How you'll help us achieve it

Wave is now the largest financial institution in Senegal, with over 9 million users. And, we’re still in the early days of our product roadmap and potential impact on people’s everyday lives.

We are looking for someone resourceful, organised, and proactive about getting things done to join our business development team in Burkina Faso.

Reporting to the Head of Business Development, you are the bridge between external companies and the internal Wave teams. The business development team cultivates the relationships, establishes partnerships and executes contracts based on the needs of the product and operation teams as we rapidly scale our business in Burkina Faso. 

In this role, you'll: 

Partnerships and Relationships: 

• Build and strengthen partnerships between Wave and key entities like the Central Bank, banks, microfinances, telecom companies, international remittances and businesses that Wave needs to scale. This will involve extensive research and leveraging your networks to determine the best partner for Wave, then owning the acquisition. You will also manage the relationships with all external stakeholders and ensure that Wave’s service level agreements are met. As Wave grows in the market, the types of partnerships and services required will change. 
• Do whatever it takes to help Wave scale in Sierra Leone! This will involve helping with a wide array of tasks across multiple disciplines.
• Strategic Reporting: 
• Produce key business performance reports periodically for Wave partners. This can be weekly, monthly, quarterly, bi-annually, annually or as needed.
• Develop and update presentations for partner meetings as well as internal playbooks.
• Communication and Culture: 
• Facilitate communication between external partners and internal Wave teams (Product, Finance, Distribution, Compliance, Legal) and work collaboratively internally to ensure that leads have the information needed to make decisions.
• Propagate Wave culture and ensure that Wave is a fun and rewarding place to work
• Compliance and Regulatory: 
• Ensure that Wave Sierra Leone complies with all the relevant regulations and specifications externally and internally alongside the Compliance team. Externally, this will mean making sure that we comply with the government of Sierra Leone’s business regulations and working closely with Wave’s bank partners to address compliance topics. Internally, this will require you to a) know what Wave requires from all its operations and b) constantly hold different departments and business unit heads accountable to make sure they are complying with the Wave standards.

Key details

• Location: Sierra Leone, or other regions. Willingness to relocate to other regions for 2-3 month periods is required.
• Work authorisation in the Sierra Leone is required. 
• Our salaries are competitive and calculated using a transparent formula.
• We offer generous health insurance for yourself and your dependents.
• We support working parents - we offer 26 weeks of parental leave for mothers and 4 weeks for fathers, in addition to subsidised child care when they return to work.
• Airtime reimbursement.
• Free food and a beautiful office space.

Requirements

• University degree in Communications, Telecommunications, Finance, International Relations, Business Management, or a related field.
• At least 5 years experience in a similar position at banks, telcos, international remittance companies or Fintechs.
• Fluent in French and English.

You might be a good fit if you

• Have a strong network of friends and former colleagues from your work in B2B sales or work at a telecom operator that you are excited for an excuse to call, meet and work with
• Have identified and professionally engaged with strategic partners by seizing upon mutually beneficial opportunities, and being relentless in your pursuit.
• Have exceptional strategic thinking skills, proactive execution abilities, and a creative approach to generating leads.
• Are at ease in a boardroom giving presentations or preparing partner onboarding documents in French or English.
• Are enthusiastic about Wave's mission and excited to do what needs to be done to achieve it.
• Like teamwork, but you also know how to work well autonomously.
• Have demonstrated tenacity and a willingness to go the distance to get something done.
• Are very detail-oriented and seek to achieve excellence in everything you do.
• Have experience working at an international company.
• Are intellectually curious, creative in the way you go about tackling problems, and embrace failure as a means to spark innovation and growth
  
  

About Imagine Worldwide 

All children have immense potential, but hundreds of millions don’t have access to the learning they need. Imagine Worldwide believes that every child should be empowered with the basic right to literacy and numeracy. We provide an innovative education technology solution and implementation model to the global literacy/numeracy learning crisis using the onebillion application and various toolkits and systems to support implementation. Our model is massively scalable, evidence-based, and can deliver foundational learning to millions of the most marginalized children.

Imagine Worldwide partners with governments, organizations, and communities to provide child-directed, tablet-based learning that is accessible, effective, and affordable. We are incorporated in California (United States) as a nonprofit organization, but operate in Sub-Saharan Africa through locally-registered entities in Malawi, Sierra Leone and Tanzania. Learn more on our website.

