Director, Programmes at the British Council

Director, Programmes at the British Council. Please make sure you read the job requirements before applying for this position.

The British Council is the UK’s international organisation for cultural relations and educational opportunities. We create friendly knowledge and understanding between the people of the UK and other countries. We do this by making a positive contribution to the UK and the countries we work with – changing lives by creating opportunities, building connections and engendering trust.

We work with over 100 countries across the world in the fields of arts and culture, English language, education and civil society. Each year we reach over 20 million people face-to-face and more than 500 million people online, via broadcasts and publications. Founded in 1934, we are a UK charity governed by Royal Charter and a UK public body.

We are recruiting to fill the position below:

Job Title: Director, Programmes Nigeria

Location: Lagos
Contract Type: Locally engaged
Contract Duration: 3-year Fixed Term Contract
Pay band: SMP

Role Purpose

• The Director Programmes is responsible for the oversight and management of a portfolio of English, Education, Arts and Culture programmes in Nigeria.
• The primary focus of this role is to provide strategic leadership to the existing portfolio and to generate new and continued business across all three sectors.
• The Director will accomplish this through demonstrating sector understanding, business development capabilities and programme delivery strengths.
• The Director has overall responsibility for the quality assurance of implementation and capture of new business and will draw on country and regional staff and external technical resources to do this.
• As a member of the Nigeria Senior Leadership Team (SLT), this post will also actively contribute to the development and delivery of the Country Strategy and Plan for Nigeria, ensuring they meet the required cultural relations, business and operational objectives and are appropriately aligned to wider regional, portfolio and corporate strategies.
• The role will support the wider British Council offer across Nigeria through contribution to the operation’s objectives and raising the profile, reach and engagement with core audiences in Nigeria and the UK.

Main Accountabilities for Director Programmes

• Strategy & Planning: Develop, articulate and lead the strategy for cultural engagement work in Nigeria, ensuring a coherent theory of change and vision straddling the varied programmes.  This role will also be part of the Nigeria Senior Leadership Team and contribute to country-wide strategic initiatives.
• Business Development: positioning, pursuit and partnership development (liaison with partners including EU, FCDO, GIZ, relevant government ministries and counterparts, CSOs and identification of new partnerships with donors, Trusts, Foundations and Philanthropists). Leading / supporting (as appropriate) the acquisition of specific opportunities.
• Programme Management – overall portfolio leadership and accountability, ensuring that programmes meet agreed British Council and client / partner standards and targets.  May be required to act as SRO (Senior Responsible Officer) on a number of agreed programmes and strategic oversight of all.
• Monitoring and evaluation / Impact – ensure that the Nigeria programmes’ portfolio reports impact against client and British Council targets and produces compelling programme impact stories.

Role Specific Knowledge and Experience

The main essential knowledge and experience points that we are looking for you to evidence are:

• Graduate Degree in relevant field
• Minimum 10 years’ experience in international development including with at least two major partners (e.g. EU, FCDO, World Bank, GIZ)
• Written, spoken and aural English at graduate level
• Proven portfolio / large scale programme management experience, including the leadership of large teams
• Knowledge and expertise in at least one relevant sector (English, Education, Arts &Culture).

Role Specific Skills:
Required candidate will need to possess:

• Business Development skills – Ability to identify opportunities, write bids and speak credibly to donors/clients.
• Risk Management experience in emerging economy/ developing country or other challenging environment
• Inter-cultural fluency – leading a highly diverse team and navigating a complex cultural environment
• Stakeholder management (internal and external)
• Public speaking ability.

Desirable Experience:

• Managing Successful Programmes (MSP) or equivalent programme management qualification
• Experience working in fragile states.

Application Closing Date

30th January, 2024 (23:59 South Africa Time).

Method of Application

Interested and qualified candidates should:
Click here to apply online

Additional Information

• All applicants should have a pre-existing legal status to live and work in Nigeria.
• The British Council will not facilitate / sponsor visa applications and work permits.