Title: Director, Asia Region

Department: Asia Regional Office

Reports to: Managing Director, Asia Regional Office

Location: Bangkok, Thailand

Travel: 50%

Effective Date: May 2020

Position Summary:

The Rockefeller Foundation’s Asia Regional Office is motivated by its goal to enhance visibility and understanding of the Foundation’s work and to inspire others to scale our impact for millions of people across the continent. The Director is a critical strategic partner and leader in this effort. The role requires leading, managing and implementing the influence and advocacy strategy for the Foundation in Asia, particularly in the priority countries of China, India and Thailand. Together with the Managing Director, the incumbent also provides strategic advisory to and representation on behalf of internal stakeholders. The role thus also requires partnering with Foundation teams to navigate regional dynamics and provide intelligence to support the Foundation’s strategies and programming in Asia.

In achieving the above goals, the Director needs to ensure that key policy, business and civil society actors in the region are aware of and engaged with the Foundation’s initiatives, and endorse our work to enhance the positive impact for our beneficiaries, e.g. through media validation, public validation or partnerships. The incumbent will establish an effective way to get up-to-date intelligence on emerging issues and key moves of importance for the Foundation in Asia and develop strategies to leverage these to advance organizational and programmatic goals, as well as serve as an ambassador for initiative teams. The incumbent will also work with the Managing Director in designing and implementing the regional office’s strategy, as well as select, design and manage grantees and contractors working on programs that advance these objectives.

The role requires courageous and inspirational leadership skills, a drive that delivers results, and the ability to analyze evolving policy environments, develop key messages and to build strong and constructive relationships with both internal and external stakeholders. You are right for this role if you are entrepreneurial, collaborative, eager to be an ambassador for the priorities of the Foundation, and passionate about making a positive impact in the world. You are a thoughtful leader who manages people relationships, work and resources with integrity, and always with a focus on Rockefeller Foundation’s mission to promote the well-being of humanity.

Responsibilities include but are not limited to:

Policy, Intelligence and Strategy

• Map and navigate the policy landscape in the targeted countries (India and China in particular), gaining an in-depth understanding of the public policy and programmatic opportunities for Foundation engagement and partnership-building, including nurturing relationships with policy actors.
• Provide real-time intelligence to the team of the evolving political landscape, relevant policy research and policy reforms of relevance to the Foundation’s strategy.
• Provide strategic input into the Asia regional programmatic and policy strategy, and work with the Managing Director to shape programmatic directions, including concept and grant design; give input in convening and event program development.  Provide programmatic support and guidance to grantees and partners. Manage grantees’ programmatic and policy outputs.

Stakeholder Engagement and Thought Leadership

• Strengthen partnerships with government, multilateral organizations, civil society and think tanks. Represent the Foundation in senior-level meetings with targeted stakeholders, including national governments, donors and other key stakeholders. Represent the Foundation in major conferences, events and working groups. Raise the Foundation’s profile and credibility in the region.
• Convene and engage the Foundation’s network of informal advisors, including the network of China advisors, India advisors, and Southeast Asia advisors. Bring on board new experts and senior advisors.
• Manage thought leadership efforts for the region, working closely with the communications and program influence teams to provide programmatic inputs to allow the team to generate greater visibility for our work. Help to provide high-level input into briefing documents, talking points and speeches.

Additionally, the incumbent will work proactively and collaboratively with other teams in the Foundation, including those based in New York (e.g. Policy, Partnerships and Convenings, Office of Grants Management, Office of Legal, Ethics & Governance, Innovation and Initiative Teams) to enable the effective flow of knowledge and information, to seek inputs from such teams at opportune times, and to update such teams on the progress of regional work. He/she will work closely, as necessary and appropriate, with other colleagues based in NY and/or Nairobi to deliver on programming objectives.

Qualifications and Competencies

Leadership:  Vision, innovation, thought leadership, collaboration, integrity, accountability and emotional intelligence

People Management:  Skills in team building, coaching, mentoring, delegating, inspiring and motivating

Strategic Ability: Ability to see opportunities, design innovative approaches backed by strong analysis and planning. Strong sense for messaging, themes and techniques that resonate with our stakeholders and media, as well as bloggers and social media focused reporters, in particular. 

Execution: Strong project management skills, deadline management, sense of responsibility and accountability and the ability to effectively multi-task. Ability to manage contractors to ensure timely, high-quality work product, and lead grantees to effectively achieve goals and objectives of their funded projects.

Partnership and relationship Building: Strong professional representation of the Foundation, interpersonal relationship abilities, intercultural knowledge and appreciation, strategic partnership building.

Decision-Making: Ability to evaluate risks and opportunities, using analytical and strong problem-solving skills.

Integration: Ability to demonstrate inclusiveness, collaboration, respect and broad organizational interests.

Communication: Strong interpersonal and communication abilities; exceptional listening written and verbal skills.

Data and Analytics: Strong understanding and leveraging of the latest big data tools and methodologies

Education, Training and Experience

• A Master’s degree or higher in public policy administration, policy analysis, political science, international development, international relations, economics, social science, or a related field.
• A minimum of 15 years of professional experience working at a senior level on policy engagement and program implementation in Asia.
• Ability to engage with a wide set of diverse stakeholders diplomatically, with patience and tact; ability to communicate clearly to a multicultural audience. 
• Proven track record in managing to complex plans and deadlines
• Excellent inter-personal skills and professional presence
• A proven ability to think strategically, analyze critically, and to translate ideas and insights into action through coherent and viable programs and plans
• Ability to manage projects, consultancies and budgets
• Fluency in English. Proficiency in other Asian regional languages a plus
• Team leadership skills, such as flexibility and listening skills
• Highly organized, with ability to multi-task
• Open to Thai nationals only

Interested candidates should send a resume (CV) and cover letter that details why you are a good fit for this career position to busaba@rockfound.org no later than February 14, 2020.  Full job description, including the Foundation’s focus areas, can be found at www.rockefellerfoundation.org

Supervision Received

This position is supervised by and reports to the Managing Director, Asia

Supervision Exercised

This position may involve supervisory responsibilities of Executive Assistant, consultants, interns and others

The Rockefeller Foundation is committed to the principles of equal employment opportunity and to compliance with all federal, state, and local laws concerning employment discrimination, including the Americans with Disabilities Act.  To this end, the Foundation ensures equal opportunity to all employees and applicants regardless of race, color, age, gender, sexual orientation, religion, marital status, national origin or ancestry, citizenship, lawful alien status, physical, mental, and medical disability, veteran status or liability for service in the United States Armed Forces.

The Rockefeller Foundation is an Equal Opportunity Employer