Location: This role is fully remote but must overlap with an East Africa timezone by at least 3 hours. We are unable to sponsor or take over sponsorship of employment visas in the U.S. or U.K. at this time.
About this role
The Humanitarian Director will lead GiveDirectly’s emergency and humanitarian programming globally, ensuring we deliver rapid, dignified, and evidence-based cash relief to people affected by crises. You’ll oversee strategy, partnerships, and execution across multiple contexts, from conflict displacement to climate disasters, ensuring our model adapts quickly to evolving needs while maintaining GiveDirectly’s core principles of transparency and respect. You’ll work closely with country leadership teams, global operations, and fundraising to shape GiveDirectly’s humanitarian vision, expanding the reach and efficiency of direct cash transfers in some of the world’s toughest environments.
This is a senior leadership role for someone who thrives in fast-moving, complex settings and wants to help redefine how humanitarian aid is delivered.
Reports to: Senior Product Director
Level: Director
Travel Requirement: Up to 20% international travel for field visits, emergency response scoping, and partner engagement
What you’ll do
- Shape global humanitarian strategy : lead GiveDirectly’s humanitarian response portfolio, identifying new opportunities for cash-based interventions in crisis settings.
- Build and manage partnerships: develop strategic relationships with humanitarian agencies, donors, and governments to scale cash programming and coordinate responses.
- Lead emergency response design: oversee scoping, program design, and rapid deployment for new responses, ensuring operational feasibility and alignment with humanitarian standards.
- Drive operational excellence: collaborate with cross-functional teams (Tech, Operations, Comms) to ensure programs are delivered quickly, safely, and effectively.
- Strengthen risk and safeguarding systems: maintain strong compliance, safeguarding, and risk management practices across all humanitarian contexts.
- Represent GiveDirectly externally: serve as a thought leader and advocate for direct giving as a humanitarian tool at global forums, conferences, and with media.
- Develop and coach team members: support humanitarian program leads, fostering a culture of inclusivity, learning, and ownership.
What you’ll bring
- Deep commitment to GiveDirectly’s values and belief in the dignity and autonomy of people living in poverty.
- 10+ years of experience in humanitarian programming, with significant time spent in field-based roles managing multi-country or large-scale operations.
- Strong understanding of humanitarian systems, including coordination mechanisms (UN clusters, INGO networks), donor engagement, and response frameworks.
- Proven experience designing and managing cash and voucher assistance (CVA) or similar direct aid programs.
- Demonstrated leadership, problem solving, and critical thinking in high-pressure, uncertain environments.
- Excellent cross-cultural communication and ability to lead diverse, distributed teams.
- Commitment to fostering inclusivity and equity, both internally and externally.
- Fluency in English (required), additional languages such as French preferred.
Compensation
At GiveDirectly, we strive to pay our employees generously and equitably. We use an accredited third-party salary aggregator to calculate competitive pay based on role, location, and cost of living. We also have a no negotiation policy to ensure equity across roles.
- The United States base salary for this role is $128,000
- The Kenya base salary for this role is $101, 221
This role is fully remote, so if you are not based in one of these countries, we will share a local benchmark during the hiring process.