Executive Director

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Position description

The Executive Director (ED) provides overall leadership, strategic vision and direction, and accountability for NEST360 operations and programs. The ED will lead a diverse team and work closely with the global alliance as well as collaboratively with governments, donors, and other partners to strengthen partnerships and ensure operational excellence across all domains.

The ED reports to the global fiduciary board and is responsible for guiding the alliance strategy, execution, and overall growth and impact. The ED will also lead alliance positioning, fundraising, partnership management, and operational excellence. The ED’s role is to translate the alliance’s vision into sustained impact by leading a complex, multi-stakeholder, Africa-based coordination hub that supports governments, alliance partners, and donors to reduce preventable newborn deaths. The ED is ultimately responsible for positioning NEST360 as a credible, Africa-led organisation that ensures effective governance, financial stewardship, and efficient fundraising while enabling alignment and high performance across the board.

What Success Looks Like in the Medium Term (3-5 years)

• Hub operates successfully as a leading organisation in neonatal health in Africa.
• Sustained multi‑year funding and diversified funding portfolio for NEST360.
• Expansion of implementation to new countries while transitioning out of countries that have achieved sustained impact.
• Efficient management of board operations and support.
• NEST360 interventions, policies, and best practices embedded in national systems.
• NEST360 is a leading voice in newborn health advocacy in Africa.

Major Duties and Responsibilities

Strategy and Direction

• Provide visionary leadership to drive NEST360’s goal of reducing newborn mortality and advancing high-quality care across African hospitals.
• Translate vision into actionable strategies, priorities, and measurable outcomes.
• Shape and execute the multi-year strategic direction of NEST360 with the board and alliance members, including alignment with global health priorities such as the UN SDG 3.2 for newborn survival.
• Guide the organisation through its multi-country implementation phases, including expansion across existing and new member countries.

Governance and Accountability

• Serve as the primary interface between the Global Fiduciary Board and hub management, ensuring clarity of expectations, accountability, and performance.
• Promote appropriate harmony between governance and management to ensure the Board remains strategic rather than engaged in day-to-day operational decisions.
• Uphold fiduciary, statutory, and ethical responsibilities associated with leading a Company Limited by Guarantee.
• Participate in the global fiduciary board in an ex officio capacity.
• Co-chair the Leadership Strategy Committee.

External Leadership, Positioning, and Advocacy

• Act as the principal representative and spokesperson for NEST360 with governments, donors, alliance partners, and global stakeholders.
• Build and manage high-level relationships with Ministries of Health, regional bodies, multilateral agencies, and private partners, moving forward the sustainability of NEST360’s interventions through integration in national and regional policy agendas.
• Build NEST360’s visibility, credibility, and influence as an Africa-led organisation on newborn health.
• Represent NEST360 at international forums and champion its interventions to be integrated into the standard of care in African countries and hospitals.

Resource Mobilisation and Financial Stewardship

• Lead fundraising strategy and execution to secure sustainable, multi-year funding.
• Maintain oversight of budgets, ensuring transparency, compliance, and effective risk management in coordination with the Chief Operating Officer and Finance Department.
• Cultivate relationships with philanthropic foundations, bilateral donors, corporations, and individual contributors and strengthen relationships with current and future donors.
• Partner closely with the leadership strategy committee and the board to set strategic fundraising priorities and develop compelling cases for support.

Alliance and Stakeholder Management

• Navigate complex multi-partner and multi-country alliance dynamics, aligning diverse partners with differing systems and operating models to ensure program success across NEST360 countries in alignment with set strategic objectives, plans, and timelines.
• Build trust, manage tensions, and resolve conflicts across partners with skilful diplomacy and emotional intelligence.
• Ensure effective coordination and value add from the NEST360 hub without duplicating country-level implementation roles.

Organisational Leadership, Operations, and Culture

• Recruit, lead, and develop a high-performing senior leadership team.
• Build fit-for-purpose systems, processes, and culture appropriate for a growing, distributed organisation operating in multiple African countries.
• Foster a culture of transparency, accountability, learning, collaboration, ethics and integrity.

Operating Environment

• Operates within a politically nuanced, multi-country public health environment.
• Works across a broad alliance of academic institutions, NGOs, governments, and donors.
• For the hub, impact is achieved primarily through technical assistance, coordination, fundraising, and strategic leadership rather than direct program implementation.
• Decisions often involve ambiguity, competing priorities, and long-term consequences for reputation and sustainability.
• Funding is donor-dependent and, therefore, can be unpredictable and change quickly at times.

Key Relationships

Internal:

• Global Fiduciary Board
• Senior management team of the hub (direct reports)
• Hub staff across functions

External:

• Ministries of Health and government stakeholders
• Donors and philanthropic partners
• Alliance member organisations and country leadership teams
• Multilateral agencies and regional bodies

Qualifications

Profile

Knowledge, Skills, and Experience

• Experience: Extensive senior leadership experience (15+ years) leading complex, medium to large development, NGO, or public interest organisations.
• Technical Knowledge: Strong understanding of public health systems and the ability to operate credibly in health-sector discussions. Clinical or neonatal technical expertise is not required, although it is an advantage.
• Education: Master’s, MD/MBBS, or Doctoral-level degree in relevant fields or Bachelor’s with demonstrated significant relevant experience.
• Regional Expertise: Proven track record of navigating health systems in sub-Saharan Africa and working with governments, leading multi-country and/or multi-partner programs in Africa. Preferred: citizen of any African country.
• Financial Acumen: Demonstrated fundraising capability and donor relations experience, and experience overseeing large-scale, multi-year budgets.
• Stakeholder Engagement: Demonstrated experience collaborating with ministries of health, donors, NGOs, academic institutions, and other partners in public health with proven success leading in multi stakeholder, politically complex environments.

Key Competencies

• Strategic and Political Acumen: Diplomacy, influence without authority, ability to build and foster strategic partnerships.
• Emotional Intelligence: Relationship building, conflict management, ability to motivate others, and effective communication skills.
• Startup Mindset: Comfortable building systems from scratch in a fast-paced, evolving environment, often with ambiguity and complexity.
• Strategic Execution: Able to think “big picture” and organise diverse governing bodies to pursue the same and translate vision into execution.
• Problem Solver: Creative and adaptive leader with evidence-based practice and innovative approaches.
• Ethics: Transparency, integrity, good judgment, and accountability.

Terms of Appointment

This is a full-time executive-level role which will require up to 30–40% travel and will be based in Nairobi, Kenya.

Application instructions