Programme Manager (Governance in Philanthropy)

Summary The Programme Manager for Governance in Philanthropy will lead the design, development, and execution of Pearl Initiative’s (PI) Governance in Philanthropy. This role will build Pearl Initiative’s thought leadership and impact in strengthening and enabling the philanthropic sector, including supporting next-generation philanthropy, in the GCC Region. Programming will especially focus on building the long-term success and resilience of the philanthropic organisations and philanthropists by advancing governance in giving; ethical, strategic, and accountable community engagement and decision-making; transparency and collaboration; and social innovation. They will lead the business development, revenue generation, and fundraising initiatives of the programme, ensuring high-impact and compliant delivery of all projects and contracts. Success in this role requires a strategic, detail-oriented, and relationship-driven leader who can design and implement high-impact programming. This includes managing a strategic regional working group, delivering targeted interventions and projects, producing research and thought leadership that address the evolving needs of the sector, and hosting convenings and dedicated trainings. Key Responsibilities Programmatic development and innovation • Lead the design, development, planning, and budgeting of the programme strategically aligned with organisation goals and impact objectives ensuring cost-effectiveness and efficient resource allocation. • Drive programmatic innovation within existing offering, identifying opportunities to enhance programme effectiveness, efficiency, and impact. • Identify and enable cross-programmatic synergies, intersections, and collaborations. • Identify and integrate subject matter experts, executive trainers and coaches, researchers, and any other third parties to co-create programmatic projects and deliverables. • Co-create a strategic communications strategy, including priority social media channels and email campaigning, for the programme. Business development, community enablement, and financial sustainability • Develop and execute a business development and market stakeholders' engagement strategy by identifying key target markets, potential funding sources, and partnership opportunities. • Manage an annual market engagement calendar. • Co-define funding targets to cover programmatic costs and work towards reserving longer-term working capital to ensure the financial sustainability of the programme. • Explore and develop new revenue streams for the programme to diversify funding and enhance financial sustainability. • Develop and lead community-building initiatives, such as workshops, convenings, online forums, and networking events, to facilitate knowledge sharing, collaboration, and relationship development. • Represent the organization by actively participating in relevant events, building new relationships with potential partners and collaborators, and promoting the organisation's programmes. • Lead the development of compelling proposals that effectively communicate the value proposition of programmes to potential funders and partners, highlighting impact, sustainability, and strategic alignment with their objectives. • Negotiate and finalise funding agreements and partnership contracts. Projects management and contracts compliance • Manage the design, execution, and timely high-quality delivery of collaborative needs-based projects and flagship initiatives, focused on research, executive education, capacity-building, and convenings. • Adopt best practices in project management across all projects and initiatives, defining clear project scopes, developing detailed project plans, assigning roles and responsibilities, and implementing robust tracking and reporting. • Manage programme teams and insourced third parties to ensure high accountability, strong performance, and preemptive risk management. • Oversee the successful execution and delivery of all projects in line with contractual obligations, project timelines, and quality standards. • Run projects and initiatives with careful cost control and resource allocation to support efforts to achieve financial sustainability with long-term working capital. • Proactively communicate project and initiative updates to clients, partners, and internal stakeholders with timely reports on progress, challenges, and successes. Expertise development and thought leadership • Identify, study, and learn from market needs and pain points through research and stakeholder engagement to identify strategic opportunities for impact and growth. • Lead the development of market-driven solutions by translating identified market needs and pain points into actionable programme initiatives. • Curate and convene the programme’s working group, bringing in together working group members and special guests. • Monitor the market’s offering, notable trends, and any disruptions to consistently strategically position the programme. • Produce a consistent pipeline of high-quality, original bi-lingual content (e.g., op-eds, articles, blog posts, white papers, research reports, and working group position papers) that showcases expertise and generates meaningful conversations within the industry. • Build a strong online presence by actively engaging in priority social media channels (e.g., LinkedIn, Twitter, industry-specific forums) to share content, participate in discussions, and network with other thought leaders. • Cultivate relationships with journalists, analysts, and other industry influencers to amplify thought leadership and reach a wider audience. Team mentorship and development • Mentor and coach Programme Associate, providing timely and actionable feedback, creating teachable opportunities, and offering programme career guidance. • Define and monitor the development plan of Programme Associate, with regular pulse checks, ensuring time and any needed resources are allocated for training. • Enable career growth, including promotions, for Programme Associate. Impact measurement and reporting • Co-define quarterly and yearly key impact metrics and engagement KPIs for the programme, ensuring milestones are achievable and validated with feasibility assessments. • Develop surveys and feedback forms for programmatic impact and performance based on impact strategy, methodology, and templates. • Coordinate data collection of surveys and feedback forms for programmatic impact and performance. • Analyze data of surveys and feedback forms to study and learn from achieved and non-achieved programmatic impact and performance, based on key impact metrics and engagement KPIs identified in impact strategy. • Develop an impact baseline assessment for the programme to measure progress towards meeting key market needs and addressing critical market gaps. • Recommend and implement programmatic improvements, expansions, and other strategic directions from data and insights. • Prepare impact reports and communicate findings on key impact metrics and engagement KPIs at key programme and project milestones. • Curate, co-author, and publish programme specific sections for the annual report.

Note: The posting does not include a clearly labeled Requirements/Qualifications section with discrete bullet points. The candidate fit is described descriptively under responsibilities and experience expectations, but there are no explicit hard requirements listed.

Programmatic development and innovation: Lead design, development, planning, and budgeting of the programme aligned with goals and impact; drive programmatic innovation; identify cross-programmatic opportunities; integrate subject matter experts and trainers; co-create a strategic communications strategy. Business development, community enablement, and financial sustainability: Develop and execute market engagement strategy, manage annual calendar, define funding targets, explore new revenue streams, build community initiatives, represent the organization at events, develop compelling proposals, negotiate funding agreements. Projects management and contracts compliance: Manage design, execution, and timely delivery of projects; apply project management best practices; manage programme teams and third parties; ensure contractual compliance and quality; cost control and working capital planning; provide timely updates to stakeholders. Expertise development and thought leadership: Identify market needs; translate into programme initiatives; convene working group; monitor market trends; produce bi-lingual content; build online presence; engage journalists and analysts. Team mentorship and development: Mentor Programme Associate; monitor development plan; enable career growth. Impact measurement and reporting: Define KPIs and impact metrics; develop surveys; coordinate data collection; analyze data for insights; establish impact baseline; recommend programmatic improvements; prepare impact reports; contribute to annual report.