Director of Field Programs

SUMMARY/OBJECTIVE

Reporting to the Senior Director of Global Field Operations, the Director of Field Programs leads GCR's global field presence, partner relationship management, field intelligence, and on-the-ground verification support, across all regions served. This role directs GCR's Field Partnership Managers and, through them, the growing network of International Field Representatives (IFRs), building the operational structure needed to keep pace with rapid partner growth. The Director of Global Programs partners closely with the Director of Strategy and Operations to ensure field execution and strategic/systems oversight function as one connected system.

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES

This role is responsible for the following duties, but is not limited to:

• Lead and directly manage GCR's Field Partnership Managers (FPMs), while maintaining overall oversight of the broader field team, including the International Field Representative (IFR) network aligned regionally under each FPM.
• Build out GCR's field intelligence capability as an integrated part of the field team's work, expanding regional IFR coverage and ensuring political, security, and persecution-trend intelligence gathered in the field reaches executive leadership in a timely, organized way.
• Lead the identification, vetting, and cultivation of new partners aligned with GCR's mission and strategic direction, working through FPMs and IFRs to source and evaluate potential partners in the field, and ensure a smooth transition into ongoing relationship management once a partner is approved and onboarded.
• Ensure FPMs manage the full partner-facing grant lifecycle for their assigned portfolio, proposal review, budget evaluation, disbursement scheduling, compliance monitoring, and standardized execution of Master Grant Agreements and Letters of Intent, consistent with standards set by the Director of Strategy and Operations.
• Ensure each FPM effectively manages their regionally-aligned IFRs, day-to-day direction, task assignment, and logistics such as stipends, expenses, and travel, while retaining overall program-level oversight of IFR capacity, coverage, and performance across all regions.
• Partner with the Impact & Measurement team to ensure the Partner Impact Review (PIR) process is properly resourced and executed, IFRs and FPMs collect and submit field data; Impact & Measurement leads formal determination.
• Guide FPM input into partner selection and portfolio funding allocation recommendations, ensuring they are well-supported and feed properly into GCR's bi-annual partner review.
• Ensure IFR-gathered stories, photos, and field content meet GCR's standards for accuracy and security, and are delivered to the Communications team in a timely, organized manner.
• Own the direct escalation channel for safety, security, and safeguarding concerns arising from the field, ensuring rapid notification and response consistent with GCR's compliance and crisis management policies.
• Participate in GCR's bi-annual partner review, bringing field-level relationship context and regional insight to partner growth, hold, or removal decisions.
• Determine optimal team structure for the field function as it scales and lead hiring, training, and professional development for FPMs, ensuring FPMs do the same for their IFRs.
• Represent field operations in cross-departmental planning, providing field intelligence and regional context to organizational strategy and Theory of Change discussions.
• Own travel coordination and planning for the field team's international travel, including FPMs, IFRs, and supporting staff, and lead logistics for recurring donor and influencer field trips.
• Travel internationally to build and maintain relationships with partners, FPMs, and IFRs, including extended field visits as needed.
• Additional duties as assigned.

REQUIREMENTS

• Personal qualities of integrity, credibility, and unwavering commitment to Global Christian Relief's mission; a relational, field-tested leader comfortable operating across cultures and contexts.
• Significant international field experience, ideally within relief, missions, or international development work.
• Demonstrated ability to lead and develop distributed, cross-cultural teams, including remote and subcontracted personnel.
• Comfortable operating with a high degree of autonomy in ambiguous, fast-changing international environments; sound judgment under pressure, including in security-sensitive contexts.
• Excellent interpersonal, communication, and coaching skills, with a demonstrated ability to build trust with partners and field personnel.
• Strong project management skills with the ability to balance multiple regions, priorities, and initiatives simultaneously.
• Fluency in oral and written English required; additional languages strongly preferred.
• Ability to collaborate cross-functionally and work in a fast-paced, results-oriented environment.
• Passion for the mission of supporting persecuted Christians.

REQUIRED EDUCATION AND EXPERIENCE

• Bachelor's degree in a relevant field; advanced degree a plus.
• Minimum of eight years of experience in international field operations, missions, or nonprofit program management, including direct team leadership experience.

SUPERVISORY RESPONSIBILITY

This position will have direct reports, limited to Field Partnership Managers (FPMs). Each FPM directly manages their regionally aligned International Field Representatives (IFRs); this role retains overall program-level oversight of the full field team, including IFR capacity, coverage, and performance.

WORK ENVIRONMENT

This job operates in a home office environment. This role routinely uses standard office equipment such as computers, phones, and photocopiers.

The remote work culture at Global Christian Relief emphasizes flexibility, autonomy, and mutual trust. Employees manage their own schedules and workspace, relying on digital collaboration tools—including video conferencing, messaging platforms, and cloud-based applications—to stay connected. Clear communication, self-discipline, and effective time management are essential to balancing professional responsibilities with personal life. Employees are expected to remain responsive, meet deadlines consistently, and actively participate in virtual meetings and discussions, maintaining high productivity without direct oversight. Transparency, accountability, and mutual respect underpin our successful remote teams, ensuring a cohesive, efficient work environment despite physical distance.

PHYSICAL DEMANDS

Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions. The physical demands described here are representative of those that must be met by an employee to successfully perform the essential functions of this job.

While performing the duties of this job, the employee is regularly required to speak clearly so others can understand and understand the speech of another person. The employee is frequently required to sit for long extended periods of time; to stand; to alternate sitting or standing at will, to walk; to use hands to handle, feel or control objects or controls; to repeat the same movements and to reach with hands and arms. Specific vision abilities required by this job include close vision, distance vision, color vision, peripheral vision, depth perception and ability to adjust focus.

This job requires travel by car, train, airplane or other vehicles to more than one site. This travel requires the ability to walk, stand, lift and carry materials up to 50 lbs.; to push and pull; and to stoop, kneel and bend at the waist inside and outside in heat/cold, wet/humid, and dry/arid conditions.

This job requires being able to lift lightweight objects (1 to 10 pounds) with no repetitive bending, stooping or reaching overhead.

POSITION TYPE/EXPECTED HOURS OF WORK

This is a full-time position and hours of work and days of work are generally Monday through Friday, 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. However, evening and weekend work may be required as job duties demand.

TRAVEL

Frequent international travel required for this position — approximately 50 days annually (15–20%).

ADDITIONAL ELIGIBILITY QUALIFICATIONS FOR THE MINISTRY

• Must be a Christ-follower with the passion to serve persecuted Christians and advance the Gospel around the world.
• Must agree to Statement of Faith and Core Values.
• Must act with Christ-centered behavior, treating people with dignity, respect, compassion and integrity.
• Must agree to participate within the GCR community, which includes devotions, prayer, and opportunities to share about persecuted Christians in your personal and ministry networks.