Director of Applied Learning

About Raising The Village

Raising The Village’s mission is to build and strengthen pathways out of ultra-poverty through an approach guided by data, designed with communities, and scaled by partnerships. We work with last-mile communities to implement solutions that raise incomes, sustain impact, and chart sustainable pathways to possibility within 24 months. To date, we have supported more than two million people in Uganda, Rwanda, and the Democratic Republic of Congo, with support from our partners and our team in North America. Find out more about our programs and impact at www.raisingthevillage.org.

Position overview

Raising The Village is entering a critical phase of multi-country scale. As we expand into multiple countries in Sub-Saharan Africa, maintaining program quality, consistency, and impact becomes increasingly complex.

The Director of Applied Learning will build and lead the systems that ensure our program can rapidly scale across contexts while maintaining outcome fidelity. This role focuses on strengthening program delivery and scalability, and accelerating team effectiveness across geographies. This is a systems-building role for a senior operator who has experience scaling programs and building the structures that make quality repeatable.

The position will report to the managing director and will supervise a team of at least four professionals in a multi-country set-up.

Key responsibilities

Program quality & standards at scale

• Define and maintain global program standards, including what is fixed vs adaptable across contexts.
• Partner with Program and Country teams to ensure consistent implementation.
• Establish and track program quality metrics and feedback loops.
• Identify gaps between design and execution and drive corrective action.

Turn insights into action

• Bring together data (from Venn), field learnings (from implementation teams), and research to review and report on what's working and what needs to change.
• Build an experimentation process: Design how pilots, tests, and new ideas actually flow back into our model. Make innovation systematic, not random.
• Translate for different audiences: Take a data scientist's insight and turn it into something a field coordinator can actually use. Take a community's feedback and shape it into program change.

Build the team & systems for scaling

• Develop the materials (guides, training, onboarding) that let new teams get effective faster.
• Build knowledge systems: Create the systems where institutional knowledge lives, not in people's heads, but accessible and organized.
• Lead onboarding for growth: As we hire in new countries, you'll design how teams ramp up and get competent quickly.
• Embed learning in tools: Work with Venn and product teams to ensure our data insights and program guidance are built into the digital tools field teams use every day.

Cross-functional collaboration

• Programs: Own delivery; Applied Learning owns standards, learning systems, and quality enablement.
• Venn (data/product): Own data systems; Applied Learning ensures insights are translated into usable guidance.
• Planning: Own strategy; Applied Learning operationalizes learning into execution.

Ideal candidate profile

• 10+ years of experience in international development, social impact, or a similar field.
• Strong experience in program operations and delivery.
• Proven track record building systems that enable scaling without loss of quality.
• Experience working across multiple countries or complex operations.
• Strong interpersonal communication and teaching skills. Ability to explain complex program logic to diverse audiences.
• Highly independent, resourceful, and resilient in the face of ambiguity.
• Strong change management skills with demonstrated experience of successful organizational and cross-cultural leadership.
• Alignment with RTV values of being performance-driven, adaptive, curious, bold and inclusive.

Nice-to-haves

• Experience working in high-growth, dynamic organizations with a fast-paced, iterative approach.
• Experience embedding data or tech into program delivery.
• Experience in Sub-Saharan Africa, ultra-poverty reduction, and agricultural livelihoods will be an advantage.

This job description is not intended to be an exhaustive list of all duties, responsibilities, or qualifications associated with the role. Duties and responsibilities may evolve over time in accordance with business needs, and in compliance with applicable local laws and regulations.

Total rewards

The salary range for this position is $120,000 - $150,000.

Other benefits include:

• Group RRSP matching program, up to 5%.
• Comprehensive health benefits (medical, dental, vision, and travel).
• 20 days of vacation.
• Flexible hybrid work environment with a model of 3 days in office and two days remote.