Vice President – Global Challenges

Position Summary

MG is searching for a person with deep experience in international development with a focus on one or more of the following areas: democracy and human rights, conflict and violence prevention; global health, environment, and sustainability.

The Vice President will specialize in a growing portfolio of work to develop and launch innovative strategic communications and social and behavior change (SBC) campaigns, build capacity of international partners, create public-private partnerships, and advance a wide range of global social justice issues. A central part of the Vice President’s role will be to lead  team(s) that support government and foundation clients on global issues. In this role, they will have the opportunity to leverage the power of communications and communities to advance pressing societal challenges around the world. 

The candidate for this position is highly strategic, relationship-focused, an excellent and creative communicator, has experience leading SBC and strategic communications initiatives, and passionate about international social justice. 

The Vice President is a full-time, exempt position. The starting salary range for this position is 

$110,000 – 130,000 per year, plus profit share and incentives, and is negotiable depending on experience and commensurate with MG/ISMG compensation structure.

General Responsibilities

Leadership

• Build and sustain high-performing teams and supervise, mentor and grow employees and flexible staff in ways that deepen the bench strength of the global challenges portfolio and help staff achieve their goals for impact and advancement.
• Lead team-based, new business development efforts focused on taking early-stage work with a wide array of new international and social justice clients to scale, and cultivating and recruiting strategic additions to the global challenges justice client portfolio.

Strategic Communication and Capacity-building

• Lead design and implementation of social and behavior change campaigns that promote better development outcomes and convey the importance of democracy and social justice priorities. 
• Develop multi-method qualitative and quantitative research methodologies for formative research to advance social and behavior change and strategic communications. 
• Build the capacity of others to communicate strategically, including training and coaching others in how to develop and implement strategic communications campaigns.  
• Advance intercultural communication, localization, and co-creation to ensure that social change is developed through local input, priorities, and ownership. 

Partnership and Relationship Development

• Partner with international academics, researchers, NGOs, and communications professionals to pursue collaborative work.
• Formalize partnership progress and oversee measurement and evaluation to ascertain results and learning.
• Create multi-stakeholder coalitions that leverage the power of collective action and diversity to pursue solutions to global challenges.
• Build high-performing teams between our clients and their partners that communicate and learn well together, share leadership, and solve problems.

Strategic, Program, and Work Planning

• Advance strategic planning and program planning, including setting goals and objectives, strategy, tactics, budget, measurement, and evaluation.
• Oversee senior directors and project managers charged with development of detailed work plans that result in quality work delivered on time and on budget.

Requirements

• At least ten years international development experience with demonstrated deep expertise in one or more of the following areas: democracy and human rights; conflict and violence prevention; countering authoritarianism, global health, and environment and sustainability.
• Social and behavior change and/or strategic communication experience, including formative research, narrative and messaging development, and testing.
• Campaign leadership experience, including developing campaigns that impact attitudinal, behavioral, policy, practice, and social norm changes globally. 
• Demonstrated experience bringing successful new business development to companies.  High-level familiarity with contract/grant acquisition, proposal writing, positioning, and presenting.
• Excellent communication skills, including strong persuasive writing, oral presentations, workshops, and a high level of understanding of visual communication, campaigns, etc.
• Experience working with senior leadership in the public sector, foundation and large NGOs. 
• Strong writing skills, including demonstrated experience drafting a variety of written products for government clients. 
• Collaborative leader who brings team’s experiences, perspectives, and insights to the forefront, creating greater impact for our staff and clients.
• Strong skills working in an intercultural environment and context.  Bringing strong equity and inclusion skills. 
• Skilled at building relationships, teams, partnerships, and coalitions, with the capacity to unearth shared interests, build consensus, etc.
• Self-directed and proactive with deep focus on quality and impact. 
• Availability to travel domestically and internationally.
• Bachelor’s degree or higher or commensurate lived experience preferred.
• Must be authorized to accept employment in the United States.

Great to Have

• Federal contracting knowledge and understanding. 
• Bilingual or fluency in other language(s) is preferred but not required.

Expectations

• Provide high-quality, professional consulting services and expertise to clients while leveraging the talents of the team.
• Be a team player and excel at team-oriented problem-solving.
• Demonstrate an excellent work ethic.
• Contribute positively to the psychological safety of an intercultural environment.
• Support and embody the organization’s values, goals, and operating principles.
• Have upbeat, creative and professional demeanor.

Benefits

• All employees are eligible for bonuses/incentives/profit sharing based on individual and company performance.
• Hybrid workplace. 
• Employer-paid medical/vision insurance on the first of the month following employment start date. Depending on plan choice, plans that include dependents are covered at 47% and up.
• Dental insurance paid at 50% by the employer on the first of the month following employment start date.
• Employer-paid life, short-term, and long-term disability insurance plans available on the first of the month following employment start date.
• Flexible spending account (medical/dependent care/transportation/parking). 
• Monthly cell phone allowance.  
• Charitable contribution match of up to $100 per year.
• Professional development program up to $1,500 annually.
• Fifteen paid vacation days per year after first 90 days of employment, plus one additional day accrued for each year of employment (up to a total of 20 days total vacation days).
• Ten days of wellness leave available per year, accruable up to 20 days.
• One month paid sabbatical eligibility after each seven years of continuous employment.
• MG paid holidays off: New Year’s Day, Martin Luther King Jr. Day, Memorial Day, Juneteenth, Independence Day, Labor Day, Indigenous People’s Day, Thanksgiving Day, day after Thanksgiving, Christmas Day, and one personal holiday of choice (11 days annually).
• MG to reimburse for work-related expenses (e.g., mileage at IRS rate).
• 401(k) retirement plan: You are eligible to participate in this program on the first of the month following three months of full-time employment. As a participant, you may make tax-deferred contributions up to the maximum allowable amount into the plan. MG will make an annual contribution equal to 3% of your compensation the following year. Roth option available.

Equal Opportunity Employer

At Metropolitan Group, we know that diverse backgrounds, experiences, and cultures strengthen our work and our workplace. We strive to create an intercultural workplace through greater recognition, understanding, and appreciation of a broad range of differences among individuals and groups within society, and to incorporate an intercultural perspective in our work. 

We encourage applicants from all backgrounds, genders, races, religions, ages, sexual orientations, or gender identities, abilities, or other identities. We encourage all candidates to apply—even if you don’t believe you meet every requirement outlined above. If you have any questions, please reach out to JoinTheTeam@metgroup.com.

Application Information

Send a cover letter and resume to JoinTheTeam@metgroup.com. Please include in your cover letter how you heard about us and what skills and experiences you have that are relevant to this position. Anticipated hire date will be in July 2023.

Download the complete job description here.