences, Public Administration, or related field

QUALIFICATIONS AND EXPERIENCE 

• Minimum 8 years’ experience in program management, with at least 5 years in a senior leadership role overseeing field operations and partnerships.
• Proven experience managing large, multi-sector, multi-donor funded programs (e.g., USAID, UNICEF, Sida, Irish Aid, GPE, World Bank).
• Solid understanding of program operations, compliance, risk management, and field coordination.
• Substantial experience and knowledge of effective financial and budgetary control and securing and managing grants from major institutional donors
• Solid project management skills related to organizational development projects and international, cross-functional teams with a proven history of delivering results
• Substantial experience in, logistics, including procurement, supply chain, fleet management & inventory
• Strong leadership, problem-solving, and interpersonal skills. 
• Ability to work within a matrix management structure.
• Commitment to gender equality, safeguarding, and child rights principles.
• Proven experience in NGO emergency programming, with a significant knowledge of international humanitarian systems, institutions, and donors.
• Ability and willingness to change work practices and hours in the event of major emergencies including travelling at short notice and for extended periods of time
• A high level of computer literacy (word, excel, ppt, internet programs, etc.)
• Good risk management analysis, monitoring and control capacity to keep track of the identified risks and to ensure the execution of mitigation plans, and evaluates their effectiveness

Additional job responsibilities

The duties and responsibilities as set out above are not exhaustive and the role holder may be required to carry out additional duties within reasonableness of their level of skills and experience

Equal Opportunities 

The role holder is required to carry out the duties in accordance with the SCI Equal Opportunities and Diversity policies and procedures

Child Safeguarding:

We need to keep children safe so our selection process, which includes rigorous background checks, reflects our commitment to the protection of children from abuse

Health and Safety

The role holder is required to carry out the duties in accordance with SCI Health and Safety policies and procedures.

APPLICATION INSTRUCTIONS:

QUALIFIED APPLICANTS SHOULD ONLY ATTACH A COVER LETTER AND AN UPDATED CV.

The closing date for receipt of applications is Wednesday 10th December 2025. Only shortlisted candidates will be contacted.

Save the Children reserves the right to re advertise if suitable applicants are not found.

Save the Children is an equal opportunity and affirmative action employer that does not engage in any practices which discriminate against any person employed or seeking employment based on race, colour, religion, gender, national or ethnic origin, age, marital status and we will never ask that you pay for anything as part of the selection process or thereafter