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We are hiring: Director of Program

Are you a feminist leader who wants to change the structure of the economic system to serve the needs of people and the planet? Do you believe that human rights are crucial to this change? We’re looking for a skilled expert, manager, and advocate to be our next Director of Program. Find out more below.

Who we are

CESR is an international non-governmental organization that harnesses the power of human rights to inspire fairer and more sustainable economies. Our vision is of a world in which a just distribution of resources and power enables current and future generations to live with dignity, in full enjoyment of their economic and social rights.  A key component of our multi-year strategy is to envision a Rights-Based Economy and catalyze collective action towards it. This is an exciting opportunity for a feminist activist to join a well-respected, high-impact international organization that is working to advance a more just, equitable and rights-based economy in the context of convergent crises. 

What You’ll Do

The Director of Program leads CESR’s overall programmatic strategy, ensuring that the organization’s research, advocacy, skill-building and movement-bridging activities advance its overall goals and objectives. Reporting to the Executive Director, the Director of Program oversees the work of the Program Team, and contributes to the collective management of the organization as part of the Leadership Team. They also play a key thought leadership role within CESR and within the wider human rights movement, and are expected to play a major role in the delivery of our work to articulate, envision and mobilize around a Rights-Based Economy. Specific responsibilities include: 

Strategic and organizational leadership

  • Provide strategic leadership to the organization on its substantive human rights work and on the design of its research, advocacy, skills-building and movement-bridging strategies.

  • Lead efforts to identify and assess how emerging trends and issues may impact CESR’s programmatic work.

  • Represent CESR at senior level to existing and potential partners, allies, funders and other external stakeholders, including at conferences and other relevant meetings and events.

  • Ensure organizational values are embedded in structures and processes to foster an organizational culture that encourages feedback, engagement, and inclusion.

  • Identify strategic opportunities for fundraising, contributing to development plans, funding proposals and grant reports to funders.

Program management and implementation 

  • Oversee delivery of the programmatic elements of the organizational strategy, ensuring that programmatic outputs, activities and partnerships are in furtherance of the overall mission and strategic goals, objectives and priorities. 

  • Cultivate relationships with key external partners, resources, and experts who can inform and support program objectives and activities.

  • Oversee and contribute to the production of quality research and advocacy materials (including research reports, policy briefs, factsheets and blog posts) for CESR’s target audiences, in collaboration with other CESR staff and external partners.

  • Design and implement advocacy strategies to maximize the impact of CESR’s work. 

  • Work with the Director of Strategy and Learning to monitor progress against program and organizational objectives. Ensure regular, periodic evaluation of how far programmatic activities and outputs are serving the strategic objectives, and work with program staff to ensure reflection and course correction where needed. 

  • Oversee the work of CESR program staff and consultants, providing direction, guidance, feedback and performance management. Mentor staff with a supportive and collaborative approach, and work to ensure the overall wellbeing of the team.

  • Oversee the recruitment and selection of new program staff and consultants.

  • Develop and oversee the budget for program activities and ensure these operate within the approved budget.

  • Lead staff in long term program planning.

Who you are

To be successful in this position, you will have:

Essential

  • Commitment to the values of CESR, to equity and justice in the workplace and the world.

  • At least 12 years of increasingly responsible professional experience working on economic issues from a human rights perspective.


  • Excellent communication skills and a powerful track record of advocacy on human rights, economic or environmental issues with governments and/or multilateral institutions such as the UN, OECD, IMF, World Bank, or other multilateral development banks.

  • Solid research experience, ideally in more than one discipline including law, social science, and/or economics.

  • Excellent written and verbal communication skills in English, including the ability to summarize research findings and complex information (including quantitative data and statistical information) in powerful, concise forms for a variety of audiences.


  • A strong understanding of human rights standards and frameworks and how they relate to the economy and the environment.

  • Experience of working with and building civil society and social movement coalitions, and excellent skills at building and maintaining respectful, trusting, horizontal, and dynamic partnerships.

  • Several years of experience managing and building teams, bringing a care and equity lens and mentoring junior staff in professional development.

  • Strong project and management experience, close attention to detail, and ability to juggle several different projects.


  • Postgraduate qualification in economics, law, political science, development, human rights or similar field (or an exceptionally strong track record of work which shows equivalent expertise).

Desirable

  • A strong feminist perspective and track record of feminist analysis, including of the impact of colonial legacies on global financial architecture.

  • Expertise in economics, especially heterodox or feminist economics.

  • Fundraising experience.

  • Strong understanding and experience of campaigns to bring about change.

  • Professional proficiency in other languages besides English (especially Spanish).

What else you need to know

We’re looking for someone to start as soon as possible.

CESR is registered as a 501(c)3 non-profit organization in the state of New York, USA. Since 2020, our team members work remotely from a variety of countries around the world (currently spread across North America, Latin America, Europe, Africa and Asia). The location for this position is flexible, with a preference for individuals based in the Global South.  However, you will need to ensure some overlap of working hours with the rest of the team - most importantly, between roughly 12-3pm UTC or 2pm - 5pm SAST most days. Outside the US, typically, we can only consider applicants who are already legally able to work in the country in which they intend to be based. This is a full-time position, with a 1-year contract initially, which will be renewable based on funding and other factors. 

The salary range for this position will depend on the candidate’s experience and location, considering relative cost of living and the need to ensure equity and comparability within the team. As an example, based on current rates, the gross salary range for an individual based in New York City, USA would be at USD 90,000 - 95,000 per year. 

We believe that our current economic model disproportionately hurts the most disadvantaged people in our societies, including people of color, women, people with disabilities, LGBTQI+ people, and those from working class backgrounds—particularly in the Global South. In line with our commitment to embodying equity and justice in our work and workplace, we aim to center these communities in the work we do, and therefore strongly encourage applications from people with these identities or who are members of other disadvantaged communities.

How to apply

Prospective candidates should complete this application form, in which they’ll be asked to upload their CV and a writing sample. The deadline for applications is February 12, 2023. Shortlisted candidates will be invited to write a written test between February 18 - 23, and the first round of interviews will be held between February 27 and March 1. Due to the volume of expected applications we will not be able to respond to individual queries but we expect to be in touch with shortlisted candidates by February 17.