National Director – Great Britain

Habitat for Humanity Great Britain (HFHGB) is looking for a National Director (ND), reporting to the Chair of the HFHGB Board,  to lead the National Organisation (NO) in fulfilling its critical, complex role as housing expert, fundraiser, convener, and implementer of innovative housing solutions.

The ND has responsibility for the effective development and implementation of HFHGB’s strategy and vision on behalf of the HFHGB Board. This involves effective representation, business, partnership, resource development and fundraising, advocacy, and communications. The ND is also responsible for the leadership of its staff and culture as well as prudent financial and operational management.

The National Director must be a compelling, transformative leader with significant NGO or development sector leadership experience.

The National Director is to be based in the UK (home-based) with regular meetings in HfHGB offices in Slough and in London, and occasional wider travel, including international.  Candidates must have the right to work in the UK.

About Habitat for Humanity Great Britain

Habitat for Humanity Great Britain (HFHGB) is an independent UK charity and registered company, governed by an independent board of Trustees (the “Board”), that is part of the Habitat for Humanity International (HFHI) network.

Our global vision is of a world where everyone has a safe and decent place to live. The HFHI network operates in over 70 countries and engages in a range of interventions to achieve this goal, including housing microfinance for repairs, additions and renovations, advocacy for secure land tenure and housing rights, 100% subsidised housing for orphans and vulnerable groups, disaster response, and water and sanitation.

As a member of HFHI’s Global Funding Network, HFHGB raises funds and works with HFHI Area Offices and implementing countries to develop projects for which it will take funding responsibility. HFHGB also implements a growing local programme, partnering with local authorities, charity partners and the private sector. To support this activity, HFHGB raises funds from a variety of sources including from the general public, institutions such as FCDO and Jersey Overseas Aid, foundations, corporations and other organisations.

HFHGB is guided by a clear vision and strategy that supports our national programme and global mission. The charity convenes and leads public and private coalitions to implement innovative, evidence-based, systemic housing solutions; build public awareness and support; and secure institutional funding in support of these solutions. It is an expert in developing and implementing scalable housing solutions, empowering local communities in co-creating sustainable solutions and deepening sector knowledge of potential solutions and their impact on human development and poverty alleviation.

Job Summary

The National Director will need to demonstrate successful leadership experience encompassing the following:

• Orchestrating wide-spread public and donor engagement and support of the organisation’s mission and strategy through a clearly articulated value proposition.
• Building and maintaining a highly competent, technical leadership team and empowering, agile organisational culture capable of developing and implementing organisational strategy.
• Leading a wide range of diverse internal and external stakeholders through complex organisational change.
• Building and leading multi-sector coalitions and strategic partnerships to successfully scale solutions and advocacy impact and expand funding support.
• Securing institutional funding to support evidence-based, innovative, scalable solutions.
• Securing corporate, institutional and individual funding to support evidence-based, innovative, scalable solutions.
• Navigating the complexity of matrixed NGO structures, demonstrating collaboration with and accountability to local communities as well as local and international governance structures.
• Overseeing operational excellence of a direct service organisation, including human resources, safeguarding, financial management, monitoring and evaluation, and other quality and regulatory controls.

Key Responsibilities

Cast a clear and transformative vision of the future of housing to build public and donor support.

• Lead the organisation in developing a clear vision and ambitious strategy informed by articulated, strategic positions to housing deficits, national housing objectives, and Habitat for Humanity’s Theory of Change.
• Lead the organisation in developing strategic positions on national housing deficits and intersecting issues (e.g., urban development, climate change) to inform strategy development.
• Identify, develop and engage with opportunities to develop HFHGB’s thought leadership, especially targeted at key strategic stakeholders – internal and external.
• Leverage a clearly articulated value-proposition to drive public, institutional, corporate, and individual donor engagement and support of housing deficits and proposed solutions.

Leverage strategic partnerships to drive multi-sector, national and regional impact.

• Leverage Habitat’s global influence and new global advocacy campaign and coordinate with other regional National Organisations to grow key partnerships and strengthen advocacy efforts.
• Strengthen and support relationships and coordination efforts with national and local governments, NGO leaders, and other key development sector organisations.
• Cultivate and drive strategic, multi-sector coalitions for shelter innovation to advance and scale housing solutions.

Build and maintain a top-tier, people-centric leadership team and an agile, resilient organisational culture.

• Recruit, retain and motivate a leadership team of highly competent, supportive leaders who can clearly demonstrate skills that drive organisational strategy through technical expertise and prioritizing the care and growth of their teams.
• Ensure that the organisational culture is inclusive and safe, finding strength in diversity of culture, background, and talent and respecting all employees equally.
• Champion an agile, transparent, people-centric organisational culture by modelling this culture together with the national leadership team. Build a cohesive, collaborative leadership culture that models effective decision-making and open, honest dialogue.
• Oversee the implementation of effective talent management, organisational development, and change management infrastructure and processes. As a leadership team, drive the development of critical mindsets and behaviours that support an agile, people-centric culture and integration of these expectations with talent management and development processes.

