Senior Product Director

Summary

Join GiveDirectly as a Senior Product Director, International Rapid Response to design, build, and scale cash transfer capabilities for global crises. This fully remote role (with East Africa timezone overlap) involves developing technology, operational processes, and partnerships to reach affected populations effectively. You will lead a cross-functional team, collaborating with various departments to pilot and scale innovative crisis response approaches. The position requires 7+ years of relevant experience in product management, operations, or technology development, ideally within humanitarian, fintech, or international development sectors. You will manage a small team, build partnerships, and define key performance metrics to assess program effectiveness. Travel is estimated at 10-20%.

Requirements

• 7+ years of experience in product management, operations, or technology development, ideally within the humanitarian, fintech, or international development sectors
• Exceptional alignment to GD values
• Strong understanding of the global disaster response and/or humanitarian landscape, including knowledge of key actors, gaps, and opportunities
• Experience building tech products from MVP to production, and a demonstrated track record of working closely with engineers to solve technological innovations
• Deep curiosity about our programs and open-minded about areas to improve and drive quality
• A track record for mobilizing resources (financial, human) around big ideas and opportunities (programmatic, research, etc)
• Excellent altitude awareness - Product leads should be able to flex between big picture vision and “in the weeds,” data-driven problem solving
• Excellent communication and project management skills, and be able to bring key stakeholders together around a common goal
• High discernment and conviction to make the hard decisions to say no to things and drive focus -- an exceptional product owner strips things down to the most core things to focus on

Responsibilities

• Develop and execute a product strategy for GiveDirectly’s humanitarian and rapid response initiatives, ensuring alignment with organizational goals and sector best practices
• Lead the design and iteration of products , including software and technical products - that facilitate efficient and equitable cash delivery in crisis settings, including data pipelines, targeting methodologies, verification solutions, and payment integrations
• Manage a small cross-functional team (including engineers and humanitarian specialists) and collaborate with programs, partnerships and research teams to pilot and scale innovative approaches for crisis response, leveraging mobile technology, geospatial data, and AI-driven decision-making
• Define and validate high level business and functional requirements for tech solutions
• Build partnerships with humanitarian organizations, donors, tech partners, and government agencies to enhance GD’s response capabilities and expand funding opportunities
• Establish and refine key performance metrics to assess the effectiveness and impact of rapid response programs
• Stay abreast of emerging trends and innovations in humanitarian aid, digital payments, and disaster response to continuously improve GiveDirectly’s approach

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience using data to inform decision-making, and experience hands on with Excel and at least basic SQL strongly preferred
• Experience as a founder or early founding member of a startup

Benefits

• A positive and supportive team with opportunities for advancement
• A demonstrated commitment to helping all staff develop and grow
• A competitive salary, including bonus
• A robust health benefits plan (exact details will vary by country)
• Flexible paid time off
• Allowances for desk set-up and learning and development