Global Head of Programme Funding

Shape the future with UWS

Reports to: Executive Director of Global Fundraising (UK-based)

Working hours: 40 hours per week

Benefits

• 18 days of annual leave + Nepal national holidays
• Opportunities to travel to our countries of operation

Apply by: 30th April 2025

Interviews: First round - week commencing 6th May 2025

About UWS

UWS is an international nonprofit working to end education poverty. With a historical reach of working with 70,000 children in 320 communities, UWS today educates 25,000 children in 180 schools and is scaling our impact through bold partnerships with governments to strengthen public education systems.

We’re entering an exciting new phase, and we’re looking for a strategic, dynamic leader to help drive it forward.

The Role

As Global Head of Programme Funding, you’ll lead the growth of a high-impact, globally integrated funding function. This is a unique opportunity to take forward an exciting new programme strategy, translating it into compelling cases for support, and driving engagement with institutional funders and foundations across the world.

You’ll drive a robust funding pipeline, build a high-performing team across multiple countries and connect fundraising with programme design and delivery – helping to unlock the funding that will power UWS’s next chapter.

Key Tasks and Responsibilities

Strategic Leadership and Direction

• Lead the global programme funding strategy, aligning with UWS’ organisational priorities and localisation goals.
• Position UWS as a credible partner for institutional funders, designing strategies to build relationships that lead to multi-year and multi-country partnerships.
• Embed a culture of collaboration between fundraising and programme teams to ensure project design, learning, and proposals are integrated and of high quality.
• Provide strategic input to the Country Directors and senior leadership team on donor landscape, funding risks and opportunities, and income projections.
• Represent UWS externally in sector fora, donor networks, and strategic alliances.

Team Management and Capacity Building

• Line manage and support a team of three senior funding staff based in Cambodia, Nepal, and Madagascar, setting clear KPIs, work plans, and development goals.
• Foster a high-performance culture across the programme funding function with a focus on delivery, compliance, and learning.
• Build capacity within the team to manage and grow regional donor relationships and secure complex grants nationally and internationally from a range of sources e.g UK and European foundations, Institutional donors and other in-country sources.
• Ensure Senior Funding Managers have robust pipelines and the value and volume of outreach is in line with UWS ambitions.
• Support cross-functional collaboration with finance, MEAL, and programme delivery teams.

Programme Funding Development

• Oversee and deliver on the development of high-value, multi-year grant applications to institutional donors, trusts, and foundations.
• Deliver income as per budget and plans.
• Build a programme that is capable of delivering c. £1m+ pa.
• Lead the identification and qualification of strategic donor opportunities, ensuring alignment with UWS programme strengths and evidence base.
• Develop and maintain an innovative and responsive global pipeline of funding opportunities.
• Establish and manage prospecting and ‘go/no-go’ processes that support sound Decision-making.

Proposal Development and Donor Engagement

• Provide leadership and technical support in the preparation of concept notes, proposals, budgets, and donor communications.
• Ensure proposals are underpinned by rigorous needs assessments, theory of change, gender and inclusion considerations, and strong MEAL frameworks.
• Ensure all grant budgets are realistic, meet donor requirements, and include adequate cost recovery.
• Engage donors pre- and post-submission to strengthen relationships and increase funding success.
• Ensure reporting requirements and managed effectively and all relevant teams are engaged in this process.

Grant Complaint and Contracting

• Oversee all aspects of grant management, donor compliance, due diligence, and contracting across the programme funding portfolio.
• Ensure UWS meets all reporting requirements, including narrative and financial reporting, with a strong focus on timeliness and quality.
• Act as a key point of escalation for donor queries, compliance issues, or reputational risks.

Monitoring, Forecasting and Financial Planning

• Own and maintain the global programme funding pipeline and dashboard, providing accurate forecasts and scenario planning to leadership.
• Work with the finance team to track income and expenditure against budget, identify shortfalls, and adapt funding strategies accordingly.
• Lead annual income planning from trusts, foundations, and institutional sources, aligned to organisational strategy.

Cross-Organisational Collaboration and Influence

• Work closely with Country Directors, Programme and MEAL teams to ensure programme funding reflects field-level needs, learnings, and priorities.
• Drive collaboration and shared learning across regions, embedding a joined-up approach to fundraising, programme design, and delivery.

Candidate Specification

You’re a collaborative, strategic leader with a proven track record of securing high-value grants and managing complex donor relationships. You know how to lead teams across borders, develop strong systems, and turn programme ambition into compelling funding cases.

Every individual at UWS needs to be able to:

• Be committed to UWS’s vision, mission and values and apply them in their daily behaviour and work.
• Be committed to undertaking UWS’s safeguarding training and adhering to relevant policies, to ensure everyone who comes to contact with UWS are as safe as possible.

Experience, Knowledge and Competencies

Essential

• Extensive experience (5+ years) in securing high-value (6-7 figure) funding from institutional donors and foundations and managing multi-year, multi-country funding portfolios.
• Proven track record of successfully leading and managing teams with indepth understanding of programme design, results frameworks, and budgeting for development or education-focused NGOs.
• Strong working knowledge of donor compliance requirements (e.g. FCDO, UNICEF, USAID, EU).
• Excellent communication, relationship-building, and negotiation skills with donors and internal teams.
• Exceptional strategic thinking, planning, and decision-making abilities.
• High attention to detail and strong project/grant management capabilities.
• Experience of managing proposals and funding in consortia with other actors.
• Excellent written and spoken English.
• Line management experience ( 3 yrs+).
• Evidence of establishing processes and embedding new ways of working cross-organisationally.

Desirable

• Knowledge of the global challenges and opportunities impacting the education of young people.
• Experience working in a global or cross-cultural environment, ideally with in-country fundraising experience.
• Experience managing and working with remote teams.
• Fluency in French or other languages relevant to UWS’ countries of operation.

Apply Now

Send your CV and a cover letter (max. two pages) outlining your suitability to [email protected]. Additionally, please include your salary expectations as part of your application.

UWS is committed to the safeguarding of children and ensuring we recruit safely is central to this commitment. All applicants will be required to undertake a DBS (Disclosure and Barring Service check (or country-equivalent background check) as a condition of employment.

UWS is an equal opportunity employer and commits to treating all applicants fairly. We actively promote diversity and inclusion and encourage applications from under-represented groups. We oppose all forms of unlawful and unfair discrimination on the grounds of age, disability, gender reassignment, marriage and civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion or belief, sex and sexual orientation. All successful candidates must satisfactorily complete a 3-month probation period.