The African Wildlife Foundation (AWF) is at the forefront of the movement for African-led conservation. For more than six decades, AWF has worked to ensure that wildlife and wild lands thrive in modern Africa. As the continent continues to grow and change, AWF remains committed to supporting the development of conservation strategies that are deeply rooted in local leadership, knowledge, and solutions. AWF believes that conservation efforts must prioritize African ownership, policy leadership, and the integration of conservation into sustainable development goals.
In a bold step toward realizing this vision, AWF has created a new senior leadership position—Senior Director, Mission Impact, and Integration (SDMI). This role represents a pivotal investment in driving institutional impact, strategic integration, and organizational alignment across programs and partnerships. Based at AWF’s Nairobi office and reporting directly to the Chief of Staff in the Office of the CEO, the SDMI will play a vital role in shaping and executing the organization’s core strategy and transformational agenda.
About the Role
Position Title: Senior Director, Mission Impact, and Integration
Division: Office of the CEO
Reporting To: Chief of Staff
Location: AWF Nairobi Office, Nairobi, Kenya
Employment Type: Full-time
Application Deadline: August 5, 2025
The SDMI will serve as a critical link between AWF’s executive team, senior leadership, and staff across divisions, ensuring that strategic goals are reflected in measurable outcomes and implemented with coherence, discipline, and adaptive learning. This role goes beyond traditional program management by focusing on institutional performance, impact metrics, learning systems, and strategic innovation.
Working in close collaboration with the CEO and the Chief of Staff, the SDMI will contribute to AWF’s thought leadership and will represent the organization to external stakeholders, including donors, policy-makers, and conservation partners.
Key Responsibilities
1. Monitoring, Evaluation, and Learning (MEL)
A core aspect of this position is the development and implementation of a comprehensive Monitoring, Evaluation, and Learning framework. The SDMI will lead a cross-functional team dedicated to establishing impact metrics that reflect AWF’s strategy and ensure accountability at all levels.
Responsibilities include:
- Leading the institutional MEL function to operationalize performance tracking across short-term, medium-term, and long-term strategic targets.
- Coordinating the development of institutional metrics and integrating them into both organizational and project-level performance systems.
- Ensuring all MEL practices align with international standards and donor requirements while reflecting AWF’s Theory of Change and conservation impact.
- Managing periodic reporting processes for both internal leadership and external stakeholders.
- Cultivating a learning culture by driving the institutional learning agenda, facilitating the sharing of lessons learned, and ensuring that insights from practice inform strategy and implementation.
2. Strategic Planning and Institutional Alignment
The SDMI will work closely with the Chief of Staff to support the execution and operationalization of AWF’s strategic plans, serving as a strategic facilitator and systems integrator.
Key functions will include:
- Designing and leading cross-functional planning sessions, including executive and senior leadership meetings, with a focus on strategic clarity, progress tracking, and adaptive management.
- Tracking the implementation of strategic priorities, projects, and partnerships to ensure alignment with AWF’s institutional goals.
- Coordinating preparation and analysis for Board-level strategy updates, and presenting progress toward organizational goals.
- Supporting the development of high-quality communications and strategic documents in collaboration with the Brand team to articulate AWF’s impact, approach, and partnerships.
- Ensuring annual budget planning and fundraising priorities align with strategic directions by working closely with finance, resource mobilization, and program teams.
3. Leadership of Institutional Initiatives
The SDMI will lead key cross-functional and cross-divisional initiatives under the CEO’s office. These initiatives are essential to institutional transformation, improved delivery, and enhanced conservation outcomes.
Projects under this responsibility may include:
- Implementation of an Account Management Framework to improve execution and stewardship of donor-funded programs.
- Coordination of the internal prioritization process for Unfunded Needs, ensuring strategic coherence in resource mobilization.
- Leading pilot projects that explore new models or areas of conservation implementation critical to the growth of AWF.
- Acting as liaison and strategist for external partnerships that aim to scale African-led conservation models and influence policy or sectoral change.
The SDMI will be expected to work with a high degree of autonomy, providing strategic guidance to senior management and serving as an ambassador of AWF’s mission in regional and global forums. The role requires extensive collaboration, vision-driven leadership, and high-level communication abilities.
Key Attributes and Skills
To be successful in this dynamic and influential role, the ideal candidate will demonstrate the following qualities:
- Strategic and Systems Thinker: Proven experience in managing complex organizational strategies, preferably in the nonprofit, conservation, or development sector. Ability to link vision to actionable results.
- Strong Analytical Capacity: Familiarity with impact measurement frameworks, monitoring and evaluation tools, and data analysis for adaptive management.
- Excellent Facilitation Skills: Experience in planning, organizing, and moderating high-level meetings with multidisciplinary teams.
- Communication and Presentation: Strong ability to translate complex ideas into clear narratives and reports for diverse audiences, including Boards, donors, and external partners.
- Collaborative Leadership: Strong interpersonal skills and emotional intelligence, able to work with multiple stakeholders across cultures and geographies.
- Change Management Orientation: Comfortable leading institutional change, facilitating innovation, and building momentum for organizational transformation.
- Project Management Expertise: Demonstrated capacity to lead multi-stakeholder initiatives, track execution, manage risks, and ensure timely delivery of strategic outcomes.
- Global Outlook with African Contextual Knowledge: A strong commitment to AWF’s African-led conservation mission, and an understanding of Africa’s socio-economic and environmental dynamics.
Educational and Professional Requirements
- Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration, Strategy, Monitoring and Evaluation, or Project Management.
- At least 10 years of experience in a senior management position relevant to strategy, MEL, or institutional performance management.
- Demonstrated expertise in impact measurement and evaluation frameworks.
- Strong proficiency in reporting and high-level presentation skills.
- Previous experience working in cross-cultural, multidisciplinary environments.
- Willingness to travel internationally, including to AWF landscapes and strategic donor or partner countries.
Why Join AWF?
This is a unique opportunity to be part of a pioneering organization that is redefining conservation by centering African leadership. The Senior Director, Mission Impact, and Integration will have unparalleled influence in shaping how AWF—and the broader conservation community—thinks about impact, accountability, and strategic alignment.
This role offers:
- A chance to drive meaningful change at a continental scale.
- The opportunity to influence donor and partner engagement strategies.
- The platform to work with a committed, mission-driven leadership team.
- A supportive and dynamic working environment based in Nairobi, one of Africa’s leading conservation and development hubs.
- The opportunity to travel and engage in diverse landscapes and stakeholder environments.
Application Process
Interested candidates are invited to submit their application by August 5, 2025. Applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis, and early submissions are encouraged.
To apply, please submit your application directly through the AWF job portal or follow the application instructions provided in the official vacancy announcement.
For more information about AWF’s mission and current strategic vision, please visit: www.awf.org
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