Director, New Portfolio

Position Description:

GDI South Asia, established in July 2023, is the youngest member of the GDI global network and in the early stages of building its regional presence and impact. They are hiring a Director(s) to develop and lead a portfolio grounded in a sustainable development focus area. Preferred areas include:

• AI Portfolio Director
• Gender Justice Portfolio Director
• Agriculture Portfolio Director
• Climate and Health Director

This role provides a unique opportunity to shape and lead a portfolio of initiatives. Directors are responsible for leadership of their portfolio in addition to partnering with organizational leadership in shaping the growth of the organisation. They are looking for individuals with a passion to:

• Build and grow a portfolio aligned to their expertise and experience in that particular space, and/or
• Build initiatives within 1-2 portfolio focus areas leveraging on leadership and entrepreneurship experience in the sector

GDI’s S&B Director(s) collaborate with social sector leaders, experts, and entrepreneurs to address some of the world’s toughest problems, helping to turn big ideas into effective, value-adding organizations. Sometimes their Directors hatch initiatives in-house. In other cases, entrepreneurs or donors come to them with a big idea that needs an incubation partner. In either case, you will act as a strategist, advisor, integrator, implementer, and often board member.

You will work closely with a cohort of Strategy & Build managers and associates; you’ll also collaborate with GDI’s four other functional teams: finance and operations; brand, marketing, and communications; resource mobilization; and people/talent. While each GDI Director has significant autonomy to lead their own portfolio, they also collectively form a global community of practice of social entrepreneurs and system-strategists.

Responsibilities:

Portfolio Leadership

• Cultivate prospects and shape new opportunities for GDI incubation. Lead outreach, network-building, and fundraising effort.
• Serve as the strategic advisor, executive coach, and chief operator to GDI’s incubation partners.
• Develop a roadmap to scale for initiatives; ensure an iterative approach to developing strategy and then building-the-plane-while-flying-it.
• Deliver end-to-end accountability in managing priority relationships throughout the incubation lifecycle.
• Oversee budgets for financial sustainability of the initiative and of GDI South Asia.
• Integrate services provided by other GDI teams and external consultants and experts and ensure implementation.

GDI Leadership

• Contribute to overall growth and management of GDI South Asia as a key member of the Leadership Team, including by proactively contributing to resource mobilization, ongoing development of their incubation practice and mentoring staff.
• Manage an overall thematic portfolio of Initiatives against milestones, budget, and target outcomes; participate in quarterly portfolio reviews with the GDI leadership team.
• Support broader thought leadership and knowledge management, including documenting best practices or authoring articles, blogs and other publications.

What We're Looking For:

• 15+ years of work experience in social enterprises or other impact organizations, management consulting, and/or responsible investing (a mix of strategic and operating professional experiences is ideal).
• A strong network of funding and knowledge partners in the social impact sector.
• Successful track record of developing strategy and ensuring a team’s ability to deliver against it, including through periods of growth, adaptation, and ambiguity.
• Demonstrated success developing cross-sectoral partnerships.
• Fluency in the languages of global development and public-private partnerships.
• Entrepreneurial mindset and experiences, in the private, public, and/or social sector.
• Exceptional verbal and written communication skills; effective influencer of diverse perspectives with a demonstrated ability to facilitate change at the senior level of organizations.
• Thematic portfolio areas of interest/exploration - Agriculture, Mental Health, and AI/Technology for Impact.

Additional attributes they look for in their incubation practice leadership include:

• Proactive problem-solving skills
• Collaborative leadership style: team player; excellent listening skills; trust-builder
• Ability to self-manage work streams and tasks; self-directed and resourceful with high standards for quality output.
• A curious and creative intellect and a style that includes flexibility, levelness, and a sense of humor and humility.

Note: This role will involve significant external consultations with global stakeholders and will require a work schedule that can periodically accommodate calls slightly earlier or later than usual work hours, despite their time zone.