Head of Programmes CARE Ukraine Greater Kyiv, Ukraine Area

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Contract Start Date: early 2027, no later than 1 March, 2027

Contract Duration: 1 year

Duty Station: Kyiv (Ukraine) with possible travel to Dnipro and Lviv area offices

As a member of the Senior Management Team, reporting directly to the Country Director, the Head of Programmes leads the development and implementation of high-quality programmes in Ukraine, ensuring delivery against scope, time and budget, and overseeing quality management and impact across the portfolio. The role line-manages the Programme Implementation Lead, Technical Advisors and Coordinators, and MEAL Coordinator, while ensuring close cross-departmental coordination. It places particular emphasis on programme quality and strengthening partners’ technical capacities in relevant sectors. Working closely with the Country Director, Programme Development Lead, Partnership Coordinator, Advocacy Advisor and department heads, the Head of Programmes contributes to strategic direction, programme implementation and partnership development.

Objective

Your mission

Overall Programme Implementation and Quality

Provide inclusive and cohesive leadership to CARE Ukraine’s programme teams, ensuring coordinated, high-quality implementation in line with the Country Strategy.

Maintain a strong understanding of Ukraine’s social, political and economic context, initiating assessments to identify emerging needs and opportunities for programme expansion.

Ensure projects are delivered on scope, time and budget, with day-to-day oversight delegated to the Program Implementation Lead and technical guidance provided by relevant teams.

Regularly review programme priorities against the Country Strategy, adapting them based on contextual changes, evidence, learning and priorities identified with partners.

Ensure effective coordination between programme implementation, technical teams, MEAL and Program Development to address challenges, strengthen cross-sector integration and inform new initiatives.

Oversee strategic programmes and initiatives, ensuring their contribution to CARE Ukraine’s long-term objectives.

Mainstream gender equality, protection and inclusion across all programmes, ensuring consistent application of CARE’s programme quality standards.

Lead regular programme review meetings covering progress, quality, risks and monitoring findings, ensuring follow-up on agreed actions.

Resolve operational bottlenecks between the Programme Department and other Country and Area Office departments.

Oversight and Management of Programme Implementation and Budget

In collaboration with the SMT, define and oversee an effective, efficient and sustainable programme implementation model, clarifying the roles of CARE and its partners and ensuring appropriate SOPs and systems are in place.

Support the Partnership Coordinator in overseeing partner due diligence, capacity development plans and partnership agreements, ensuring compliance with CARE requirements, including PSEA.

Ensure effective use and follow-up of project management tools, including Detailed Implementation Plans, MEAL Plans and monitoring reports, through the Program Implementation Lead and MEAL Coordinator.

Ensure programmes are responsive to communities, particularly women and girls, and comply with CARE’s principles, values, strategic plans and CI procedures.

Act as overall budget holder for all programmes, delegating day-to-day budget management to the Program Implementation Lead while retaining accountability for expenditure and donor compliance.

Oversee financial forecasting, expenditure monitoring and corrective actions, ensuring budget risks and variances are addressed and resources are aligned with programme priorities, in coordination with Finance and Operations.

Provide direction on significant budget adjustments and resource allocation, and directly oversee specific grants where required.

Programme Quality, Technical Support and Learning

Maintain and adapt CARE Ukraine’s programme quality framework in line with CARE International and humanitarian standards, including the Core Humanitarian Standard.

Guide technical leads in ensuring compliance with minimum technical standards and consistent application of appropriate tools, guidelines and SOPs, providing the necessary support to Programme Managers and partners.

Promote coherent and integrated technical approaches across sectors, particularly regarding gender equality, protection and inclusion.

Lead regular programme quality reviews with technical teams, MEAL and the Program Implementation Lead, ensuring gaps, risks and improvement actions are identified and addressed.

Oversee MEAL and information management systems through the MEAL Coordinator, ensuring reliable and timely evidence on programme quality and outcomes and addressing significant system and capacity gaps.

Set priorities for needs assessments, evaluations, external monitoring and research, ensuring their quality and relevance to programme effectiveness and changing needs.

Lead the development of a research and learning agenda with MEAL and technical teams, ensuring evidence, implementation experience and good practices inform technical approaches and programme adaptation.

Ensure learning and recommendations are shared with CARE teams and partners, translated into improvements and reflected in programme strategy.

Oversee CARE Ukraine’s accountability mechanism, ensuring community feedback informs programme reviews and adaptations in line with CARE standards.

Ensure partner capacity strengthening addresses identified quality gaps and its effectiveness is regularly reviewed with technical leads and the Partnership Unit.

Business Development

Support the Country Director in developing and adapting the funding strategy, diversifying donor engagement in line with CARE Ukraine’s Country Strategy.

