Principal, Global Programmes

Position description

The Principal, Global Programmes will lead Luminate’s global work on information ecosystems, exploring how Luminate can fund global and transregional organisations and initiatives to build healthier media ecosystems and support constructive public debate. 

This is a global role and the Principal, Global Programmes would be based in one of the following locations: London, UK; Jakarta, Indonesia; Nairobi, Kenya; São Paulo, Brazil; Singapore; or Washington D.C., US. 

A key part of this role will be to work closely with Luminate’s regional teams in Africa, Asia and Latin America, and to collaborate with other programmatic and functional teams, for example on digital threats to democracy. 

OPPORTUNITY 

This is an exciting opportunity to support independent journalism and global solutions to counter mis-/disinformation as part of a diverse and growing team. The successful candidate will join Luminate at a time of strategic growth and will have the opportunity to both engage with an existing portfolio of organisations, as well as developing and building up new work. 

While grantmaking is central to the role, the successful candidate will also have the opportunity to engage in other activities, such as narrative change work or advocacy. 

TEAM 

The Principal, Global Programmes will report to the Vice President, Global Programmes and be an integral member of the Programmes Team and Luminate as a whole. The Global Programmes Team is responsible for Luminate’s global and transregional work as we seek to deliver impact against our strategy.

Specifically, the team is responsible for: 

1. Making global and transregional grants and designing and implementing other initiatives required for Luminate to deliver against its mission and strategy; 
2. Closely collaborating with other teams within Luminate (including regional funding teams) to share learning and increase Luminate’s organisational impact. 

The Global Programmes Team is diverse and growing, composed of colleagues working across different locations. We strive to have high levels of cultural awareness and build relationships with people from different contexts. We enjoy working with people from across the globe and use strategic and analytical capability to make grantmaking decisions that result in lasting, positive impact. Our team members come from diverse backgrounds and include people with experience in grantmaking, fundraising, advocacy, campaigning, journalism, research, and investment. 

RESPONSIBILTIES 

The Principal, Global Programmes will have a range of responsibilities, all tied to Luminate’s work on healthy information ecosystems. They will include the following: 

• Deploy a budget with a focus on information ecosystems – this will include grantmaking and the support of and participation in ecosystem-building initiatives (which do not centre direct grantmaking to existing organisations as a core strategy); 
• Collaborate with Luminate’s regional and programmatic teams on grants related to information ecosystems and in particular independent journalism and mis-/disinformation; 
• Build and maintain external relationships (e.g. with counterparts on co-funders’ global teams) that can enhance Luminate’s ability to deliver against its strategy; 
• Facilitate and directly provide support to Luminate’s information ecosystem partners to strengthen their capacity and impact; 
• Scope and execute research and other learning projects to deepen Luminate’s institutional knowledge around information ecosystems; 
• Gather and help make sense of Luminate’s information ecosystems learnings across regions to inform Luminate’s work at the global and transregional level; 
• Oversee and manage the work of a Programme Associate. 

This role includes some travel, so ideally, the candidate would have flexibility to travel internationally (in normal times, usually 20-30 percent). 

EXPERIENCE & SKILLS 

Note: We view this section as a guide, not a checklist. We encourage you to apply even if you don’t satisfy every single bullet on this list. 

The ideal candidate will have experience in working on information ecosystems and be passionate about supporting independent journalism and/or global solutions that counter mis-/disinformation. We welcome applications from candidates with practical experience in the field and who are keen to support our partners in having impact, even if they have no experience in grantmaking. We value lived experience of the issues and communities with whom we work, and look forward to applications from activists, journalists, human rights defenders, organisers and civic leaders, particularly those from underrepresented populations. 

• An understanding of the challenges facing independent journalism organisations in the face of the twin challenges of revenue decline and the surge in disinformation; 
• A commitment to the development of healthy information ecosystems, with a special emphasis on ensuring a pluralism of voice and accessibility for a diversity of audiences; 
• An interest in providing financial and organisational development support to organisations, based on organisational and team strategy; 

• Either experience in philanthropy / grantmaking, or the ability to learn quickly how nonprofit capital is deployed; 
• Experience and interest in how media organisations work and what some of their shared challenges are; 
• A strategic and collaborative mindset and communication skills; 

• Very good interpersonal skills – ability to work collaboratively with colleagues around the world across different social, cultural and political contexts.

Application instructions

Please be sure to indicate that you saw this position on Globaljobs.org