Senior Director, Nigeria

Who are we?
Malala Fund is working for a world where all girls can learn and lead. Malala Fund advocates for resources and policy changes needed to give all girls a secondary education, invests in local education leaders and amplifies the voices of girls fighting for change. Learn more at malala.org.
What does this team do?Our Nigeria team advances policy and advocacy to strengthen gender-responsive education financing and support Child Rights Act implementation, focusing on re-entry and ending child marriage.
What does this position do?Reporting to the Chief Executive, Nigeria, the Senior Director is responsible for leading the execution and evolution of Malala Fund Nigeria’s country strategy - anchoring delivery across advocacy, grantmaking, partnerships, and strategic communications.
This is a senior leadership position for a builder and pragmatic problem-solver: someone who understands how systems change unfolds in Nigeria; who can operate effectively across government, civil society, and development partners; and who brings rigour, sound judgement, and adaptability to complex delivery environments. The role ensures that ambition is consistently matched by strong execution, continuous learning, and tangible results. The Senior Director will also help shape and drive Malala Fund Nigeria’s advocacy and delivery approaches to engaging men, boys, and influential traditional and religious leaders, recognising their role in shaping social norms, policy adoption, and implementation that affect girls’ education outcomes. By leading portfolio execution, strengthening internal coherence, and advancing this agenda in alignment with the Chief Executive’s strategic direction, the Senior Director enables the Chief Executive to focus on high-level leadership, external influence, and organisational stewardship.

Duties and Responsibilities
Country Framework Execution and Delivery

In close consultation with the Chief Executive, provide guide implementation and refinement of the Nigeria Country Framework, ensuring advocacy, partnerships, grantmaking, and communications operate as a coherent and mutually reinforcing portfolio.
Exercise delegated authority over programmatic and delivery decisions, escalating strategic or reputational risks to the Chief Executive as appropriate.
Apply deep technical and contextual expertise in girls’ education systems strengthening, ensuring work is grounded in a strong understanding of Nigeria’s education system, political economy, and federal–state dynamics.
Lead the Partnership Managers to ensure coherence across federal and state advocacy efforts and grantee-led work, supporting aligned, mutually reinforcing approaches to systems change.
Guide the team to track progress against agreed outcomes and ensure the effective use of policy analysis, evidence, and learning, identifying risks and bottlenecks and supporting timely course correction to strengthen accountability and results.
Advance approaches that engage men, boys, and influential traditional and religious leaders as part of broader systems-change efforts.
Represent Nigeria delivery priorities in cross-departmental discussions, ensuring organisational decisions reflect country realities.

Strategy Development

Serve as a strategic thought partner to the Chief Executive in shaping and refining Malala Fund Nigeria’s approach, bringing forward analysis, recommendations, and forward-looking insight informed by political, policy, and ecosystem shifts.
Identify emerging risks and opportunities and recommend adjustments to advocacy and partnership approaches.
Contribute Nigeria-based insight to broader organisational reflection and learning.

Team Leadership and Management

Ensure strong integration between advocacy priorities and communications planning, enabling effective collaboration between the Strategic Communications Manager and the Chief Executive on external engagements.
Develop and strengthen the leadership capacity of direct reports, ensuring the Nigeria team operates with increasing independence, judgement, and strategic clarity.
Foster and sustain a collaborative, learning-oriented team culture that prioritises growth, reflection, and continuous improvement, while maintaining clear ownership and high standards of execution in a complex and politically nuanced environment.
Work closely with colleagues across Malala Fund’s departments to ensure Nigeria’s work is well-supported, coordinated, and aligned with organisational priorities.

Operations and Internal Management

Drive day-to-day operational functioning of the work in Nigeria, ensuring work progresses smoothly, priorities are sequenced effectively, and issues are addressed before escalation to the Chief Executive is required.
Manage effective use of planning, tracking, and reporting tools to enable timely decision-making, internal accountability, and visibility on progress across advocacy, partnerships, and grants.
Serve as the primary internal problem-solver for delivery and operational issues, exercising judgement on when to resolve challenges directly and when to escalate to the Chief Executive.
Ensure alignment between Country Framework delivery and organisational processes, working closely with other departments and teams to support implementation.
Contribute to operational readiness and continuous improvement, identifying gaps in systems or ways of working and supporting practical solutions as the work in Nigeria evolves.
Work closely with the Nigeria Coordinator, who reports to the Chief Executive, to support effective planning, information flow, and day-to-day team functioning, ensuring internal processes enable timely decision-making and effective delivery.

