Technical Program Manager, Emergency Cash

About GiveDirectly

GiveDirectly (GD) aims to reshape international giving and millions of lives by providing cash grants directly to the worlds poorest. The Brookings Institution estimates that $70B of cash transfers would be required to eliminate the poverty gap; the aid sector currently spends $135B each year much of it on evidence-free interventions. GiveDirectly wants to change that establishing cash transfers as a benchmark for foreign aid as the index fund is a benchmark for the financial industry and in the process accelerating the end of extreme poverty.

GD has raised over $1B since launching in 2011 delivered cash to more than 1.5 million people in 15 different countries. Weve also supported large-scale experimental research that indicates strong recipient impact of our programs. As a result GD has been celebrated as one of the most innovative non-profit companies by Fast Company while the growing cash transfer movement (and GDs leading role within it) have been featured in the New York Times Magazine This American Life Foreign Affairs and The Economist.

Our culture is candid analytical agile and non-hierarchical. Our global team of 150 and country operations teams of 650 together come from 21 different countries speaking 69 different languages. From software engineers to seasoned humanitarian workers former management consultants to public servants researchers to field operations -- its an incredible group of people.

Our values are central and deliberately opinionated. We genuinely center the people we serve in our decision making and strive to build an ambitious dynamic and high performing environment. We strongly encourage you to read through our values carefully if they reflect how you like to work and energize you this could be a great fit.

We work hard to create an environment in which all our team members can thrive succeed and grow. We support flexibility take care of each other have fun and create professional growth opportunities.

Location: This role is fully remote but must overlap with an East Africa timezone by at least 3 hours. We are unable to sponsor or take over sponsorship of employment Visas in the U.S. or U.K. at this time.

About this role

GiveDirectlys Emergency Cash team delivers rapid technology-enabled cash assistance to people affected by crises. The Technical Program Manager (TPM) Emergency Cash will build configure and manage the technology used for those responses - including systems for data collection verification payments and monitoring - and ensure they are reliable replicable and ready for rapid deployment.

In this role youll translate emergency response needs into actionable technical requirements coordinate cross-functional teams during activations and strengthen our global readiness by improving tools and surfacing technical gaps to inform the product and technology roadmap.

The Emergency Cash team is a remote-first team built around trust ownership and flexibility. Because this role supports emergency responses the TPM may need to provide surge capacity and work across multiple timezones during activations in line with pre-established on-call schedules.

This position is ideal for someone who thrives in fast-moving ambiguous environments can bridge the gap between technical teams and field realities and is motivated to redefine how humanitarian responses leverage technology.

Reports to: Senior Technical Program Manager

Level: Manager

Travel Requirement: Up to 20% international travel for emergency deployments field testing partner coordination and team retreats.

What youll do:

• Lead Technical Program Delivery for Emergency Responses
  • Embed (remotely or on-site) with the emergency response team during activations to manage end-to-end technical program delivery - leading scoping requirements gathering system configuration and implementation QA and testing troubleshooting and closeout.
  • Collaborate with Product Research Engineering Data Payments and Operations teams to ensure systems are aligned with programmatic objectives and work seamlessly in field conditions.
  • Ensure all systems comply with GDs standards for data protection privacy and financial controls.
  • Manage technical training and onboarding for surge staff collaborators and local partners.

• Strengthen Rapid Response Technical Readiness
  • Maintain and improve technical documentation deployment guides and incident-response protocols to ensure consistency and speed in future responses.
  • Partner with Product and Engineering to develop product roadmaps and requirements and prioritize and implement improvements that enhance emergency response scalability and reliability.
  • Track and report on technical readiness metrics (e.g. uptime deployment speed integration failures data quality testing coverage).
  • Lead and document technical design and implementation retrospectives lessons learned and root cause analyses after each response to drive continuous improvement and contribute to product development strategies.
  • Support technical assessments evaluations testing and adoption of new products and solutions that strengthen emergency response technical capabilities.

• Drive Safety Risk Management and Systems Resilience
  • 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 system misuse - before and during activations.
  • Contribute to incident reviews to improve our safety and resilience protocols.

What youll bring:

Values & core competencies

• Exceptional alignment with GiveDirectly Values and active demonstration of our core competencies: emotional intelligence problem solving project management follow-through and fostering inclusivity. We welcome and strongly encourage applications from candidates who have personal or professional experience in the low-income and/or historically marginalized communities that we serve.

Professional experience

• 5 years of professional experience; we welcome a wide range of 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.

Technical skills

• 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) - this role involves building automation and business logic but it is not an engineering or data science role.
• 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 rather than surface-level issues.
• Ability to clearly communicate technical concepts to both technical and non-technical stakeholders across varied cultural national and social backgrounds.
• Fluency in English.
• Preferred not required: Experience working with relational databases (e.g. SQL).
• Preferred not required: Experience with data visualization.

Contextual understanding

• Understanding or interest in learning how technology enables emergency response operations (e.g. CVA platforms identity verification data collection tools payment systems mobile apps).
• Preferred not required: Experience working in humanitarian or emergency response contexts.
• Preferred not required: Familiarity with humanitarian coordination systems (UN clusters INGO networks) and donor expectations.

Compensation

At GiveDirectly we strive to pay our employees generously and equitably. We use an accredited third party salary aggregator to calculate what we believe to be competitive pay based on role location and cost of living. We also have a no negotiation policy to ensure we are paying staff equitably across roles. Read more about our compensation philosophy here.

• The United States base salary for this role is $99000.
• The Kenya base salary for this role is $61900.

This role is fully remote so if you are not based in the US or Kenya we will share an estimated salary benchmark for the country you are based in during the hiring process.

Why work at GiveDirectly

At GiveDirectly we work to ensure that you have everything you need to excel in your role and on your team including:

• A supportive team that works hard and cares hard
• A robust health benefits plan (exact details will vary by country)
• Flexible paid time off that staff is encouraged to take
• Allowances for desk set-up and learning and development

#LI-REMOTE

Working at GiveDirectly

GiveDirectly is an Equal Opportunity Employer. All qualified applicants are considered for employment without regard to the persons race color religion national origin sex sexual orientation age marital status veteran status disability or any other characteristic protected by applicable law.

Flagging for US applicants: We invite you to Know Your Rights as an applicant.

Commitment to Safeguarding

As a global organization working with communities to eliminate extreme poverty GiveDirectly takes the safeguarding of its recipients staff and partners seriously. To that end GiveDirectly is a member of theMisconduct Disclosure Scheme and will systematically check with previous employers about any abuse or misconduct related matters involving potential new hires. We may also employ other robust pre-hire screens including in-depth reference checks criminal background checks and sanctions screens.

These efforts help us continue to build and maintain trust with the communities we work with and prevent abuse to our recipients and staff.

**GD is committed to observing all local national and international laws that protect people and basic human rights of all. GD is committed to a policy of zero tolerance when it comes to preventing reporting or responding to any form of abuse or exploitation. and expects anyone who works for GD to uphold the protection and safeguarding of our recipients as a priority.**

Reasonable Accommodations

We are committed to fostering an inclusive and accessible work environment. If you require any accommodations during the application or interview process or to perform the essential functions of the role please email us at with the email subject Accommodation Needed. We will work with you to ensure reasonable accommodations are made to support your needs.

Want to put your best foot forward on your GiveDirectly application Take a look at our Candidate Application Prep Guide!