About the Role

The Director of Government Partnerships will play an instrumental role in carrying out Imagine’s mission, to design, deliver, and scale tablet-based learning solutions that enable children to become literate and numerate in Sierra Leone, and secondly institutionalizing the program within the government for long-term sustainability. The Director will join a highly committed and collaborative team that is working together to empower every child, everywhere to achieve their full potential. They will work directly with the Executive Director of Imagine Sierra Leone and Imagine’s Head of Government Partnerships, to manage Imagine’s path to the national adoption of our edtech program in Sierra Leone. 

Mission and Objectives

The Director of Government Partnerships will take overall leadership and responsibility for engagements with government stakeholders nationwide adoption of our tablet learning program in Sierra Leone and the institutionalization of the program into the Ministry’s core education programming in the country. 

Mission and Objectives

Mission: Lead and manage all interactions with government entities to ensure alignment, compliance, and strategic collaboration for program implementation, policy influence, and institutionalization.

Key Responsibilities

Collaboration between Imagine Sierra Leone and Government Stakeholders

• Develop government engagement plans, setting clear objectives and defining activities;
• Setup regular meetings with different government stakeholders to discuss program progress and resolve any challenges with implementation;
• Support and facilitate functional teams or working groups between Imagine Sierra Leone and Government stakeholders to ensure effective joint planning and delivery of activities between the Imagine, and government personnel to build government capacity;
• Oversee workstreams, assess resource requirements, and plan adequately to support government engagement activities;
• Support the Executive Director’s engagements with the Government officers at different levels to ensure capacity building and ownership of the program;
• Support program implementation governance arrangements and ensure they operate efficiently between the program and the government;
• Collaborate with the  Government to implement the program with a clear goal of devolving power and ownership to government actors over time.

Institutionalization of the Program:

• Uphold principles of system strengthening where Imagine plays a temporary role in program implementation with a clear goal of driving  governments full ownership of the program;
• Lead in-country government engagement strategies in liaison with Imagine Worldwide to ensure continued alignment with Government on key program-related matters;
• Liaise with the governments  policy and planning units to drive integration of program activities in the Ministry's primary operating systems for enhanced support;
• Contribute to designing metrics and criteria to measure, monitor and report on progress towards institutionalization goals;
• Explore critical partnerships within the government education delivery system and secure their alignment and support for the program.
• Develop, negotiate, and manage MOUs and partnership agreements with government entities and relevant stakeholders.

Stakeholder Management:

• Collaborate closely with Imagine Worldwide global office on government engagements and efforts to manage stakeholders;
• Develop and manage detailed stakeholder mapping of all relevant government stakeholders and categorise each stakeholder’s potential influence and impact on our programs and the institutionalization thereof;
•  Build and maintain strong relationships with key government stakeholders, including the Ministry of Finance, to support funding coordination and program sustainability.
• Contribute to and maintain systems (equivalent to a customer relationship management system) to manage stakeholder contact information and track engagements and required actions to enable proactive and considered engagements and mitigate against disruptions in relationships with key government stakeholders;
• Develop and implement engagement plans with prioritized stakeholders to solicit support and secure buy-in through meetings, school visits, special events, hosting workshops, making financial and non-financial contributions to government projects, supporting local edtech hubs etc.

Advocacy and Policy Alignment:

• Develop networks and relationships with key stakeholders in  government and other relevant ministries whose decisions or influence has a bearing on the government’s buy-in to the program, such as technology and energy;
• Organise and coordinate itineraries of school tours for government stakeholders, donor visits and special guests;
• Build and maintain local political and industry relationships to support the program;
• Raise Imagine Worldwide’s local profile and stature with government bodies and other key education stakeholders through thought leadership and proactive engagement;
• Keep abreast of relevant policy developments in Sierra Leone   and conduct research as required to guide country office program roll-out activities;
• Lead advocacy for new policies or policy changes required to enable long-term sustainability of our programs; 
• Support local engagements with bilateral and multilateral organizations such as GPE and World Bank; 
• Support the dissemination of project outcomes and learnings to stakeholders.

Program Implementation:

• Lead collaboration with government stakeholders to achieve alignment on the program implementation, management, and governance processes; 
• Leverage government relationships to manage project risks with creative problem-solving and escalations as required.
• Oversee ISP compliance with government engagement requirements and systems strengthening activities, ensuring alignment within district and national level.

