Lead - Uninterrupted Education

The Organisation

Plan International is an independent development and humanitarian organisation that advances children’s rights and equality for girls. We believe in the power and potential of every child but know this is often suppressed by poverty, violence, exclusion and discrimination. And it is girls who are most affected.

Working together with children, young people, supporters and partners, we strive for a just world, tackling the root causes of the challenges girls and vulnerable children face. We support children’s rights from birth until they reach adulthood and we enable children to prepare for and respond to crises and adversity. We drive changes in practice and policy at local, national and global levels using our reach, experience and knowledge.

For over 85 years, we have rallied other determined optimists to transform the lives of all children in more than 80 countries.

We won’t stop until we are all equal.

The Opportunity

As our Lead - Education Uninterrupted, you will play a pivotal role in shaping Plan International's global education agenda, ensuring children and young people, especially girls and those facing the greatest barriers, can access quality, inclusive and uninterrupted learning opportunities.

This is an exciting opportunity for a strategic and influential education leader with deep expertise in Education and Early Childhood Development (ECD). You will lead the vision, strategy and evolution of Plan International's Education Uninterrupted Scalable Programme Model (SPM), ensuring it remains evidence-driven, globally relevant and capable of delivering meaningful impact across diverse development, humanitarian and fragile contexts.

Working across Plan International's global federation, you will bring together evidence, innovation, learning and partnership to strengthen programme quality, shape global positioning and influence investment in education. You will be a trusted technical leader, skilled at building consensus, influencing without authority and translating complex evidence into practical solutions that improve outcomes for children and young people worldwide.

The Role

The Lead - Education Uninterrupted provides global thematic leadership for Plan International's Education and Early Childhood Development (ECD) portfolio and strategic leadership for the Education Uninterrupted Scalable Programme Model.

Drawing on global evidence, implementation learning, emerging good practice and the lived experiences of children, young people, educators and communities, you will lead the ongoing development of Plan International's approach to education. You will ensure our programmes remain relevant, innovative and responsive to the realities facing learners across diverse contexts, while positioning Plan International as a leading voice on inclusive, gender-transformative education.

You will work closely with Regional Hubs, Country Offices, National Organisations, Global Affairs, MERL, Fundraising and external partners to strengthen programme quality, generate evidence, influence policy and mobilise resources that support children's right to learn.

Key responsibilities:

• Lead the development and evolution of the Education Uninterrupted Scalable Programme Model, ensuring its vision, ambition, value proposition and programme approach align with Plan International's Global Strategy and organisational priorities.
• Translate global education evidence, programme learning and implementation experience into strategic direction, technical standards, guidance and programme approaches.
• Develop and refine theories of change, pathways to impact and evidence-based programme models that address barriers to learning, including gender, disability, poverty, displacement and language.
• Define and strengthen Plan International's distinctive contribution to education and ECD, articulating a compelling global story of impact and comparative advantage.
• Drive continuous improvement by ensuring learning, evidence and innovation from country programmes inform strategy, programme design, standards and global positioning.
• Provide global technical leadership on inclusive, quality and uninterrupted education across development, humanitarian and fragile settings.
• Champion gender-transformative, rights-based, disability-inclusive and youth-led approaches across education programming.
• Promote innovative education approaches, including digital and technology-enabled learning, flexible learning pathways and youth-centred solutions.
• Lead the development of investment cases, resource mobilisation strategies and donor propositions that strengthen support for education programming.
• Translate programme results, evidence and learning into compelling narratives for fundraising, advocacy, partnerships and external engagement.
• Build and maintain strategic relationships with donors, foundations, multilateral organisations, education networks, academic institutions and civil society partners.
• Represent Plan International in global education and ECD forums, alliances and networks, influencing sector debates and strengthening the organisation's profile and thought leadership.
• Collaborate with Regional Hubs, Country Offices and National Organisations to support quality implementation, scale, adaptation and learning across the federation.
• Work closely with Global Affairs, Fundraising, MERL and technical networks to ensure coherent positioning, evidence generation and knowledge sharing.
• Lead the collection, analysis and interpretation of programme performance, outcomes and learning data, using insights to strengthen programme impact and influence.
• Ensure strong alignment between Education Uninterrupted and broader organisational priorities, including humanitarian response, child protection, SRHR/CSE, gender equality, inclusion and youth economic empowerment.
• Foster collaboration, consensus and shared ownership across a complex federated organisation, driving alignment through technical leadership, influence and partnership.
• Develop strategic briefings, thought leadership products, technical guidance and recommendations for senior leaders and key stakeholders.
• Champion safeguarding, gender equality, inclusion and ethical conduct, ensuring these principles are embedded throughout programme design, implementation and partnerships.

