Position Description
Position Title: Vice President of Social Innovations
Location: Preference in one of Mercy Corps US offices
Position Category: Full-time, Regular, exempt
POSITION SUMMARY:
Through extraordinary leadership and vision, the Vice President of Social Innovations (VP SI) will direct the SI team to
identify initiatives, donors, investors, and partners in order to co-create, launch and learn from social innovations – those
enterprises blending methods from the worlds of business and philanthropy to create social value that is sustainable and
having the potential to impact one million within a five year period. The VP SI will have the technical expertise and
intuition necessary to anticipate which development solutions have the potential to scale and be sustained over time, and
the management and leadership skills to bring those solutions – at least one per year - to fruition.
The VP SI will lead and execute a process of introducing external methodologies, insights, lessons, and contacts into
Mercy Corps global programs, while leveraging and building upon internal program opportunities for greater impact and
sustainability. The VP SI will coordinate closely with other members of the SI team, in-country leadership, HQ
executive leadership, technical sector directors and Regional Program Directors in order to inspire excellence in the fieldbased design and implementation of Mercy Corps’ programming. S/he will also work to raise Mercy Corps’ standing and
profile as an entrepreneurial leader, particularly among new philanthropists, corporate partners, and social investors.
PROGRAM SUMMARY:
As an agency working in 40 countries with in-depth expertise and proven track record in a range of technical sectors,
Mercy Corps is well positioned to focus on major field driven opportunities and calls for proposals, particularly in
partnership with institutional donors. Mercy Corps also recognizes that implementing social innovations that extend
beyond traditional funding and partnership models hold unique opportunities to broaden the agency’s impact in the world.
The SI team, led by the VP SI, will establish and drive a strategy with clearly articulated targets that address complex
challenges in targeted communities, and also include a focus on the mega forces defining the global development
landscape - global economic and food insecurity, the burgeoning youth populations, and climate change.
ESSENTIAL JOB FUNCTIONS:
Representation & Partnership Development
 Develop and nurture relations with potential and existing partnerships including social investors, corporate partners,
and new philanthropists in support of program development and investment.
 Identify, document, and communicate the ideas, trends, and emerging capacities that fall in the intersection of Mercy
Corps’ field-based vision and those of interested philanthropists and corporate “base of the pyramid” strategies.
 Represent Mercy Corps at conferences, meetings, and with external stakeholders to advance the agency’s reputation
and positioning as a socially entrepreneurial and innovative agent for sustainable development.
 Mobilize and coordinate agency resources to support the branding of Mercy Corps as an innovator and leader in SI in
fragile and transitioning contexts.
Strategy and Vision
 Lead the strategic design and execution of an internal process for embedding SI methodologies, insights, lessons, and
external contacts across Mercy Corps.
 Expand Mercy Corps’ organization-wide understanding and use of sustainable business models and methods for
scaling solutions that meet the SI criteria.
 Identify and develop social enterprise models and support field driven social enterprise initiatives that blend SI
principles with Mercy Corps’ structure and business model.
 Participate in critical internal gatherings in order to glean new insights and employ methodologies learned from field
teams and technical support units.
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Position Description
Program Development & Delivery
 Create opportunities to implement groundbreaking innovations that enable scalable and sustainable development
solutions to underserved communities living in countries in transition.
 Discern and prioritize those opportunities that will result in at least one million people reached within 5 years and that
will no longer require on-going charitable subsidy.
 Raise investment and grant funding for piloting and rolling out solutions meeting the criteria for a potential social
innovation working with Mercy Corps’ Resource Development and New Initiatives teams.
 Coordinate and direct the support of regional field teams to identify, capture, launch, and implement programming
opportunities in SI, particularly those with information and communication technologies that meet SI criteria.
 Increase the team capacity to identify, evaluate and implement innovations, including review of business models.
Team Management
 Recruit, manage and motivate a skilled, efficient team; incorporate staff development strategies and performance
management systems into the team-building process, encouraging a culture of learning and innovation.
 Manage the work of consultants in the design and execution of social innovations programming, ensuring that
outsourced work is completed on time and within budget.
 Motivate the SI team to establish and exceed clearly defined and articulated targets.
SUPERVISORY RESPONSIBILITY: Social Innovations Team
REPORTS DIRECTLY TO: Senior Vice President of Programs
WORKS DIRECTLY WITH: Regional Program Directors; Country Directors; Resource Development; Technical
Support Units; Chief Information Officer; Legal Counsel and country office teams.
KNOWLEDGE AND EXPERIENCE:
 Demonstrated excellence in managing a fast-paced, distributed team to exceed targeted goals
 Proven experience and success in designing and launching on or more innovative initiatives in a development context.
 Demonstrated success in securing private or venture capital funding in emerging or developing world markets.
 10 years+ of design, implementation and evaluation of development programming with integrating technology
solutions into development programming desirable.
 A BA/S in Finance, Development or Economics; MBA or MA/S preferred.
 Demonstrated leadership in advancing team strategy and stated objectives with diverse teams.
 Excellent representational and partnership development skills.
 Excellent program conceptualization, communication and writing skills.
 Extensive experience living and working overseas and deep understanding of relief and development context.
 Terrific sense of humor and of self.
SUCCESS FACTORS: The VP SI will combine exceptional analytical skills and experience in developing and
maintaining relationships with stakeholders across the social investor and traditional investment community. S/he should
have high creativity and strong social entrepreneurial skills to lead and support new opportunities, partnerships and the
scaling up of proven interventions. S/he will have superior verbal and written communication skills; excellent
facilitation, participatory leadership and solid management skills are also essential. In addition to these qualifications, we
are seeking someone with a positive attitude who is flexible, conscientious, and nearly fearless; someone who thrives in
evolving and quickly changing environments. The most successful Mercy Corps staff members have a strong
commitment to teamwork, impact, and accountability.
LIVING CONDITIONS/ENVIRONMENTAL CONDITIONS: Preference is to be based in one of MC US offices.
Travel is estimated at 30%. Mercy Corps Team members represent the agency both during and outside of work hours
when deployed in a field posting or on a visit/TDY to a field posting.
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