GiveDirectly is seeking a Technical Program Manager for its Emergency Cash team. In this role, you will be responsible for building, configuring, and managing technology for rapid cash assistance during crises. You'll translate emergency response needs into technical requirements, coordinate cross-functional teams, and strengthen global technical readiness.
What You'll Do
- Lead end-to-end technical program delivery during emergency activations, including scoping, requirements gathering, system configuration, implementation, QA, testing, troubleshooting, and closeout.
- Collaborate with Product, Research, Engineering, Data, Payments, and Operations teams to ensure systems align with program objectives and work in field conditions.
- Ensure all systems comply with standards for data protection, privacy, and financial controls.
- Manage technical training and onboarding for surge staff, collaborators, and local partners.
- Maintain and improve technical documentation, deployment guides, and incident-response protocols.
- Partner with Product and Engineering to develop product roadmaps, prioritize improvements, and enhance emergency response scalability and reliability.
- Track and report on technical readiness metrics like uptime, deployment speed, integration failures, data quality, and testing coverage.
- Lead technical design and implementation retrospectives, lessons learned, and root cause analyses after each response.
- Support technical assessments, evaluations, testing, and adoption of new products and solutions for emergency response.
- Support risk assessments for systems and data flows in high-risk operating environments.
- Identify and mitigate technical risks including connectivity, data loss, device theft, fraud, and system misuse.
- Contribute to incident reviews to improve safety and resilience protocols.
What We're Looking For
- Exceptional alignment with GiveDirectly Values and demonstration of core competencies: emotional intelligence, problem solving, project management, follow-through, and fostering inclusivity.
- 5+ years of professional experience in relevant backgrounds (e.g., technical program management, product management, data analytics, software engineering, international development, emergency response, or management consulting).
- Experience managing timelines, operational risk, stakeholders, and complex deliverables across multiple workstreams.
- Proven ability to operate in fast-paced and ambiguous settings, exercising sound judgment to balance speed, risk, and quality.
- Experience owning technical decisions when no predefined playbook exists, including evaluating novel technologies, system designs, and risks.
- Working proficiency with a programming or statistical language (e.g., Python, R, Matlab, Java, Apex).
- High attention to detail and strong instincts for analysis and validating data and code creatively and rigorously.
- Structured approach to problem-solving and a drive to uncover and fix root causes.
- Ability to clearly communicate technical concepts to both technical and non-technical stakeholders across varied cultural, national, and social backgrounds.
- Fluency in English.
Nice to Have
- Experience working with relational databases (e.g., SQL).
- Experience with data visualization.
- Experience working in humanitarian or emergency response contexts.
- Familiarity with humanitarian coordination systems (UN clusters, INGO networks) and donor expectations.
Team & Environment
The Emergency Cash team is remote-first, built around trust, ownership, and flexibility. You'll report to a Senior Technical Program Manager. GiveDirectly has a global team of ~150 and country operations teams of ~650. Our culture is candid, analytical, agile, and non-hierarchical. We center the people we serve in decision making and strive for an ambitious, dynamic, high-performing environment where all team members can thrive, succeed, and grow.
Benefits & Compensation
- Robust health benefits plan (exact details vary by country).
- Flexible paid time off that staff is encouraged to take.
- Allowances for desk set-up and learning and development.
- United States base salary: $99,000. Kenya base salary: $61,900. For other countries, salary benchmark shared during hiring.
Work Mode
This is a fully remote global position, but you must overlap with the East Africa timezone by at least 3 hours.
GiveDirectly is an Equal Opportunity Employer. All qualified applicants are considered without regard to race, color, religion, national origin, sex, sexual orientation, age, marital status, veteran status, disability, or any other protected characteristic.