Requirements

Education and Work Experience

The successful candidate will possess the following competencies, experiences, and qualities: 

• Advanced degree in political science, education, or social science; 
• A minimum of ten (10) years of working experience in government affairs, preferably in a leadership role within international multicultural organisations (commercial or non-profit).

Ideal Candidate Profile

Proven experience that includes:

• Excellent written and oral communication skills in English 
• Significant experience in government relations, an extensive knowledge of federal politics, legislative process, and administrative actions in education, climate and/or energy;
• Ability to take knowledge and link governments and policy influencers with the technical resources and messaging required;
• Able to identify viable administrative pathways for implementation priorities as well as major challenges, and develop effective, creative strategies to influence government stakeholders;
• Ability to listen, communicate, and develop trusting relationships with internal colleagues and external stakeholders to bring together multiple perspectives into a cohesive effort;
• A skilled government relationships builder, with the ability to construct and maintain strong networks of policy influence within the industry and governing institutions;
• Experience in a global environment working with governments and government agencies in the policymaking process, with a strong record of leading and delivering effective results;
• Sincere commitment to work collaboratively with all constituent groups, including staff, board members, stakeholders, and other supporters;
• High energy, maturity, and leadership with the ability to serve as a unifying force and to position communications discussions at both the strategic and tactical levels.

Additional Skills 

• Passion for Imagine’s mission and vision
• Demonstrated commitment to equity in educational access and outcomes
• Strong writing and communications skills
• Relationship builder with the flexibility and finesse to ‘manage by influence’
• Team-oriented, collaborative, flexible, adaptable, and comfortable working in an inclusive, low-ego, matrix-management environment
• Self-starter, able to work independently, and enjoys creating and implementing new initiatives.
• Collaborative team player; clear and proactive communicator
• High integrity, conscientious and willing to take responsibility

Qualities

•  Passion for Imagine’s mission and vision 
•  Demonstrated commitment to equity in educational access and outcomes
• Passion for project management
• Demonstrated ability to think independently and solve problems
• Collaborative team player; clear and proactive communicator
• Flexible, adaptable, and able to work in a fast-paced, changing environment

Compensation & Benefits

Salary is competitive and commensurate with experience.

Location

The Director of Government Partnerships must be based in Freetown, Sierra Leone

* * *

Imagine Worldwide is proud to be an equal opportunity employer. All applicants will be considered for employment without attention to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, veteran or disability status.

About Imagine Worldwide

All children have immense potential, but hundreds of millions don’t have access to the learning they need. Imagine Worldwide believes that every child should be empowered with the basic right to literacy and numeracy. We provide an innovative education technology solution and implementation model to the global literacy/numeracy learning crisis using the onebillion application and various toolkits and systems to support implementation. Our model is massively scalable, evidence-based, and can deliver foundational learning to millions of the most marginalized children.

Imagine Worldwide partners with governments, organizations, and communities to provide child-directed, tablet-based learning that is accessible, effective, and affordable. We are incorporated in California (United States) as a nonprofit organization, but operate in Sub-Saharan Africa through locally-registered entities in Malawi, Sierra Leone and Tanzania. Learn more on our website.

About the Role

The Senior Director of Delivery is the second most senior leadership role in the organization, reporting directly to the Executive Director and serving as a key driver of Imagine Worldwide Sierra Leone’s strategy and impact. This position plays a central role in advancing Imagine’s mission to design, deliver, and scale high-quality tablet-based learning solutions that enable children across Sierra Leone to achieve foundational literacy and numeracy at national scale.

This role carries significant organizational value and influence. The Senior Director of Delivery is responsible for translating strategy into execution by ensuring that programs, technology, logistics, data systems, and partner engagement are aligned and operating effectively. The position provides executive-level oversight to ensure that implementation plans move beyond design into measurable, real-world impact in schools and communities.

Working across both global and in-country teams, the Senior Director of Delivery drives alignment, accountability, prioritization, and cross-functional problem-solving. The role ensures that learning programs launch successfully, operate reliably, and continuously improve through strong systems, data-driven decision-making, and collaborative leadership. As a senior organizational leader, the Senior Director of Delivery also contributes to shaping institutional culture, strengthening operational excellence, and guiding teams through periods of growth and scale.

The successful candidate will join a highly committed and collaborative leadership team dedicated to empowering every child, everywhere to reach their full potential. This position requires a strategic thinker with strong execution skills, the ability to lead across diverse teams and stakeholders, and a passion for delivering large-scale education transformation in Sierra Leone.

