Vice President, Programming Quality & Technical Support

Position Summary:

The Vice President, Programming Quality and Technical Support provides global leadership to ensure that Feed the Children’s International Impact programming is technically rigorous, evidence-based, scalable, and competitive. This role serves as the organization’s senior technical authority, accountable for program quality, technical standards, and applied technical support across all country offices.

The Vice President is responsible for strengthening program consistency, reducing program implementation risk, and positioning Feed the Children to successfully compete for U.S. Government funding, multilateral funding, and large private foundations opportunities.

This role establishes and operationalizes the organization’s global technical architecture, ensuring that programs deliver measurable impact at scale while maintaining high standards of quality and accountability.

Open for candidates based in the DMW area (Washington DC), East Coast of the US, and internationally (Africa, Philippines or Central America )

Reporting & Organizational Placement

Reports to: President, International Programming and Operations

This is a global leadership role with authority across all country offices and technical domains. The role works in close partnership with Regional Directors, Finance, Human Resources, MEAL, and Business Development. The role provides matrix technical leadership across regions and country offices.

Key Responsibilities

1. Global Programming Quality & Standards

• Establish, maintain, and enforce global programming quality standards across all programmatic pillars.
• Define minimum technical requirements for program design, implementation, and learning.
• Lead program quality reviews and oversee corrective action planning.
• Serve as final technical authority for new program models and major adaptations.
• Identify systemic program risks and implement mitigation strategies

2. Technical Leadership & Country Office Support

• Provide strategic and hands-on technical assistance during program start-up, scale-up, and recovery.
• Deploy technical expertise to fragile, complex or high-risk operating environments.
• Support country offices in transitioning from activity-based to outcome-driven programming.
• Guide program redesign when performance gaps or risks are identified
• Provide technical leadership during program transitions, restructuring, or scale expansion

3. Program Design, Innovation & Evidence

• Lead development of evidence-based program models aligned with global best practices.
• Strengthen program design methodologies and technical rigor across the organization
• Ensure alignment with Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and donor technical expectations.
• Drive innovation, adaptive programming approaches, and continuous improvement.
• Promote scalable program models that support organizational growth

4. Proposal Technical Leadership & Donor Readiness

• Serve as technical lead or senior reviewer for major funding proposals.
• Ensure technical rigor, feasibility and competitiveness in all major submissions.
• Support donor technical engagement and site visits.

5. MEAL Integration & Adaptive Learning

• Ensure technical alignment between program design and MEAL frameworks
• Promote strong program logic, indicators, and measurement systems
• Support adaptive management and learning-informed decision making
• Strengthen feedback loops between implementation and program improvement
• Collaborate closely with MEAL leadership to strengthen impact measurement

6. Capacity Building & Talent Development

• Strengthen technical capacity across countries and regional teams.
• Develop technical guidance, tools, and learning resources
• Identify technical skill gaps and recommend structural solutions.
• Support development of technical communities of practice
• Coach and mentor technical and program leadership across regions

Authority & Decision Rights

The Vice President, Programming Quality and Technical Support has the authority to:

• Approve or reject program models based on technical quality.
• Require corrective actions when programming standards are not met.
• Establish and update global technical standards.
• Provide final technical sign-off on major proposals.
• Deploy technical support resources across country offices
• Escalate program quality risks directly to the President, International Programming and Operations.

Core Competencies

• Technical Leadership & Program Quality
• Strategic Thinking & Systems Design
• Donor and Proposal Credibility
• Adaptive Management & Learning
• Cross-Cultural Leadership
• Coaching & Capacity Building
• Risk Identification & Mitigation
• Change Leadership & Organizational Influence

Qualifications & Experience

Required:

• 12–15+ years of international development experience.
• Senior leadership experience in program quality, technical leadership or global program design.
• Strong background in food security and nutrition.
• Proven experience with U.S. Government funding and large institutional donors.
• Experience across multiple countries and complex operating environments.

Preferred:

• Experience in a large, top-tier INGO.
• Experience setting global technical standards.
• Multi-sector technical expertise.
• Experience supporting scale-up and organizational growth
• Advanced degree in international development, public health, agriculture, nutrition, or related field

Performance Expectations (First 18–24 Months)

• Documented global technical standards across program pillars.
• Improved consistency in program quality across country offices.
• Increased competitiveness and success rate of major funding proposals.
• Reduced post-award technical and implementation risks.
• Demonstrated reduction in technical escalation to executive leadership.
• Strengthened country office technical capacity

Strategic Importance:

This role establishes the technical backbone of Feed the Children’s International Impact, enabling scale, safeguarding quality, reducing risk, and positioning the organization for sustainable growth and donor confidence.

How to apply

Please submit your application by emailing your CV to feedinternationaljobs@feedthechildren.org.