Director of Innovative Finance & Ventures at Save the Children

The job of Save the Children’s Director of Innovative Finance & Ventures is exciting and fulfilling.

• Do you have specialist innovative finance experience and deep networks?
• Do you approach problems with the speed and ambition of a start-up leader?
• Do you enjoy shifting mindsets to drive performance?
• Have you a strong track record of identifying and capturing growth opportunities in innovative finance and developing new business models combining social and financial impact?
• Are you motivated by our vision of creating a world where every child doesn’t just survive but thrives and can go on to change the world – and of inspiring, partnering with and leading others to do the same?

If the answers to these questions are yes, we would love to hear from you!

Note:

To avoid disappointment, you are advised to submit your application as soon as possible as we reserve the right to close the vacancy early if a high volume of applications are received.  This is to ensure that we can manage application levels whilst maintaining a positive candidate experience.  Unfortunately, once a vacancy has closed, we are unable to consider further applications.

Save the Children is no ordinary not-for-profit. (About Us)

Save the Children UK believes every child deserves a future.  In the UK and around the world, we work every day to give children a healthy start in life, the opportunity to learn and protection from harm.  When crisis strikes, and children are most vulnerable, we are always among the first to respond and the last to leave.  We ensure children’s unique needs are met and their voices are heard.  We deliver lasting results for millions of children, including those hardest to reach.

Save the Children Global Ventures is an independent entity at Save the Children responsible for taking innovative finance and new technologies to scale.

This opportunity is a collaboration between Save the Children Global Ventures and Save the Children UK, who host Save the Children’s Global Ventures Hub – known as the ‘Innovation Bubble’ – which this post will lead.

Where you come in (Job Purpose ):

In this permanent, full-time role, based in the UK, Europe or Africa, you will lead a broad range of the Save the Children Global Ventures projects.

With a dual reporting line into the Executive Director of Global Programs at Save the Children UK and the CEO of Save the Children Global Ventures, you will work together with teams across Save the Children to develop new impact products and secure innovative finance deals.  Leveraging strong networks in the innovative finance sector, you will effectively unlock opportunities to realise tangible results and ambitious growth targets.

You will make an impact by:

• Providing team leadership and management to Save the Children UK’s Innovation Bubble, accelerating experiments, unlocking barriers, and creating new connections,
• Ensuring SCUK’s ‘Innovating for Impact’ strategy and Innovation Bubble priorities are effectively shaping and leveraging the Save the Children Global Ventures agenda,
• Managing the Innovation Bubble budget, including reporting on income and impact returns,
• Adapting financial mechanisms to humanitarian and/or development contexts,
• Engaging and inspiring colleagues across SCUK to build awareness and support for the work of the Innovation Bubble and Global Ventures,
• Utilising your networks to drive new innovative partnerships, enabling transformative new innovations to deliver impact and income, and
• Creating the preconditions for the Innovation Bubble to develop and thrive, through an agile, engaged, and supportive team environment.
• Supporting our commitment to anti-racism, to opposing systemic oppression in any form, and to celebrating diversity, challenging inequality, and building an inclusive environment for every one of our employees so we can better represent the children we protect.

Does this sound like you? (Main Accountabilities)

You have deep, specialist expertise across a broad range of Innovative Finance mechanisms and actively utilize these skills to create innovative products with attractive social and financial returns for stakeholders.  A strong communicator and naturally influential, you are well networked in the finance sector to unlock opportunities to achieve ambitious growth targets.

This role requires:

• Substantial experience in senior management and of creating a high-performance culture within a global development, management consulting environment or similar, including when working remotely or in split site teams
• Deep technical expertise in innovative finance, impact investment and/or commercial ventures,
• Demonstrated experience developing new opportunities, proposals and business models combining social and financial impact,
• A strong stakeholder manager with demonstrated networking and influencing skills across diverse audiences,
• Ability to establish and meet/exceed targets in line with organisational strategic objectives,
• Knowledge of humanitarian and/or international development agency context – and of mobilising partnerships and funding in these sectors,
• Thought leadership to advance Save the Children Global Venture’s brand and position in Innovative Financing internally and externally,
• Strategic and analytical insight through the generation of accurate and compelling reports and presentations
• A commitment to Save the Children UK’s aims and core values of accountability, ambition, collaboration, creativity, and integrity – and demonstrable understanding of development, humanitarian and child rights issues

Save the Children UK is committed to diversity and equality of opportunity in all aspects of our work both external and internal. We strive to be an inclusive employer and particularly encourage applications from under-represented groups such as returning parents or carers who are re-entering work after a career break, people who are LGBT+, from Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic backgrounds, with a disability, impairment, learning difference or long-term condition, with caring responsibilities, from different nations and regions, and from less advantaged socioeconomic backgrounds.

Remote Working:

The majority of SCUK employees are currently working remotely within the UK in line with UK Government guidance. Commencing July 2021 we will transition to flexible and hybrid ways of working (i.e. a mixture of remote/home and office-based working) as social distancing restrictions ease.

We are happy to discuss flexible working options at interview.

Commitment to Diversity & Inclusion: 

Save the Children UK is committed to diversity and equality of opportunity in all aspects of our work both external and internal. We strive to be an inclusive employer and particularly encourage applications from under-represented groups such as returning parents or carers who are re-entering work after a career break, people who are LGBT+, from Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic backgrounds, with a disability, impairment, learning difference or long-term condition, with caring responsibilities, from different nations and regions, and from less advantaged socioeconomic backgrounds.