Country Director, Tanzania

Who is Water Mission?

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 Christian Mission.

Water Mission Tanzania was established in Tanzania in 2013. Water Mission Tanzania is growing and now numbers about 52 staff with three offices in three locations: the main office in Dar es Salaam and regional offices in Kasulu, Kigoma Region and Dodoma. Our mission is to provide sustainable access to safe water.

What is the opportunity?

Under the direction of the Sr. Director, Africa Region, the Tanzania Country Director is responsible for carrying out the mission of Water Mission in Tanzania – 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 working in various functional groups, including human resources, accounting, WASH programs, operations, project management, monitoring evaluation and learning (MEL), ministry, and administration. By applying sound management and leadership, this role will ensure Water Mission programs are implemented successfully according to Water Mission standards. This role will require establishing full-time residence in Dar es Salaam. Additional short-term travel within Tanzania, to Charleston, USA (Water Mission’s Headquarters), and other regional country programs will be required in this role.

A successful Country Director will:

• 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.
• Lead a team of over 50 full-time and part-time staff and volunteers in three offices based in Dar es Salaam, Dodoma, and Kasulu. Key direct reports include Regional Manager Dodoma, Regional Manager Kasulu, Program Design Manager, MEL Manager, and Office Administrator.
• Collaborate with and provide guidance to Water Mission’s Tanzania 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 Tanzania’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 Tanzania.
• 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 Government 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 Tanzania staff.
• Encourage staff to demonstrate Christian values and behaviors in their work, focusing on love, excellence, and integrity.
• Contribute to the development of the Tanzania 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 Tanzania Program Board of Directors, partners, volunteers, and donors as needed.
• Develop and retain talented, mission-driven employees.
• Oversee, direct, and develop Water Mission’s Living Water Strategy in Tanzania.
• Other duties as assigned.

What is required?

• 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.
• Bachelor’s and/or master’s degree from an accredited university in fields such as 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).
• 7+ 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.
• Proven experience developing, managing, and tracking operational budgets.
• Ability to lead and thrive in an ever changing, highly fluid environment with unique obstacles.
• Leadership experience in Christian ministry, evangelism, and discipleship.
• Experience in establishing and maintaining multiple partnerships with Christian ministries, NGO’s, governments, UN organizations, and other development agencies.
• Advanced computer skills (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Office 365, SharePoint).
• Strong verbal and written communication skills in cross-cultural settings.
• Demonstrated office management and organizational skills.
• Ability to work through complex issues and employ reasoning skills to solve problems.
• Willingness to ask for support when necessary.
• Creative and intuitive problem-solving skills.
• Confident and experienced working with board members, volunteers, and all levels of staff.
• Ability and willingness to work flexible hours, including nights and weekends, when necessary.
• Ability and willingness to travel domestically and internationally, as required, according to job requirements.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills, including the ability to constructively articulate ideas and feedback.
• Commitment to ending the global water crisis.