Full Time – Fixed Term Contract Until March 2021
Salary range: £56,199 – £69,093 gross per annum
Plus Civil Service Pension Benefit

Westminster Foundation for Democracy (WFD) is currently recruiting for three Regional Directors, one for Asia (covering South Asia, South East Asia, and East Asia), one for Europe (covering the Western Balkans and the former Soviet Union), and one for Africa (covering sub-Saharan Africa).

Main Purpose of the Role

The Regional Director (RD) provides leadership and strategic direction for all WFD programming in their designated region, including: programme design and delivery; financial management; business development; risk and crisis management; reporting, monitoring and evaluation, and donor compliance; political context analysis; and relationship management in their designated regions. She/he will have a detailed understanding of all the key areas of programming – parliamentary strengthening, political party assistance, electoral processes, civil society strengthening, women’s political leadership, amongst others – as detailed in WFD’s strategy.

She/he will oversee WFD’s country offices in the region, including ensuring the effective opening and closing of WFD offices, recruitment of qualified national and international staff, and oversight of any region-wide projects. The RD will ensure his/her team has the skills, training and mentoring needed to achieve the organisation’s objectives.

The RD will advise the Director of Programmes (DoP) and the Business Development (BD) team of new programme opportunities in the region. She/he will ensure effective collaboration with other regional teams, the Technical Advisory Unit (TAU), the Research and Evaluation team, Business Development, Operations, Finance, Communications, and HR. She/he is expected to contribute to WFD’s research agenda, as well as producing articles and blogs for WFD’s external communications.

As a senior member of the Programmes team (and the organisation overall), the RD will participate actively in developing the strategic direction and improving the operational capacity of the organisation, taking part in meetings of the Executive Management Committee (EMC) and the Programme Quality Committee (PQC).

She/he also liaises with the UK Parties’ Political Party Offices (PPOs) – who undertake sister-party and multi-party work on a country, regional and global basis – on all programming in their regions, ensuring effective coordination, information sharing, and collaboration.

The successful candidate will have the following skills and experience

• Thorough knowledge of the political environment and institutions in relevant region combined with an understanding of the challenges of democratic reform
• A sound understanding of the British political and parliamentary system, including devolved assemblies
• Direct experience of designing and implementing programmes (in particular parliamentary strengthening programmes), including analysis of project and programme proposals
• Preferably has field management experience in the region and in thematic areas relevant to WFD’s political and parliamentary development interests
• Successful track record of drafting proposal (including programme design and developing budgets)
• Relevant specialised knowledge and experience, particularly of evaluation methodologies, participatory programme development or an area relevant to democracy building such as political party work.
• Knowledge and understanding of the British and international funding institutions and donor agencies.
• Fluency in written and spoken English. Fluency/proficiency in one or more languages spoken widely in the relevant regions highly desirable

Please note this statement is for information only and does not form part of a contract. This is a UK based role and therefore the successful candidate must have eligibility to work in the UK. 

If you are interested in this role, send your CV and cover letter to recruitment@wfd.org by 23:59 (GMT) 18th April 2018. Please clearly reference in your cover letter for which region(s) you would like to apply for, as well detailing your relevant skills and experience for the post(s). 
Please also ensure the region(s) you are applying for are clearly stated in the subject of the email when submitting your application. For more information, please download the job description and candidate guidance notes.

The appointment will be made on merit on the basis of fair and open competition.

Please note: Due to the volume of application we receive, only shortlisted candidates will be notified.