Vice President, Africa Strategy & Execution

Who We Are 

International Justice Mission (IJM) is the global leader in protecting vulnerable people from violence around the world. Our team of over 1,200 professionals are at work worldwide in over 30 offices. Together we are on a mission to rescue millions, protect half a billion, and make justice unstoppable. 

We are a global community that cares for one another. We believe that the way we work is as important as the results we achieve. We provide professional excellence with joy and celebration to all those we serve.   

The Need 

For over 25 years, IJM has pioneered the work to protect vulnerable people from violence. 9 out of 9 times in the last decade, IJM’s Justice System Strengthening Projects have reduced slavery and violence between 50 and 85% for very large populations of people in poverty. As we grow to expand our impact to protect 500 million people from violence, we are seeking a Vice President, Africa Strategy & Execution to provide senior strategic, operational, and people leadership for IJM’s work across the Africa Region. Reporting to the Interim Regional President, the Vice President serves as a key member of the regional leadership team and a principal partner to the Regional President, helping to ensure continuity, health, strategic alignment, and effective execution across the regional portfolio. 

This role supports the effective implementation of IJM’s global strategy in Africa through high-impact programs, healthy and high-performing teams, strong regional operating rhythms, and effective partnership with Country Directors, Regional leaders, Global Programs, Global People Support, and other Global Center functions. The Vice President will play a significant role in assessing regional program health, strategic opportunities, leadership capacity, and organizational effectiveness across the Africa portfolio. 

The Vice President will hold a substantive, ongoing leadership portfolio that advances program excellence, regional effectiveness, leadership development, and mission impact. In partnership with the Regional President and Chief Program Officer, this role may assume responsibility for designated country, program, operational, or cross-functional portfolios based on regional priorities and organizational design. 

In a highly collaborative and dynamic environment, the Vice President will model IJM’s Christian, Professional, and Bridge-Building values; foster a culture of spiritual health, integrity, accountability, and professional excellence; and help lead the Region in protecting people in poverty from violence in accordance with IJM’s theory of change and global strategy. The role is modeled on the regional leadership expectations reflected in IJM’s Regional President and Interim Africa Programs Leader descriptions: program health, strategic alignment, team leadership, operational rigor, and partnership across the global enterprise. 

This position is hybrid and based in Nairobi, Kenya. It reports to the Interim Regional President, Africa, and is available only to candidates who are authorized to work in Kenya.

Responsibilities: 

Regional Leadership and Team Health  

• Serve as a senior member of the Africa regional leadership team and as a principal partner to the Interim Regional President in leading the regional portfolio; 

• Provide leadership continuity, strategic support, and executive partnership across the Region, helping ensure coordinated decision-making, clear priorities, and sustained progress toward regional goals; 

• Lead and model a culture of Christian spiritual formation, prayerful leadership, integrity, humility, accountability, collaboration, and professional excellence across the Region; 

• Provide direct leadership, coaching, development, performance management, and accountability to assigned Country Directors, regional leaders, and/or other direct reports, as determined by the Regional President and Chief Program Officer; 

• Build and strengthen a diverse, healthy, and high-performing regional leadership bench by identifying, developing, retaining, and supporting high-potential leaders and successors; 

• Partner with the Interim Regional President to assess team health, leadership capacity, organizational design, staffing requirements, and succession risks across the Region; 

• Participate fully in regional leadership forums and enterprise processes, contributing a unified, mission-first perspective and helping translate global priorities into clear regional action; and 

• Uphold IJM’s safeguarding principles, Code of Ethics, Protection Against Sexual Exploitation, Abuse and Harassment Policy, security protocols, and all applicable organizational policies. 

Regional Strategy, Program Health, and Execution  

• Partner with the Interim Regional President to develop, refine, and implement the Africa Region’s strategic priorities, operating plans, and performance objectives in alignment with IJM’s global strategy, theory of change, and investment decisions; 

• Conduct regular assessment of regional program health, strategic positioning, protection outcomes, scalability, organizational risks, and opportunities; translate findings into practical recommendations for the Interim Regional President, Chief Program Officer, and other relevant leadership forums;  
• Support Country Directors and regional leaders in establishing clear goals, plans, decision rights, milestones, and accountability mechanisms that improve program effectiveness and mission impact; 

• Contribute to the continuous improvement and contextualization of IJM’s protection models, evidence-based practices, and program frameworks in collaboration with the Global Programs Center for Excellence and relevant Global Center partners; 

• Lead or support regional strategic initiatives, special projects, organizational improvements, and change efforts as assigned by the Interim Regional President or Chief Program Officer; and 

• Provide strategic input on regional organizational design, staffing, leadership capacity, program direction, and resource prioritization based on evidence, program learning, and regional needs. 