About You

• Significant strategic and technical experience in Education and Early Childhood Development (ECD) programming within international development, humanitarian or related sectors.
• Strong expertise in inclusive, quality education and approaches that prevent and address disruptions to learning.
• Demonstrated experience applying gender-transformative, rights-based and inclusive approaches within education programming.
• Experience working across resource-constrained, fragile, conflict-affected and humanitarian settings.
• Strong understanding of the barriers that prevent children and young people, particularly girls and marginalised groups, from accessing and completing education.
• Experience developing, adapting and scaling programme models, using evidence, monitoring, evaluation and learning to drive continuous improvement.
• Proven ability to translate technical evidence and programme learning into practical guidance, strategic positioning and compelling resource mobilisation narratives.
• Experience shaping strategy and influencing programme direction across multiple countries, regions or global portfolios.
• Strong partnership development experience, including working with donors, foundations, philanthropic organisations, governments, NGOs and other strategic stakeholders.
• Experience contributing to innovative and diversified funding approaches for education programming.
• Excellent leadership, facilitation and communication skills, with the ability to influence and build consensus across complex, matrixed and non-hierarchical organisations.
• Demonstrated ability to work through collaboration, partnership and influence to achieve results.
• Strong analytical, strategic thinking and problem-solving capabilities.
• Outstanding written and verbal communication skills, including experience representing organisations in external forums and high-level discussions.
• Experience engaging with professional networks, technical communities and sector partnerships to advance organisational objectives.

Desirable skills and experience:

• Experience supporting multi-country education programmes or global portfolios.
• Experience representing organisations or influencing policy within the education sector.
• Knowledge of education in emergencies, humanitarian education and digital learning approaches.
• Experience working across development and humanitarian contexts.

Location: The location of this role can be flexible, preferably closer to the point of impact and where Plan International has an office* that can employ on behalf of the Global Hub and you have the pre-existing right to work and live. 

Type of Role: Full-time permanent or maximum fixed term contract as per employing office’s standard terms and conditions. 

Salary: We will be happy to disclose the salary and applicable benefits to applicants as part of this process, however, please kindly note that the salary and employment benefits will be set according to your location and therefore it is not possible to include full details here. Please note this will not be an international contract.

Closing Date: 12th November. Early application is strongly encouraged. We review applications on a rolling basis and reserve the right to close the advert ahead of the advertised closing date.

*Applicable locations may include: Australia, Bangladesh, Belgium, Benin, Bolivia, Brazil, Burkina Faso, Cambodia, Cameroon, Canada, Central African Republic, China, Colombia, Denmark, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Egypt, El Salvador, Ethiopia, Finland, Ghana, Guatemala, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Haiti, Honduras, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Ireland, Japan, Jordan, Kenya, Korea, Laos, Lebanon, Liberia, Malawi, Mali, Mozambique, Myanmar, Nepal, Niger, Nigeria, Norway, Paraguay, Peru, Philippines, Rwanda, Senegal, Sierra Leone, South Sudan, Spain, Sudan, Sweden, Switzerland, Tanzania, Thailand, Timor-Leste, Togo, Uganda, United Kingdom, United States, Vietnam, Zambia, Zimbabwe

Equality, diversity and inclusion is at the very heart of everything that Plan International stands for.

We want Plan International to reflect the diversity of the communities we work with, offering equal opportunities to everyone regardless of age, disability, gender reassignment, marriage and civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion or belief, sex or sexual orientation.

Plan International is based on a culture of inclusivity and we strive to create a workplace environment that ensures every team, in every office, in every country, is rich in diverse people, thoughts, and ideas.

We foster an organisational culture that embraces our commitment to racial justice, gender equality, girls’ rights and inclusion.

Plan International believes that in a world where children face so many threats of harm, it is our duty to ensure that we, as an organisation, do everything we can to keep children safe. This means that we have particular responsibilities to children that we come into contact with and we must not contribute in any way to harming or placing children at risk.

A range of pre-employment checks will be undertaken in conformity with Plan International's Safeguarding Children and Young People policy. Plan International also participates in the Inter Agency Misconduct Disclosure Scheme. In line with this scheme we will request information from applicants previous employers about any findings of sexual exploitation, sexual abuse and/or sexual harassment during employment, or incidents under investigation when the applicant left employment. By submitting an application, the job applicant confirms their understanding of these recruitment procedures.

Please note that Plan International will never send unsolicited emails requesting payment from candidates.