External Engagement and Representation

Engage with key stakeholders in support of advocacy objectives in Nigeria: including government officials, civil society leaders, traditional, religious, and community leaders, development partners
Represent Malala Fund Nigeria in technical meetings, consultations, panels, and interviews, as appropriate and in alignment with the Chief Executive’s role as senior country representative.
Facilitate effective collaboration between the Strategic Communications Manager and the Chief Executive on external representation, media engagement, and high-profile moments, ensuring strong preparation, follow-through, and internal alignment.
Support preparation, follow-through, and execution related to priority external engagements led by the Chief Executive.

Organisation Standards, Values & Safeguarding Responsibilities

Our values guide how we work and how we show up every day: we set ambitious goals, act with integrity, and dare to be brave. We think creatively and seek out diverse perspectives, embedding these principles into every decision, collaboration, and outcome.

Maintain behaviour and conduct that uphold the highest standards for safeguarding, professionally and personally.

Performs other related duties as assigned.

What you bring to us and the role!

Significant professional experience and a Masters Degree (typically 10–15 years) in education, gender, public policy, advocacy, international development, economics, or social sciences, with substantial experience working in Nigeria.
Demonstrated experience engaging policymakers and government institutions and supporting policy adoption and implementation, particularly within complex federal and state systems.
Strong understanding of Nigeria’s education ecosystem, including governance structures, education financing, and the roles of government, civil society, donors, and coalitions.
Proven experience leading complex programmes or advocacy efforts in politically nuanced and/or resource-constrained environments.
Demonstrated people management experience, including leading and developing managers and supporting teams at varying levels of capacity and experience.
Strong systems-thinking, execution discipline, and ability to translate strategy into action.
Sound judgement, integrity, and political awareness in complex stakeholder environments.
Collaborative, low-ego leadership style with a strong coaching and learning orientation.

Nice to haves:

Experience working directly on girls’ education, gender equality, or child marriage within Nigeria or comparable contexts.
Familiarity with education financing tools and approaches, including gender-responsive budgeting or education sector planning processes.
Experience engaging men and boys, traditional leaders, or faith-based institutions, in Nigeria or comparable contexts, as part of advocacy, social norms change, or systems-strengthening efforts related to girls’ education, gender equality, or social development.
Experience working with or managing donor-funded programmes and engaging with international development partners.
Exposure to monitoring, evaluation, and learning (MEL) systems beyond reporting requirements, including adaptive management or learning-driven delivery.
Experience working across federal and state levels in Nigeria, including subnational implementation.
Experience working within or alongside global organisations with country platforms.
Additional language skills relevant to Nigeria beyond English.

Supervisory ResponsibilitiesThis position directly supervises the Partnership Managers and the Strategic Communications Manager, and provides leadership and guidance to additional Nigeria team members as applicable.
Travel Required
Moderate Travel (three to five trips per year; mostly domestic with some international travel)
Malala Fund is an equal opportunity employer and inclusive organization who welcomes employees from under-represented and intersectional communities including BIPOC, LGBTQ+ and persons with disabilities. We seek people with diverse backgrounds, cultures, ages, experiences and identities to provide a wide range of perspectives, ideas, views and insights into the strategy, policies, culture and ambitions of Malala Fund.

Malala Fund is committed to safeguarding and ensuring the safety and dignity of all of those involved in our work. Our first priority is protecting everyone who comes in direct or indirect contact with our organization, including staff, partners, grantees, and the communities in which we work

Malala Fund has a zero-tolerance approach to abuse, exploitation, harassment, or discrimination of any kind by any of our staff, representatives or partners. We commit to ensuring that those who work with Malala Fund or on our behalf are able to work in an environment that is safe, respectful, and free from harm. To uphold this commitment, Malala Fund reserves the right to conduct background checks on prospective and current employees.