Regional Initiatives, Portfolio Support, and Execution 

• Provide senior leadership for designated regional, country, programmatic, or cross-functional priorities and initiatives, as assigned by the Interim Regional President and in partnership with relevant Global Center and regional leaders;  

• Support effective execution of regional priorities by coordinating cross-functional stakeholders, clarifying ownership and decision rights, monitoring progress, managing risks, and escalating barriers in a timely manner; 

• Partner with Country Directors and relevant regional leaders to support strong planning, implementation, and follow-through against strategic priorities, performance expectations, and agreed regional measures; and 

• Contribute to formal program assessments, comparative analyses, phase-gate processes, portfolio reviews, and other learning or decision-making mechanisms that inform regional strategy, program direction, and resource allocation.  
• Lead assigned cross-regional or enterprise projects from scope through implementation, ensuring appropriate stakeholder engagement, governance, timeline management, risk mitigation, and delivery quality.  
• Help identify, document, and advance opportunities to improve program quality, operational effectiveness, leadership capability, and alignment across the Africa portfolio. 

Operational Alignment, Governance, and Stewardship 

• Support the effective coordination and delivery of regional operational functions, ensuring alignment with IJM’s global strategy, standards, policies, processes, and functional priorities; 

• Partner with the Interim Regional President and Global Center functions to clarify matrixed roles, decision rights, escalation pathways, and shared accountability for regional operational functions; 

• Ensure assigned teams, projects, and portfolios operate consistently with IJM’s global policies, standards, frameworks, safeguarding requirements, security protocols, financial controls, and program governance processes; 

• Contribute to the development, refinement, and implementation of regional policies, guidance, operating procedures, and best practices that improve consistency, compliance, and effectiveness; 

• Support the Interim Regional President in regional budget development, financial planning, resource prioritization, and stewardship in accordance with approved investment decisions and enterprise financial policies; 

• Exercise delegated budget oversight and approval authority responsibly, ensuring expenditures are mission-aligned, appropriately controlled, and within approved limits; 

• Partner with Finance and Country Directors to monitor budget performance, forecast needs, identify variances, and support timely corrective action where needed; and 

• Monitor implementation of enterprise initiatives and required standards across the Region, escalating material programmatic, financial, safeguarding, security, legal, reputational, people, or operational risks through appropriate IJM channels. 

Strategic Partnerships, Representation, and Influence  

• Build and maintain trusted working relationships with Country Directors, regional leaders, Global Center colleagues, and functional partners to promote alignment, shared accountability, and effective execution; 

• Represent IJM, as delegated, with key government, justice-system, civil society, faith-based, donor, and other strategic partners in ways that strengthen IJM’s credibility, influence, partnerships, and mission impact; 

• Partner with Global Programs, Global People Support, Finance, Advancement, Activation, Security, and other functions to remove barriers, align regional and global priorities, and ensure coordinated support for Africa programs; 

• Support Country Directors and regional leaders in developing strategic relationships and coalitions that advance protection outcomes, program sustainability, and IJM’s theory of change; 

• Represent the Interim Regional President and the Africa Region in internal meetings, forums, communications, and decisions as delegated; and 

• Contribute to IJM’s broader thought leadership, agent-of-change engagement, and external representation efforts when requested. 