Deepen HFHGB’s relationships within the HFHI network

• Build strong relationships with peers across HFHI network
• Ensure the wider HFHGB team, across all levels, are engaging with colleagues in the network
• Continue to build strong relations with other members of the Global Funding Network

Oversee the implementation and growth of innovative, evidence-based programming.

• Lead organisation in implementing and growing innovative, agile programming that delivers on organisational and national housing objectives, including launching and expanding the ReStore programme within Great Britain and merging with the subsidiary charity, HFHGB Homes.
• Develop new collaborations and partnership to unlock existing and new sources of funding that support evidence-based, innovative, systemic housing solutions.
• Work with colleagues local and internationally to ensure community empowerment and accountability in all programming through the implementation of the Theory of Change and refined Monitoring, Evaluation, Accountability and Learning (MEAL) frameworks in all programming.
• Guarantee a responsive and agile approach to all programming through successful leveraging of sophisticated M&E, strengthening community and stakeholder accountability and continuously improving the organisation’s evidence-based approach.

Build and maintain a top-tier, people-centric leadership team and an agile, resilient organisational culture.

• Recruit, retain and motivate a leadership team of highly competent, supportive leaders who can clearly demonstrate skills that drive organisational strategy through technical expertise and prioritizing the care and growth of their teams.
• Ensure that the organisational culture is inclusive and safe, finding strength in diversity of culture, background, and talent and respecting all employees equally.
• Champion an agile, transparent, people-centric organisational culture by modelling this culture together with the national leadership team. Build a cohesive, collaborative leadership culture that models effective decision-making and open, honest dialogue.
• Oversee the implementation of effective talent management, organisational development, and change management infrastructure and processes. As a leadership team, drive the development of critical mindsets and behaviours that support an agile, people-centric culture and integration of these expectations with talent management and development processes.

Champion good governance and the highest standards of accountability, ethics, and operational excellence.

• Oversee the adherence to high-quality safeguarding, financial management, regulatory relationships, and other quality control measures. Ensure the organisation’s ethical standards adhere to HFHI, international development, and national ordinance requirements.
• Champion an organisational culture of safety, inclusivity, and accountability. Ensure quality control measures, ethics, and related measures and practices function are integrated into staff training and talent management processes.
• Leverage previous experience with NGOs and matrixed governance structures to strengthen alignment and collaboration between board of trustees and the global Habitat organisation.
• Lead coalitions and implementing partners in establishing shared ethical and quality control standards to actively minimize the risk of harm to Habitat constituents and partners.

Competencies & Values

Strong candidates for the ND role will be able to clearly demonstrate how they have leveraged the following competencies and values to lead in previous roles.

Leadership Competencies

• Compels others through embodiment and clarity of vision, building widespread internal and external support and driving action through a clear articulation of a value proposition.
• Leads through ambiguity and transformation, modelling agile learning and supporting efforts to prioritize and support employees and stakeholders through change.
• Upholds the highest standards of integrity and ethics while navigating organisational conflict, critical conversations, and decision-making.
• Embodies trust and transparency by promoting a free flow of information throughout the organisation and providing teams with the leverage to achieve goals and grow.
• Embraces rest and resilience as critical to mission achievement, supporting and growing efforts to listen to and be responsive to employee feedback.
• Fosters a culture of inclusion where diverse thoughts are freely shared and integrated.
• Deeply respects and embraces the autonomy and power of all individuals, treating community members and employees with the same respect as strategic external partners.

Technical Competencies

• Scoping the critical technical expertise to develop and drive a transformative strategy.
• Hiring and developing top-tier leaders who will drive organisational strategy and build the organisational culture needed to achieve this strategy.
• Building and growing strategic relationships with external partners, including multi-sector and multi-cultural leaders, local and national governments, and foundations and institutions.
• Familiarity with not -for-profit resource mobilisation/ fundraising strategies; building local, regional and international networks of prospective institutional, corporate and individual donors and constituencies.
• Agile decision-making, embracing flexibility and responsiveness as critical to organisational success.
• Aligning goals and strengthening the collaboration between local and international governance within a matrixed NGO system.
• Familiarity with change management and people infrastructure and processes required to successfully navigate through change.
• Familiarity with M&E, financial management, and other quality control infrastructure and processes required to maintain effective operations and programming.

Skills Required

• Excellent interpersonal and networking skills.
• Strong organisational and planning skills.
• Business acumen.
• Strong communication and public speaking skills.
• Proven leadership skills.
• Analytical and strategic thinker.
• Entrepreneurial thinker yet understanding how to operate within a large global organisational framework.
• Commitment and integrity.

Education

• A first-level university degree in business administration, marketing, fundraising or a related field is required. An MBA or graduate-level degree would be an asset.

 Appointment details

Salary and benefits: £80,000 gross per annum. 25 days holiday + all Bank Holidays, stakeholder pension scheme (HFHGB will match employee’s contributions up to 5% of gross salary), 3 x gross salary group life cover.

How to apply

Closing date: 5^th March 2023

To apply please click ‘apply for job’

As part of the application process kindly submit an MS Word version of your CV and a cover letter. All application documents (cover letter and CV) should be submitted in English.

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