Job description

About the Organisation

The Water Trust, a leading water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) non-profit, registered as a 501(c)(3) in the US with operations in Uganda, is seeking a new Executive Director to succeed the current office holder. The Water Trust has grown significantly in recent years to more than $2 million in annual revenue with a portfolio of leading corporate, foundation, and research partners. The Water Trust is known in the WASH space for its commitment to data-driven, community-led innovations to improve sustainability and advance behavior change. The organization's adaptation of savings and credit cooperatives to support water point management has already improved rural water sustainability, community sanitation and financial services for more than 300,000 people in western Uganda.

Job Purpose

Looking forward, the Water Trust seeks an entrepreneurial, creative leader who can lead the scaleup of its flagship program across Uganda and beyond, while pioneering innovations that unlock new opportunities for transformative impact on community health and well-being. The Executive Director position, until now based in the US, will be based in Kampala to localize leadership and help the organization reach its potential. Ugandan and East African candidates are strongly encouraged to apply

Reporting to the Board of Directors, the Executive Director will have overall strategic and operational responsibility for The Water Trust’s staff, programs, expansion, and execution of its mission. She or he will initially develop deep knowledge of the field, core programs, operations, and business plans, and lead the organization’s strategic planning, execution, and resource mobilization. The ideal candidate will bring a strong track record in management, fundraising, and program leadership, and will be excited to lead a Ugandan-led organization on its next chapter of growth, while continuously raising the bar for program impact and organizational performance. 

Responsibilities

Leadership & Management:

• Ensure ongoing local programmatic excellence, rigorous program evaluation, and consistent quality of finance and administration, fundraising, communications, and systems; recommend timelines and resources needed to achieve the strategic goals.
• Actively engage and energize board members, funders, and partnering organizations.
• Develop, maintain, and support a strong Board of Directors.
• Lead, coach, develop, and retain a high-performance senior management team, fostering their professional growth and honing their managerial capabilities to drive organizational excellence.
• Ensure effective systems to track scaling progress, and regularly evaluate program components, to measure successes that can be effectively communicated to the board, funders, and other constituents.
• Promote a positive and ethical work environment centered on collaboration, problem-solving, and mutual support. 

Fundraising & Communications:

• Expand revenue-generating and fundraising activities to support existing program operations and expansion in Uganda and beyond.
• Deepen and refine all aspects of communications—from web presence to external relations with the goal of creating a stronger brand.
• Represent the organization externally at national and international conferences and develop relationships to garner new opportunities and insights.

Planning & New Business:

• Lead strategic planning and expansion planning into new markets.
• Build partnerships in new markets, establishing relationships with the funders, and political and community leaders.
• Be an external local and national presence that publishes and communicates program results with an emphasis on the successes of the local program as a model for regional and national replication. 

Qualifications

The ED will be thoroughly committed to our mission of empowering rural communities to provide their children clean water and healthy, hygienic homes. All candidates should have proven leadership, coaching, and relationship management experience. Specific requirements include:

• Advanced degree, ideally an MBA or master’s degree related to development, with at least 10 years of senior management experience; track record of effectively leading and regionally and/or nationally scaling a performance- and outcomes based organization and staff; ability to point to specific examples of having developed and operationalized strategies that have taken an organization to the next stage of growth.
• Strong understanding of rural development challenges and experience identifying and scaling evidence-driven solutions. 
• Unwavering commitment to quality programs and data-driven program evaluation.
• Excellence in organizational management with the ability to coach staff, manage, and develop high-performance teams, set and achieve strategic objectives, and manage a budget.
• Past success working with a Board of Directors with the ability to cultivate existing board member relationships.
• Strong marketing, public relations, and fundraising experience with the ability to engage a wide range of stakeholders and cultures.
• Strong written and verbal communication skills; a persuasive and passionate communicator with excellent interpersonal and multidisciplinary project skills.
• Action-oriented, entrepreneurial, adaptable, and innovative approach to business planning.
• Ability to work effectively in collaboration with diverse groups of people.
• Passion, idealism, integrity, positive attitude, mission-driven, and self-directed.