Learning, Insight, and Enterprise Contribution 

• Use programmatic, financial, people, operational, and qualitative information to identify themes, track progress, evaluate results, inform decisions, and develop clear recommendations for regional and global leaders; 

• Ensure lessons, innovations, challenges, and effective practices from Africa programs are documented, shared, and incorporated into regional and enterprise learning processes; 

• Prepare concise executive briefings, updates, analyses, reports, recommendations, and presentations for the Interim Regional President, Chief Program Officer, Global Program Council, and other relevant governance forums; 

• Maintain accurate, current, and appropriately confidential documentation related to regional strategic planning, program assessments, leadership decisions, budgets, risks, stakeholder engagement, and project implementation; 

• Ensure reporting from assigned teams is timely, accurate, and aligned with IJM’s enterprise standards, including program, financial, people, and operational reporting requirements; and 

• Support internal communication that reinforces regional strategy, operational clarity, organizational change, staff engagement, shared learning, and alignment with IJM’s mission and values. 

Qualifications:  

• Graduate degree in international development, law, public policy, business administration, organizational leadership, or a related field preferred; an equivalent combination of bachelor’s degree and significant relevant leadership experience will be considered; 

• Minimum of 10 years of progressive leadership experience in international development, justice-system strengthening, human rights, government, nonprofit, public policy, or a related field; 

• Minimum of seven years of experience leading and developing high-performing teams in direct and matrixed environments, ideally including senior leadership of country-level, regional, or multi-country teams; 

• Demonstrated experience driving strategy, organizational effectiveness, program delivery, or operational improvement across complex and culturally diverse environments; 

• Demonstrated experience leading through change, building alignment across multiple stakeholders, and translating strategy into sustained execution; 

• Experience working in Africa, including familiarity with the East Africa context, is strongly preferred; 

• Experience engaging senior government officials, justice-sector stakeholders, funders, faith leaders, civil-society organizations, and/or other agents of change is preferred; 

• Experience with budget planning, financial stewardship, and resource allocation in a complex operational environment is required; 

• Strong strategic and systems thinking, with the ability to assess complex program and organizational information, identify risks and opportunities, and develop actionable recommendations; 

• Demonstrated knowledge of international development, human rights, justice-system strengthening, violence prevention, public-sector reform, or related programmatic fields; 

• Ability to interpret program, financial, operational, and people data and use it to improve decisions, performance, and accountability; 

• Strong program and portfolio management capability, including planning, governance, monitoring, evaluation, risk management, and continuous improvement; 

• Proven ability to manage budgets and resources responsibly, including financial planning, forecasting, and compliance with internal controls; 

• Exceptional written, verbal, and executive communication skills, including the ability to produce clear analyses, recommendations, briefings, and presentations; 

• Ability to work effectively within matrixed structures and clarify cross-functional roles, accountabilities, and decision rights; and 

• Professional fluency in English is required. Proficiency in Swahili or another relevant African regional language is preferred. 

Critical Qualities: 

• Mature orthodox Christian faith with a demonstrated commitment to Christian spiritual formation, personal integrity, prayerful leadership, and IJM’s Core Values: Christian, Professional, and Bridge-Building; 

• Mission-first servant leadership characterized by humility, courage, emotional intelligence, resilience, sound judgment, and a strong service ethic; 

• Exceptional relationship-building and collaboration skills across cultures, functions, levels of seniority, and geographies; 

• High adaptability and comfort navigating ambiguity, evolving priorities, complex stakeholder environments, and significant organizational change; 

• Ability to build trust, foster psychological safety, manage conflict constructively, and hold teams accountable with clarity and grace; 

• Strong cultural awareness and appreciation for difference, with demonstrated effectiveness working across diverse national, cultural, professional, and faith contexts; and 

• Tenacity, initiative, and disciplined follow-through in pursuing mission-critical goals and delivering high-quality results. 

Application Process:  

Upload Resume, Cover Letter & Statement of Faith* in one PDF document. 

*What is a statement of faith? 
A statement of faith should describe your Christian faith and how you see it as relevant to your involvement with IJM. The statement can either be incorporated into the cover letter or submitted as a separate document and should include, at a minimum, a description of your spiritual disciplines (prayer, study, etc.) and your current fellowship or place of worship. 

IJM holds strict safeguarding principles and a zero tolerance to violations of the Safeguarding Policy, Protection against Sexual Exploitation, Abuse and Harassment Policy, and Code of Ethics. Candidate selection is based on technical competence, recruitment, selection and hiring criteria subject to assessing the candidate’s value congruence and thorough background, police clearance, and reference check processes. 

IJM requires a background check, police clearance and thorough review of references with an employment offer and/or employment contract.