Director, MERL GLSA (Greater Lakes and Southern Africa)

Corus International is the parent of a family of world-class organizations working to deliver the holistic, lasting solutions needed to end extreme poverty once and for all. We are a global leader in international development, with 150 years of combined experience across our brands. Our nonprofit and for-profit subsidiaries include IMA World Health and its fundraising brand Corus World Health, Lutheran World Relief, CGA Technologies, Ground Up Investing, and Farmers Market Brands. Our more than 400 employees around the globe are experts in their fields and dedicated to helping the world's most vulnerable people break the cycle of poverty and lead healthy lives.

The Director, MERL GLSA serves as the primary Corus technical leader for the Great Lakes and Southern Africa (GLSA) portfolio, providing strategic oversight and guidance to project teams and MERL staff across the region. This is a high-touch advisory role focused on ensuring the overall effectiveness and integrity of project MERL cycles through guidance on planning, routine monitoring, data quality, reporting, and adaptive management. The role serves as a key liaison to field-based MERL staff, ensuring strong capacity, compliance, and effective use of centralized MERL systems and tools to capture and demonstrate project progress and impact.

• Provide strategic MERL leadership and advisory oversight across an assigned portfolio of projects within the GLSA region.
• Serve as the primary HQ liaison and escalation point for project teams and field-based MERL staff within the assigned portfolio.
• Play a key role in the recruitment and onboarding of project MERL leads.
• Provide day-to-day mentoring and capacity strengthening of project MERL staff (e.g., indicator tracking, workplan alignment, results frameworks, and donor compliance).
• Provide strategic and quality assurance of core MERL deliverables (e.g., MERL plans, PMPs, indicator reference sheets, data collection tools, baseline and evaluation reports). Develop those deliverables in the absence of project MERL staff.
• Drive regular portfolio "MERL Health Checks" with project teams to identify bottlenecks, risks, or gaps in data collection, documentation, reporting, or learning.
• Flag data quality issues, risks, and adaptive management needs, and support corrective action planning and follow‑up with project teams and the Central MERL Unit.
• Partner with the Senior Director for Evaluation & Research on commissioned evaluations and learning studies within the portfolio, including TOR development, evaluator/contractor selection, and findings dissemination).
• Partner with the Senior Director for Data & Data Management on the design and roll out of the databases of the projects within the region (supporting data needs identification, forms design, training, troubleshooting).
• Document and share portfolio-level learning across teams and with the broader MERL unit. Synthesize portfolio-level findings into high-quality evidence products (e.g., dashboards, learning briefs, case studies, presentations) for internal and external audiences.
• Lead after-action reviews, pause-and-reflect sessions, and learning events for assigned projects.
• Contribute to the rollout of organizational data standards and tools on Data & Data Management and Evaluation, Research, and Learning.
• Serve as acting MERL Lead for projects without dedicated MERL staff.

• Partner with country office and new business teams to design donor and Corus compliant MERL approaches (results frameworks, indicator selection, learning priorities, MEL narratives), budgets, and staffing plans, and identify MERL key personnel.
• Participate in and contribute to capture planning by advising MERL-related donor priorities, evaluation requirements, and competitive positioning strategies.
• Maintain and apply strategic awareness of evolving donor MERL standards and expectations in assigned regions to inform proposal design.
• Represent and champion Corus programs externally with donors and partners as a technical expert in MERL, showcasing technical insights and learnings within the region.

• Contribute to the review and refinement of organizational MERL tools, templates, and guidance notes.
• Foster a culture of shared learning and continuous improvement across projects within the assigned region.
• Play a leadership role in Corus MERL Communities of Practice (CoP) driving knowledge exchange, identifying organizational learning gaps, and strengthening technical capacity among CoP members, partners, and staff.
• Regularly engage with industry practice groups (peers, competitors, and donors) to identify, track, and shape trends related to the assigned region.
• Represent the organization at key forums, including meetings, conferences, and events to advance the mission and cultivate strategic partnerships.

• Provide technical supervision and oversight to provincial MERL staff and partner MERL teams across the project provinces and direct the deployment of surge support and external consultants for evaluations and research as needed.

• Bachelor's degree in international development, social science, public health, agriculture, education, economics, statistics, or a related field, and a minimum of eight years relevant experience; or the equivalent combination of education and/or experience. A master's degree is strongly preferred.
• At least three of the eight years of experience must include working in a portfolio-level, advisory, or HQ/regional support role working across multiple projects or countries.
• Direct in-country MERL implementation experience, either embedded with a project or in a field office.
• Demonstrated experience developing and managing PMPs, indicator reference sheets, and data collection systems.
• Experience providing remote technical support to field-based MERL teams across multiple countries or regions.
• Extensive experience with at least two major donor MERL frameworks (e.g., USG, UN RBM, FCDO, EU).
• Experience with mobile data collection platforms (KoboToolbox, ODK, CommCare, or equivalent).
• Strong working knowledge of quantitative and qualitative data collection methodologies.
• Proficiency in data cleaning, management, and basic analysis (Excel required; DHIS2, SPSS, Stata, R, or Power BI an asset).
• Strong interpersonal and communication skills, ability to build trust with field teams across cultural and organizational contexts.
• Ability to manage a diverse portfolio and prioritize competing demands without dropping commitments to any project team.
• Detail-oriented with a high bar for data quality and documentation standards.
• Comfortable operating at the intersection of technical rigor and practical field realities.
• Collaborative team player who actively shares knowledge and lifts others.
• Demonstrated written and oral English language communication skills. French language skill required.

• Familiarity with private foundations or private sector funded projects is a plus.
• Experience contributing to proposal development (MERL narratives, indicator selection, M&E budget design) is a plus.

• The physical requirements that may be needed to execute responsibilities may include bending, standing, and walking, etc.
• The mental requirements that are essential to satisfactorily executing the responsibilities outlined in this job description include, but are not limited to: learning new tasks, comprehending, and retaining information, completing tasks independently, effectively communicating verbally and in writing, demonstrating proficiency in using computer software to perform assigned tasks.

This job description is not designed to cover or contain a comprehensive list of activities, duties or responsibilities for the position. Duties, responsibilities and activities may change at any time with or without notice. All positions are required to perform any additional tasks assigned by the supervisor. Global positions that are bound by contracts will not be changed without notice and approval.

Working Conditions, Travel and Environment

• Corus has a hybrid work policy, allowing work to be done remotely; two days per week minimum in the office is required.  The employee must be available to work outside normal office hours or weekends as required.
• This position must be able to travel as required for standard domestic and international business purposes. While performing the duties of this job in different locations, the employee may be exposed to precarious settings under high-security risks and/or very basic living conditions and outside weather conditions, as well as to infectious diseases.
• If applicable, must have authorization to work in the country of assignment.

As a member of the Corus Family, each employee is expected to:

• Foster a work environment where everyone feels valued and included.
• Support employees' evaluation and promotion processes based on skills and performance.
• Promote a safe, secure, and respectful environment for all members of Corus family, stakeholders in general, and particularly for the communities we serve.
• Follow Corus Code of Conduct helping to prevent any type of abuse including workplace harassment, sexual abuse and exploitation, and trafficking in persons.
• Adhere to the Organizational Core Values.

Corus International is an Equal Opportunity Employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment, without regard to race, color, religion, national origin, sex, age, disability, genetic information, protected veteran, or any other classification protected by applicable local, state or federal laws.