Key Responsibilities

Strategic Delivery Leadership

• Provide leadership and accountability for coordinated delivery across Programs, MEAL, Logistics, and Technical Services, ensuring work is coordinated to achieve program outcomes and operational reliability
• Serve as the country's primary integrator for delivery execution, ensuring leadership receives one coherent view of delivery progress, constraints, and decision needs.
• Shape and translate the country scale plan into clear delivery outcomes (e.g., launch readiness, device uptime, training completion, data completeness, time-on-task enablement) and hold delivery leaders accountable.
• Ensure coordination with global functions as needed and alignment with Imagine’s key performance areas and indicators.
• Contribute to discussions, policy notes, etc., as needed, on national scale and government transition.
• Represent Imagine Worldwide Sierra Leone across any external delivery platforms and/or as designated by the Executive Director.

Delivery Planning 

• Develop and own a single integrated delivery plan that synchronizes all delivery workstreams (launch preparation and recurring operations), with clear milestones, dependencies, resourcing assumptions, and accountable owners.
• Establish and lead a delivery operating rhythm (planning, execution reviews, performance reviews, and retrospectives) that drives disciplined execution, early risk detection, and timely decision-making.
• Balance competing priorities across delivery functions and make unified prioritization calls grounded in mission outcomes, data, capacity constraints, and delivery risk.
• Define and monitor delivery KPIs; track performance trends via a delivery performance dashboard; and drive corrective actions through structured data reviews and cross-functional problem-solving.
• Own delivery risk management and escalation by maintaining a delivery risks and issues register, proactively identifying material risks, defining mitigation plans with clear owners and timelines, and ensuring risks are escalated early through agreed pathways.
• Lead incident response for material delivery disruptions (e.g., rollout delays, uptime failures, safety/security incidents impacting learning, partner underperformance) by coordinating rapid triage, containment, root-cause analysis, and prevention of recurrence.
• Ensure transparent progress and governance reporting, including decision logs, escalation pathways, and measurement systems that support delivery improvement through data quality assurance and actionable insights.

Operational Excellence

• Build and maintain standardized training systems, SOPs, and capacity-building programs that ensure consistent, high-quality delivery at scale. Oversee delivery-critical partner performance (e.g., ISPs and service providers), ensuring clear expectations, coordinated work, and timely issue resolution.
• Codify best practices and policies that reduce institutional knowledge gaps and increase delivery resilience.
• Partner with the ED as a senior leader, providing integrated delivery oversight and escalating only the highest-priority issues requiring ED intervention. Contribute to the country leadership team by role-modeling Imagine values, driving organizational health, and leading through ambiguity and change.

People Management

• Line manage the delivery function leads (Directors of Program, Director Technical Services, Logistics Manager, and MEAL Manager). 
• Lead and manage staff reporting to them, setting clear expectations, priorities, and performance standards.
• Develop leadership capacity through coaching, feedback, performance management, and succession planning to support scale and sustainability.

Requirements

The successful candidate will possess the following competencies, experiences, and qualities:

Education and Work Experience

Bachelor's degree or higher with a minimum of 10 years of progressive experience in operations leadership, program delivery, or a similar senior role, including at least 5 years managing teams. Management consulting experience is a plus. 

Role-Specific Skills Required

• Significant experience in managing successful program scaling.  
• Proven track record in managing scale operations in complex environments working with multiple partners 
• Excellent written and oral communication skills in English
• Strong ability to analyze and interpret data to inform decisions, coupled with proven project management skills to plan, execute, and deliver projects effectively.
• Strong interpersonal and relationship-building skills and ability to proactively manage and resolve conflicts
• Excellent understanding of budgets, financial processesR, reporting requirements, and compliance regulations within donor-funded grants and contracts
• Ability to work effectively in multicultural environments and teams 
• Strong organizational skills, superior attention to detail, ability to work under pressure and meet deadlines
• Compensation & Benefits

Location

This position is open to candidates based anywhere on the African continent who are willing to relocate. Employment will be on in-country terms (salary scale and benefits aligned with the host country). Imagine Worldwide will support work permit sponsorship and provide relocation assistance where required.

Applications are reviewed on a rolling basis

* * *

Imagine Worldwide is proud to be an equal opportunity employer. All applicants will be considered for employment without attention to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, veteran or disability status.