PURPOSE OF POSITION:The purpose of this position is to lead and be accountable for the global production services of annual child sponsor engagement content features, across 54 field office cultures, reaching 2.7m child sponsors in 21 nations two-three times per year, within World Vision’s $1bn Child Sponsorship line of business.
(Examples of the content features being centrally produced include child & community annual progress reports, child Christmas cards, child letter and expression worksheet templates • all to demonstrate to sponsors the impact of their regular donation and/or to build a sense of personal connection with their sponsor child).
The Senior Manager, Sponsor Engagement Global Production Services leads a team of 25+ permanent and temporary staff based in Manila across the following functional teams: production operations, project management, and quality assurance and analytics - with a total programme budget amounting to nearly USD$1m. The role importantly advocates for industry best practices in business efficiency processes and approaches, applying continuous improvement methodologies, and periodically evaluating emerging technologies and external services to affirm the integrity of the business case for global sponsor engagement production services, balancing cost and risk management. The role is a member of a dynamic international virtual team of colleagues reporting to World Vision International’s global head of child sponsorship marketing and engagement.
The position holds accountability for the full Global Production Services Team, a set of direct reports, budget/cost management, vendor relationships and management, continuous process and content improvement, systems capability and technical solutions to support production, and quality assurance of the final product.
The position interfaces with and is required to influence partners, entities, vendors and stakeholders across the World Vision partnership globally. Ultimately the role seeks to serve vulnerable children and their sponsors through producing the best content features that enable deep personal engagement, empowering them to transform their own lives.
The ideal candidate will possess: proven leadership, analytical and problem solving skills; experience in global production services/operations, process improvement and optimization; demonstrated people skills, with an ability to handle difficult situations with appropriate discretion, human resources acumen and respect for the individual; solid communication skills, both oral and written, with the ability to persuade/influence others; programme leadership experience; and strong organization skills for prioritization of individual and team work.
MAJOR RESPONSIBILITIES:Strategic & Operational Planning:Develops strategic objectives and operational annual plans as part of the partnership-wide goals for Sponsor Engagement with input from Child Sponsorship Marketing & Engagement Lead Team, and other partnership stakeholders.
Defines strategic production choices and recommends sequencing and pacing towards improved quality production delivery year on year.
Creates environment for direct staff team and cross-functional partners to effectively plan and execute on all production content features, working especially with National Office (NO) Coordination Team and Field Engagement Team.
Partners effectively with Directors of Child Sponsorship Content and Child Sponsorship Experience for all sponsor engagement feature business requirements and quality definitions.
Actively contributes to the future state sponsor experience ideation and innovation plans to surprise and delight our sponsors.
Programme & Project Management:Leads a complete operations programme management view of all planned production services in any Fiscal Year (FY), showing milestones and dependencies on other services.
Ensures systematic programme and project tracking and reporting are upheld as required by the Senior Director and other stakeholders • assuring consistent accountability to key milestones and interdependencies.
Effectively monitors and manages timeliness, performance, costs and budgets of the overall operations programme and individual projects within.
Negotiates successful alternative plans as appropriate to keep the overall goals and deliverables on course.
Production Services Operations:Leads a ‘just in time’ global production services mindset for sponsor engagement feature production that require information from the child/programme so that sponsors receive the very latest information.
Leads the effective workload balancing, pacing and sequencing of global projects dependent upon field office and support office needs, and internal resource constraints.
Defines and produces analytics, measurements and regular reporting that demonstrates timely delivery of global production services.
Seeks and develops opportunities for streamlining of work/effort through outsourcing to reduce work cost and effort.
Partners effectively with internal service providers to ensure dependency deadlines are met.
Regularly assess the project needs and manage any increase or reduction of staff required in working with the Director, Sponsorship Business Services.
Quality Assurance & Continuous Improvement:Defines and manages criteria for the total quality management of global production services content, to ensure quality assurance processes and enabling systems are embedded as a work priority and philosophy.
Creates, inspires and fosters an ongoing environment and culture for continuous improvement of all production services and processes to occur, bringing both field and market facing stakeholders together to prioritize and agree best improvements.
Defines and produces analytics, measurements and regular reporting that demonstrates quality assurance of global production services.
Evaluates emerging technologies and external services to affirm the integrity of the business case for global sponsor engagement production services, balancing cost and risk management, as well assuring continuous process efficiency and quality improvement.
Leads and designs recommended organizational capability developments with cross-functional partners to ensure continuous process efficiency and feature improvement.
Lead/collaborate with and contribute to continuous improvement and innovation development testing and scaling plans with internal partners (e.g. centralized printing, data digitization).
Vendor Management & Stakeholder Engagement:Leads the selection and management of external vendors and consultants to provide essential outsourced services that are suitable quality, cost effective and timely to meet the overall operational programme plan.
Leads the development and management of internal communications to ensure transparent operational management communications.
Leads and provides proactive engagement and regular reporting with Child Sponsorship Leadership Team.
Participate in internal and external networks as a contributor, learner, and / or collaborator in order to assure strong linkages with interdependent initiatives.
Represents and supports Senior Director, Child Sponsorship Marketing & Engagement where required in leadership team and stakeholder engagements and communications.
Team Leadership, Management & Development:Manage the Sponsor Engagement Global Production Services team, equipping them to effectively deliver on the annual objectives, plans and projects. Regularly assess the staff needs based on production services forecast and manage any increase or reduction of staff required in working with the Senior Director.
Set performance agreements and manage with ongoing review and feedback including adjustments as required.
Support in their development including continual updating of knowledge and skills with industry best practices and analytical/workflow tools.
KNOWLEDGE, SKILLS & ABILITIES:Degree in business administration, operations or related field or extensive equivalent experience.
Demonstrated success in leading production or operations with process or product improvement in a global organization with complex organisational structure/relationships.
Demonstrated expertise in building effective work relationships with both local and dispersed colleagues, and ability to manage and lead horizontally across the organization.
Critical thinking and capability of generating consistently accurate and useful information to inform strategic planning and decisions.
Intermediate to advanced annual strategic and financial planning experience, including monthly reporting against plans, highlighting risks or issues to timelines, budgets and dependencies.
Ability to effectively communicate with many different functions, cultures and levels in the organisation (orally and in writing). Fluency in English.
A broad understanding of non-profit operations and commitment to World Vision´s objectives, ethos, core ministries, Mission Statement and Core Values is mandatory.
Extensive experience in program and operational management of complex end to end processes requiring influence on multiple indirect staff teams.
Extensive international experience in working across cultures and within complex organizational structures.
Project Management certification.
Preferred Skills, Knowledge and Experience:Strong analytical skills, catalyst for improvement and innovation, problem solving involving multiple disciplines.
Broad knowledge of child sponsorship and development programming, preferably with World Vision.
Flexible and willing to travel per World Vision policy.
Work Environment/Travel:The position requires ability and willingness to travel domestically and internationally up to 5% of the time.
