About Us:
Marie Stopes International (MSI) is a global organisation providing personalised contraception and safe abortion services to women and girls. Our local teams of professionals are passionate about the work they do in communities across 37 countries. The services we provide give a woman the power to choose when she has children so that she’s free to pursue her plans and dreams for herself and her family.
The primary responsibility of this role is to further MSI’s Goal: The prevention of unwanted births and its mission of ensuring an individual’s right to: children by choice, not chance
The Role:
The Country Director, Kenya is responsible for delivering results for women and their families, driving programmatic excellence and implementing best practice at scale in Kenya. They provide high quality services where they are needed the most, and their work directly contributes to preventing unnecessary deaths and making a sustainable impact on the lives of thousands of people every year.
The Country Director, Kenya is a key leadership position responsible for the overall strategy, management (programmatic, financial, and administrative), and development of our national family planning and sexual and reproductive health (SRH) programmes. They lead skilled, professional country teams to deliver life-saving services through clinical centres, mobile outreach teams, social franchising, public sector support and social marketing. In addition, they are responsible for preparing and executing annual business plans and budgets, marketing plans and work plans; developing new business opportunities; overseeing financial, administrative and logistical resources; ensuring adherence to MSI global standards; and assuring quality operations in line with annual and long-term strategic goals and objectives. The Country Director manages for results, valuing and rewarding high performance, accountability, speed and efficiency and innovation, while keeping the client at the heart of everything we do.
The Country Director is MSI’s senior representative in the country of assignment. They work closely with governments, donors, local boards (if applicable) and other key stakeholders to overcome barriers that prevent women and men from accessing safe, affordable, reliable family planning and other sexual and reproductive health services.
About you
To succeed in this role, you must have:
Skills and Experience:
- International work experience – will have successfully worked at least 15 years in a senior management role of which at least five were as member of an Executive Team in Kenya or a different country
- Will have had experience of growing the business in terms of financials and social impact
- Proven general management experience in operationally demanding and challenging environments (to include staff recruitment, training and supervision of teams)
- Proven experience of change management, including identifying required change, leading the change programme and ensuring change is embedded and sustained
- Designed and delivered strategic and annual business plans
- Experience of income generation through donor funding and/or commercial activities and in delivering proven results by making informed decisions with the use of management information
- Financial management experience, including internal controls and accountability: Ideally the individual will have managed a social business; however, they must have experience managing and improving the bottom line impact of an organization
- Demonstrable experience of generating, tracking and analysing management information and client data to inform management decision-making
- Previous experience identifying and sharing best practice and encouraging innovation within dispersed teams
- Proven experience of building lasting relationships with key external stakeholders, e.g. government or donor stakeholders in order to deliver tangible results for the organisation (for example, previous fundraising success).
- Experience of business development including developing and writing compelling tender proposals
- Board Management experience
- Experience of building a brand into a brand of choice (including experience in FMCG or other private sector experience)
Qualifications and Training:
- Educated to degree level
- Relevant post-graduate qualification e.g. MBA, MSc, MA (desirable)
- Project Management (Prince 2 desirable)
Personal Attributes:
- Energy, drive and unwavering commitment for MSI’s mission, and the ability to inspire others
- Passionate about our clients and strives to consistently meet and exceed expectations, putting the clients at the centre of everything, and ensuring we deliver high quality, high impact services that meet their individual needs
- Inspires individuals and teams through situational leadership providing clear direction
- Motivates and develops the skills of the team members
- Works as part of a team, providing support and flexibility to colleagues, demonstrating fairness, understanding and respect for all people and cultures
- Focuses on results, ensuring long term sustainability and increased impact
- Courageous: pushes the boundaries, make tough decisions and challenge others in line with our mission
- Takes accountability for the decisions made and the behaviours demonstrated
- A Private-sector mind-set, understanding the levers for profitability for success within the marketplace
- Aware of the emerging developments within our sector, with the ability to focus and articulate a vision of the future which inspires and excites others, while understanding the detail and looking for the evidence
- Actively seeks out feedback on their performance (both results and behaviours) with a view to continuously learning and growing as a leader
- Builds and maintains effective long-term working relationships with all stakeholders, and is a true MSI ambassador.
For more information about the role, please view the job framework on our website.
Location: Nairobi
Closing date: (midnight GMT). Interviews may take place before this date for exceptional candidates.
Salary: Competitive
Our organisation is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children, young people and vulnerable adults and expects all staff and post holders to share this commitment.
More Information
- Job City Nairobi
