JOB ADVERTISEMENT: 

CARE International is seeking to recruit a “Program Director”. 

Introduction

CARE is a leading humanitarian organization fighting global poverty. We seek a world of hope, tolerance and social justice, where poverty has been overcome and people live in dignity and security. CARE International aims to be a global force and a partner of choice within a worldwide movement dedicated to ending poverty. 

Are you a visionary leader with a passion for creating lasting change? Do you excel at turning strategy into action, inspiring high-performing teams, and delivering transformative development programs?

CARE Rwanda is seeking an experienced and dynamic program director to provide strategic leadership for our program portfolio and drive sustainable impact for vulnerable women and girls across rwanda.

About the Role

As a member of the senior management team, you will lead the design, implementation, and growth of high-quality programs that address the root causes of poverty and inequality. You will play a pivotal role in shaping care rwanda's strategic direction, fostering innovation, strengthening partnerships, mobilizing resources, and ensuring excellence in program delivery.

We are looking for a bold and collaborative leader who can navigate complexity, make informed decisions, inspire teams, and build a culture of accountability, learning, and shared ownership. The successful candidate will bring strong experience in program leadership, organizational development, partnership management, risk management, and resource mobilization, along with a deep commitment to gender equality and social justice.

This is a unique opportunity to join a globally recognized humanitarian and development organization and help shape solutions that empower women and girls to thrive, lead, and drive sustainable change in their communities.

Who we are looking for:

Educational Qualifications:

• Bachelor’s degree in Development Management, Social Science, Development Studies, or a related field.
• Master's degree in a related field (e.g. Development Management or Social Science).

Experience:

• At least eight years of progressive senior management experience in the development sector, including leadership of complex, multi-donor funded programs.
• Strong understanding of economic development, poverty analysis, and sustainable development programming
• Proven experience in program design, implementation, monitoring, evaluation, and learning, including participatory approaches.
• Demonstrated experience managing multi-million-dollar budgets, organizational risk, donor compliance, and value-for-money initiatives.
• Proven track record of leading organizational and programmatic change, including introducing new ways of working and building stakeholder buy-in.
• Experience building and maintaining effective partnerships with donors, government institutions, implementing partners, and other key stakeholders.
• Experience in emergency response, policy engagement, and advocacy at local, national, and international levels.

Technical skills:

• Demonstrated leadership and management skills in a complex international and regional setting.
• Demonstrated ability in program design, implementation, and evaluation.
• Demonstrated self-awareness, leadership, and interpersonal skills.
• Strong, decisive judgment in fast-moving or ambiguous situations.
• Strong human resource management skills, including capacity building, coaching, and conflict management.
• Demonstrated interest and ability to give feedback, develop, motivate, and lead a diverse team to achieve results.
• Ability to establish a learning culture and to facilitate knowledge sharing.
• Demonstrated use of positive coping strategies in stressful environments
• Demonstrated capability in raising funds from bilateral and multilateral donors.
• Demonstrated proposal writing and report writing skills.
• Knowledge and demonstrated skill in financial management, including managing a complex budget.
• Effective follow-up on internal and external audit recommendations.
• Ensuring donor compliance and reporting.

How to apply

If you are passionate about leading impactful programs, strengthening organizational performance, and contributing to lasting positive change for vulnerable women and girls, you are encouraged to submit your application by September 11, 2026, using the below link.

Only shortlisted candidates will be contacted for further steps.

Notes:

• CARE seeks to improve the lives of the most marginalized, particularly women and girls. Our diversity is our strength. We are an equal opportunity employer promoting gender, equity, diversity and Inclusion. CARE’s focus as an organization is to empower women and girls as we strongly believe that they are most affected by poverty. In line with our values, we highly encourage women to apply for this position.
• We are committed to preventing all unwanted behavior at work. This includes sexual harassment, exploitation and abuse, and child abuse. We expect everyone who works for us to share this commitment by understanding and working within the CARE Safeguarding Policy and related framework.
• CARE International has a zero-tolerance approach to any harm to, or exploitation of any person or child by any of our staff, or partners. CARE International reserves the right to seek information from job applicants’ current and/or previous employers about incidents of sexual exploitation, sexual abuse and/or sexual harassment the applicant may have been found guilty to have committed or about which an investigation was in the process of being carried out at the time of the termination of the applicant’s employment with that employer.
• We participate in the Inter Agency Misconduct Disclosure Scheme and will request information from job applicants’ previous employers about any findings of sexual exploitation, sexual abuse, child abuse and/or sexual harassment during employment, or incidents under investigation when the applicant left employment. 
• By submitting the application, the job applicant confirms that they have no objection to CARE International requesting the information specified above.

*Disclaimer: CARE International does not charge any kind of fee at whichever stage of the recruitment.