Water Mission is a Christian engineering nonprofit that builds safe water solutions for people in developing countries, refugee camps, and disaster areas. Since 2001, Water Mission has served more than 8 million people in 60 countries, sharing safe water and the message of God’s love. Working at Water Mission is as much a calling as it is a career, and we are searching for people with the courage, passion, and drive to help us change the world. Read more about our Statement of Faith and Our Christian Mission.
Job Summary: Under the direction of the Senior Regional Director, Africa, the Kenya Country Director is responsible for carrying out the mission of Water Mission in Kenya - to honor God by developing, implementing, and sharing best-in-class safe water solutions that transform as many lives as possible, as quickly as possible. This critical position is both a calling and a career. This role is responsible for managing a diverse staff in various functional groups, including community development, human resources, finance, WASH programs, operations, project management, monitoring, evaluation, and learning (MEL), ministry, and administration. By applying sound management and leadership, this role will ensure that Water Mission programs are implemented successfully according to Water Mission standards. This role will require establishing full-time residence in Wote, Makueni County. Additional short-term travel within Kenya, to Charleston, USA (Water Mission’s Headquarters), and other regional country programs will be required in this role. Our culture: As a key leader in Water Mission Kenya, the Country Director is responsible for leading staff in developing a biblical worldview culture that leads to God-honoring excellence in all their work and reinforcing the following: providing accurate data, empowering staff to have the skills and mindset needed to acknowledge mistakes or problems as opportunities to find appropriate solutions, and empowering staff to consistently work for excellence in solutions that are consistent with Water Mission’s mission, vision, values, and standards. The Country must be willing to establish residence in Wote, Makueni County, Kenya. They should be able to work in field settings for up to one week regularly and occasionally for longer periods. Duties and Responsibilities 1. Mission Driven ◦ Maintain a strong Christian witness and model servant leadership to colleagues, partners, the communities we serve, and the public. ◦ Engage and participate in prayer before and after team meetings. ◦ Lead and participate in biblically based staff devotions. 2. Key Duties ◦ Lead a team of over 50 full-time and part-time staff and volunteers in three offices based in Kenya, including Kitale, Wote (Makueni County) and Turkana. ◦ Collaborate with and provide guidance to Water Mission’s Kenya Matrix Staff, including the Human Resources Manager and Finance Manager. These staff report directly to Water Mission’s East Africa regional office. ◦ Monitor and evaluate Water Mission Kenya’s performance against budgets, goals, and key metrics as established in the Business Plan. ◦ Champion and foster a culture of quality and excellence in the delivery of WASH solutions in Kenya. ◦ Ensure that Water Mission project management and enterprise accounting systems are accurate and up to date with operational and project activities. ◦ Identify staff knowledge, skill, and ability gaps and plan employee training activities as required to improve employee performance. ◦ Proactively engage with other organizations and Governments in the WASH sector to advance our mission and vision and evaluate people and organizations for potential ministry partnerships. ◦ Collaborate cross-divisionally to support the grant process, including application, management, fulfillment, and reporting. ◦ Perform supervisory duties including, but not limited to, overseeing staff training and development, prioritizing project requests, managing workloads and deadlines, setting goals, meeting schedules, and milestones, conducting performance reviews, and assisting in recruiting and hiring direct and indirect reports. ◦ Champion initiatives for the care and well-being of Kenya staff. ◦ Encourage staff to demonstrate Christian values and behaviors in their work, focusing on love, excellence, and integrity. ◦ Contribute to the development of the Kenya program strategy. ◦ Oversee preparation of written budget proposals, program proposals, and cost estimates. ◦ Provide regular country program communication updates to Water Mission’s Headquarters regarding administrative, financial, and programmatic updates/needs. ◦ Prepare and deliver presentations to Water Mission’s staff, the Kenya Program Board of Directors, partners, volunteers, and donors as needed. ◦ Develop and retain talented, mission-driven employees. ◦ Help oversee, direct, and develop Water Mission’s Living Water Strategy in Kenya. 3. Other tasks as may be assigned. Qualifications, Skills, and Experience 1. Relationship and Alignment ◦ Personal and growing relationship with Jesus Christ. ◦ Alignment with Water Mission’s Statement of Faith and core values of Love, Excellence, and Integrity. ◦ Alignment with the principles of servant leadership as embraced by Water Mission. 2. Qualifications and Experience ◦ Bachelor’s and/or master’s degree from an accredited university in Management, Engineering, Development or Business, Public Health, or any other related discipline. ◦ Proven experience managing >1,000,000 USD programs. ◦ At least 1 year experience living in a developing country; African country preferred (equivalent experience will be considered). ◦ 8+ years in a leadership or management position with experience training, mentoring, and developing new leaders. ◦ Must be fluent in English; additional fluency in Kiswahili is an added advantage. ◦ Experience or technical knowledge of the WASH sector. ◦ Construction, engineering project management, and/or WASH Program Design experience preferred. ◦ Leadership experience in Christian ministry, evangelism, and discipleship. ◦ Experience in establishing and maintaining multiple partnerships with Christian ministries, NGOs, governments, UN organizations, and other development agencies. ◦ Advanced computer skills (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Office 365, SharePoint). 3. Skills and Abilities ◦ Strong verbal and written communication skills in cross-cultural settings. ◦ Ability and willingness to work flexible hours when necessary. ◦ Ability and willingness to travel domestically and internationally, as required, according to job requirements. ◦ Commitment to ending the global water crisis.
