Director, Strategic Initiatives & Governance

Director, Strategic Initiatives & Governance

Washington, DC

At USA for UNHCR, our people are the driving force behind our mission of delivering hope and opportunity to refugees worldwide. We re not just a workplace - we re a vibrant community of passionate, forward-thinking professionals committed to making a real difference. If you thrive in a dynamic, transparent, and data-driven environment, and want your career to directly impact lives across the globe, we invite you to join us!

SUMMARY

USA for UNHCR is seeking a Director, Strategic Initiatives & Governance who plays a pivotal role in strengthening USA for UNHCR s governance systems and helping to advance the organization s strategic priorities in support of refugees and displaced people worldwide. Serving as a key strategic thought partner in the Executive Office, this role ensures that governance processes, materials, systems, and follow-through are high quality, decision-ready, and reliable, enabling the CEO and executive leadership to engage the Board with clarity, confidence, and consistency.

This position is execution-led and systems-oriented, translating strategic decisions into action, streamlining communication, and clearing roadblocks to ensure leadership is focused on the highest value work. It strengthens governance through rigor, thought partnership, and coordination, while preserving clear ownership of Board relationships, strategic direction and advisory authority with the CEO and executive leadership.

ESSENTIAL DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES

Governance and Board Effectiveness (40%)

• Manage governance operations for the Board and all standing and ad hoc committees, including the Finance & Audit Committee, Executive Committee, Strategy Committee, ensuring consistent standards, documentation, and follow-through.
• Serve as operational system owner for the organization s Board governance platform, ensuring effective configuration, document management, permissions, and adoption.
• Ensure Board and committee materials are timely, accurate, well-structured, and prepared to support effective governance processes and fiduciary decision-making.
• Maintain consistency, quality standards, and institutional memory across all governance processes.
• Own the tracking and reporting of Board and committee governance metrics, including attendance, engagement, committee effectiveness, onboarding completion, self-assessment cycles, and action follow-through.
• Monitor nonprofit governance best practices and support implementation of continuous improvement of governance effectiveness and compliance.

Strategic Execution & Departmental Readiness (35%)

• Serve as strategic thought partner in Executive Office and lead complex, multi-workstream governance projects, managing timelines, dependencies, and risks to ensure disciplined operational execution.
• Orchestrate inputs across the organization to support governance needs, ensure alignment, completeness, and quality of materials and processes.
• Exercise sound judgment and be anticipatory in identifying governance risks, gaps, or process failures and escalate findings appropriately to executive leadership.
• Provide functional, execution-focused guidance to the Senior Executive Coordinator on governance-related workflows.
• Contribute to the effective functioning of the Executive Office through disciplined process management and operational excellence.

Executive Office Resource & Operational Oversight (15%)

• Support in the management of Executive Office budget and advise in resource allocation for board functions, programmatic initiatives, and strategic priorities.
• Support the collection, analysis, and communication of key data and insights to inform decision-making and continuous improvement.
• Contribute to the development of systems and processes that advance team effectiveness and ensure efficiency in how Executive Office operates
• Lead process improvements to optimize workflow, collaboration, and organizational efficiency.
• Coordinate cross-functional strategic reviews to assess progress, identify challenges, and recommend course corrections.

Other Functions (10%)

Other duties as assigned.

QUALIFICATIONS

The requirements listed below are representative of the knowledge, skill, and/or ability required. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.

EDUCATION and/or EXPERIENCE

• Bachelor’s Degree, required, advanced degree in business, management, or a related field preferred.
• Certified in project management methodologies (e.g. PMP or related formal training), preferred
• At least 8-10 years’ experience in strategic engagement, nonprofit governance, board operations, executive office, or governance-adjacent roles
• Demonstrated experience in leading large, cross-functional projects or initiatives, including managing bylaws, Board policies, committee charters, and formal governance processes
• Proven experience in strategic planning, implementation and monitoring, preferably within non-profit management,…