Head of Education

SUMMARY

3 Jun 2026

22 Jun 2026 - 17:00 UTC

South Sudan

Programme, Development and Quality

Permanent

Full-time

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This position is open to South Sudanese Nationals ONLY

Head of Education

CHILD SAFEGUARDING: 

Level 3:  the post holder will have contact with children and/or young people either frequently (e.g. once a week or more) or intensively (e.g. four days in one month or more or overnight) because they work in country programs.

ROLE PURPOSE: 

Head of Education – plays a leading role in defining the strategic direction, development and quality of Save the Children’s Education programming in South Sudan. The post holder provides technical advice and shares best practice to ensure quality programme design and implementation, using evidence effectively for policy dialogue and advocacy with stakeholders to achieve priority advocacy objectives. The post holder will work closely with a range of Education and other Save the Children colleagues within South Sudan.

S/he will lead on developing and maintaining strong external relations in the field of Education, representing Save the Children with a range of external stakeholders both in South Sudan. 

S/he will collaborate closely with Education colleagues, guiding and influencing the development of the Education strategy.

In the event of a humanitarian emergency, the role holder will be expected to work outside the normal role profile and be able to vary working hours accordingly. During emergency response, the Senior Technical Advisor will represent Save the Children in technical working groups, providing leadership to Education development, nexus programming and Education in Emergencies (EiE) implementation and advocacy. 

KEY AREAS OF ACCOUNTABILITY:

Thematic Strategy and Thought Leadership:

Ensure that Education staff/ team are aware of and understand Save the Children’s Education global strategy, result framework and common approaches in Education.

Support staff to adopt common approaches in new and ongoing program implementation, adapting to fit within the country context.

Share best practices and latest thinking on Education with programme colleagues, supporting them to incorporate these into programme design and delivery.

Work closely with Education colleagues across the national and sub national cluster to influence development of Education strategy.

Facilitate a community of practice on Education involving staff from different teams across the country programme to foster a culture of sharing and learning

Work with programme colleagues to ensure that education programmes in South Sudan contribute towards achieving the global thematic breakthroughs

Programme Quality:

Overall responsibility to ensure programme quality of Save the Children’s Education programming in South Sudan.

Provide technical leadership to the Education team in South Sudan to ensure new proposals are technically sound and reflect best practice, latest thinking and learning from programme implementation.

Collaborate and coordinate with Save the Children’s Global Education Theme, member representatives, technical advisors, programme staff and consultants to ensure that Education projects receive quality technical assistance in line with programme/project strategies and work plans;

Programme  Evidence & Impact

Providing tools and frameworks for evidence-based policy advocacy ensuring Save the Children Education research is designed, conducted and disseminated with a clear policy advocacy plan in place.

Guiding teams on training design and delivery, to help teams to improve evidence-based advocacy, with clear influence and impact on policy.

Work closely with the MEAL team and other colleagues to develop and implement effective monitoring and evaluation frameworks, supporting the development and implementation of project-specific M&E frameworks and quality benchmarks, and ensuring that monitoring data is analysed and shared;

Capture learning from Education programmes, identifying internal and external opportunities to share lessons learned and ensuring that this evidence informs project design and advocacy;

Contribute to development of donor and programme reports, ensuring they reflect the impact of Education programme activities.

External Representation, Policy and Advocacy:

Build strong relationships with government ministries, INGOs, UN agencies, development and humanitarian partners, CSOs, local authorities, corporate sector and academic institutions working on Education.

Establish a strong reputation for Save the Children, ensuring we are valued as a key technical resource which contributes effectively to joint learning, analysis, policy development and strengthened Education systems in South Sudan.

Identify areas where Education programming evidence and learning can make a significant impact to policy change, in collaboration with the Policy, Advocacy and Campaigns team, actively engage in advocacy efforts to realise such changes;

In close collaboration with other Education and advocacy colleagues, support the development of policy engagement and advocacy strategies with a view to influencing Education policies and practice in South Sudan, providing guidance and support to data collection and the building of an evidence base and contributing to key policy discussions, including development of policy briefs, lessons learned documents and other products based on programme data and analysis;

Support the South Sudan engagement with global Save the Children campaigns and advocacy initiatives.

Lead and support Education fundraising efforts by identifying strategic funding opportunities, cultivating relationships with donors and partners, contributing to high-quality concept notes and proposals, and positioning Save the Children as a preferred partner for Education programming in South Sudan.

In close collaboration with the Director of PQI and Education team, develop and support capacity development plans for Education staff across the country programme;

Supervise consultants, researchers or other short-term staff hired for specified quality, policy or research activities;

Support Education teams in working with and strengthening civil society partners, including partner assessment/risk analysis, capacity building planning and technical support.

Providing technical advice and support to external stakeholders including government, corporates and other authorities working in the field of Education

Represent Save the Children at national, regional and international meetings, with a particular focus on developing the reputation of Save the Children as a leading Education agency in South Sudan through active participation in sector working groups.

Management and Capacity Building

As a member of the Extended Senior Leadership Team (ESLT), contribute to the leadership and strategic direction of the South Sudan country office.

Identify and support professional development and career growth opportunities for Education staff, and provide mentoring support where appropriate;.

Essential

Masters degree in Education, Social Sciences or a field(s) relevant to international development assistance;

Proficiency in English, and Arabic.

Minimum of 7 years of experience in Education programming within the development sector, this should include senior level technical leadership, representation and policy work in development and/or humanitarian contexts

Proven knowledge and expertise in key Education strategies and approaches, including but not limited to literacy, basic education, inclusive education, early childhood care and development and quality learning environment; 

Demonstrated knowledge, expertise and or commitment to Child Rights.

Demonstrated experience in strengthening the capacity of Education staff and partners in Education technical skills and knowledge in development and/or humanitarian contexts;

Experience in conducting or contributing to operations and formative research, including study design, protocol and questionnaire development, data analysis and interpretation, and dissemination and use of findings;

Strong analytical and writing skills;

Excellent verbal and written communication skills, highly developed report writing and presentation skills.

Strong relationship building, influencing, negotiating and interpersonal skills, with the ability to work with key stakeholders at all levels. 

Commitment to Save the Children’s mission, vision and values. 

Desirable

Senior Leadership experience in an (I)NGO

Relevant academic qualification in Education or child rights.

Ability to speak English. Arabic will be an added value.

Proven experience of delivering Education in humanitarian emergency settings (EiE)

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