Save the Children International
Director, Regulated Programmes
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Job Title: Director, Regulated Programmes
Reports To: Director, Quality and Impact
Work Pattern: Hybrid with flexible working options available
Location: UK
Contract Length: Permanent
Grade: Executive
Right to Work: The successful candidate must have the right to work in the UK for the duration of employment
Language Requirements: English
International Travel: up to 20%
People Management: Manager of multiple teams; 8 direct reports
Budget Responsibility: $1 million
Remit: Global
Team and Role Purpose
To enhance the culture of quality and impact across Country Offices by ensuring that the right technical expertise is available at the right place and time. Our purpose is to drive an evidence and accountability agenda and embedding learning throughout our programming and operations. We aim to support the Monitoring, Evaluation, Accountability, and Learning (MEAL) function through capacity strengthening, PRIME, and global indicator roll-out, while leading programme incident management, risk escalation, and reporting to uphold our commitment to excellence and accountability.
To provide strategic oversight of medical and construction-related risks to ensure the delivery of safe, high-quality, and compliant programmes globally. The role strengthens programme quality and impact through effective risk management, incident oversight, regulatory compliance, and assurance processes, while supporting informed decision-making and accountability across operational countries.
Principal Accountabilities
- Provide strategic leadership for the global Regulated Programmes team, including Medical and Construction, driving programme quality and impact, setting strategic priorities, and fostering a diverse, inclusive, and high-performing culture aligned with organisational Quality & Impact objectives.
- Develop and implement risk management strategies for Medical and Construction programmes, ensuring risks are proactively identified, mitigated, monitored, and controlled.
- Lead medical incident management and escalation processes, coordinating with senior leadership, the Audit & Risk Committee, Charity Commission, donors, and members to ensure appropriate governance and transparency.
- Ensure compliance with all relevant external regulatory requirements, including holding and maintaining SCI licences for MHRA WDA(H) and Home Office controlled drugs.
- Promote a strong culture of accountability, safety, governance, and adherence to organisational and legal standards across regulated programmes.
- Maintain and regularly review programme risk registers, ensuring mitigations and controls align with the SCARF framework and incorporate cross-functional inputs.
- Proactively manage emerging risks and issues at Country Office level, ensuring timely escalation and response to significant residual exposures in line with enterprise risk management requirements and risk appetite.
- Coordinate closely with thematic technical teams, including Education, Health, and Climate Change, to ensure strong technical alignment, programme quality, and integrated delivery across the Medical and Construction portfolio, contributing to organisational Quality & Impact objectives.
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Experience and Skills
- Strategic leadership and programme management skills, with the ability to translate organisational strategy into high-quality programme delivery and measurable impact.
- Strong leadership, communication, negotiation, and influencing skills, with the ability to engage and manage diverse global stakeholders and teams.
- Demonstrated ability to lead organisational and cultural change while fostering collaboration, inclusion, accountability, and high performance.
- Strong commitment to programme quality, compliance, safeguarding, risk management, and continuous improvement across regulated programmes.
- High level of integrity, professionalism, sound judgement, and resilience in managing complex and high-risk portfolios.
- Strong ability to work effectively across organisational, regional, and technical boundaries, including with Supply Chain, Operations, Education, Health and Climate Change teams.
- Proven ability to build strategic partnerships and foster cross-functional collaboration with internal and external stakeholders.
Education and Qualifications
Essential
- A post-graduate degree in degree or equivalent in Medicine, International Development or a related field is essential. Consideration for a combination of relevant academic qualifications and substantial work experience is also possible.
Desirable
- Medical Professionals are encouraged to apply.
Working at Save the Children International
Save the Children is the world's leading organisation for children, employing ~25,000 staff. We save children's lives. We fight for their rights. We help them fulfil their potential. Through our work in 116 countries, we put the most deprived and marginalised children first.
We know that great people make a great organisation, and that our employees play a crucial role in helping us achieve our ambitions for children. We value our people and offer a meaningful and rewarding career, along with a collaborative and inclusive environment where ambition, creativity, and integrity are highly valued.
The work here is challenging but is also immensely rewarding. At Save the Children, you will be in good company, working with talented, like-minded individuals who are determined to ensure that all children survive, learn, and are protected. Your contribution will help ensure children's voices are heard at the highest levels, and that we achieve our global strategy, Ambition for Children 2030, and reach every last child.
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Diversity, Equity and Inclusion and Equal Opportunities
DEI is core to our vision, values and global strategy. Save the Children is committed to creating a truly diverse, equitable and inclusive organisation, and one which will support us in our vision to ensure every child attains the right to survival, protection, development, and participation.
We are committed to equal employment opportunities, regardless of gender, sexual orientation, race, colour, ethnic origin, nationality, disability, marital or civil partnership status, gender reassignment, pregnancy and maternity, caring or parental responsibilities, age, or beliefs and religion. We are committed to diversifying our staff to better represent the communities we serve and actively welcome underrepresented groups to apply.
Reasonable adjustments will be made should any candidate invited to interview require this.
Application Information
Please attach a copy of your CV and cover letter with your application. A full copy of the role profile can be found at SCI Careers. It is recommended that you save a copy of the role profile as it will no longer be available after the advert closes.
Applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis and the job advert may be closed earlier than advertised subject to the volume of suitable applicants. Please submit your application at your earliest convenience to avoid disappointment.
Due to the high volume of applications we receive, only shortlisted candidates will be contacted. Candidates who are successfully shortlisted should expect to hear from us within 2 weeks of the advert deadline.
Our Recruitment Process
- Application review by our recruiting team based on your CV and cover letter.
- Two-stage competency-based interviews with the hiring team.
- Some recruitment may include an additional assessment or case study stage, or a third stage interview.
- If successful, you will receive a conditional offer of employment, followed by your contract subject to passing background checks.
We need to keep children and adults safe so our selection process includes rigorous background checks and reflects our commitment to the protection of children and adults from abuse. All employees are expected to carry out their duties in accordance with our Code of Conduct and all policies and procedures relating to Anti-Harassment, Health and Safety, Safeguarding, and DEI and Equal Opportunities.
Save the Children does not charge a fee at any stage of the recruitment process.
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