Coordinate technical inputs to new programmes, proposals and reports with the Program Development Lead, Program Implementation Lead, technical teams and MEAL Coordinator, ensuring alignment with strategic priorities and quality standards.

Ensure programme design builds on contextual analysis, monitoring findings, lessons learned and priorities identified with communities and partners.

Promote the meaningful participation of partners and communities in programme design, including the development of logical frameworks, activities and budgets, ensuring proposals address identified needs and include appropriate MEAL components and resources.

Representation and Networking

Establish and maintain effective working relationships with strategic and implementing partners and peer organisations.

Maintain strong links across CARE International and its membership to mobilise technical expertise and resources in support of the Country Strategy.

Engage with UN agencies, humanitarian clusters and sector working groups to inform strategic priorities and operational planning, share programme evidence and learning, and fulfil CARE’s coordination commitments, including co-leadership responsibilities.

Provide programme evidence and technical input to advocacy and communications strategies, working closely with the Advocacy Advisor and Communications Coordinator to promote the visibility and uptake of programme learning.

Team Management and Coordination

Manage the performance and development of direct reports in line with CARE policies, providing coaching, mentoring and training to strengthen leadership and team effectiveness.

Oversee recruitment, training and promotion of programme staff, ensuring that key functions are adequately staffed.

Foster a collaborative and respectful team environment, promoting staff resilience and well-being in challenging contexts.

Identify staff capacity development needs in collaboration with Human Resources.

Supervise managers and technical leads, ensuring coordinated implementation of workplans and budgets.

Lead safeguarding prevention and response across CARE Ukraine’s workplaces, programmes and communities, ensuring compliance with CARE standards and policies on PSEA-CP, Gender Equality and CARE Performance Standards, in coordination with the CARE DE Safeguarding Focal Point and CARE Ukraine HR Manager.

Your profile

Essential

Experience and Technical Expertise

At least 7 years’ experience in humanitarian and/or development work with national or international NGOs, including 5 years in senior management roles and significant field operations experience.

At least 2 years’ experience living and working in an emergency or conflict setting.

Master’s degree in Development Studies, Social Sciences or a relevant discipline.

Good understanding of at least one of CARE’s key programme sectors (Protection, WASH/Shelter, SRH or Livelihoods).

Strong knowledge of international humanitarian and development systems, institutions and donors.

Proven project management skills, including knowledge of accountability frameworks and substantial experience in financial and budgetary management.

Demonstrated expertise in gender equality and gender-transformative programming.

Sound understanding of MEAL systems and experience using data, evidence and learning to assess programme quality, adapt implementation and inform programme design.

Experience in partnership-based approaches, civil society development and strengthening the capacity of local partner organisations.

Leadership and Management Skills

Proven ability to lead, motivate and develop teams through coaching, mentoring and capacity building, including cross-functional teams.

Strong results orientation, with the ability to challenge existing approaches and drive improvements.

Excellent analytical and strategic thinking skills, including the ability to assess information, evaluate options and plan effectively.

Excellent interpersonal, communication, presentation, negotiation and influencing skills.

Fluency in written and spoken English.

Ability and willingness to work flexible hours and operate in environments with security restrictions.

Strong commitment to CARE’s mission, values and principles.

High levels of political and cultural sensitivity, patience, tact and diplomacy.

Strong sense of responsibility, integrity and trustworthiness.

Desirable

Significant experience designing and supporting partner-led programmes.

Strong and up-to-date knowledge of the humanitarian context in Ukraine.

Knowledge of Ukrainian and/or other relevant regional languages.

Experience in training and capacity development.

Proven representation and networking skills, including the ability to represent CARE effectively in external forums.

Requirements

Why us?

CARE Ukraine is a country office which comes under the management of CARE Germany. It has been operating in Ukraine since March 2022.

CARE prioritizes a locally led response and is partnering primarily with Civil-Society Organizations (CSOs), National NGOs, local authorities, and when needed, INGOs with a longstanding presence in the country and access to hard-to-reach areas. CARE Ukraine deliberately and strategically prioritizes partnerships with local and national Women Led and Women Rights organizations (WLO’s/ WRO’s), in accordance with Gender in Emergencies (GiE) principles.

CARE Ukraine’s FY25 portfolio was approx. EUR 13 million, funded by GFFO/ BMZ, ECHO, DANIDA, Czech MOFA, ADA (Austrian Development Agency), AFD (Agence Francaise de Developpement), LDS (Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints) and others. We implement primarily humanitarian programs, in the protection/ GBV, SRH, integrated humanitarian response and WASH/ shelter sectors. Some 10-15% of our programs are recovery/ response, primarily in livelihoods, WASH and womens empowerment sectors. The focus of most programming is the frontline oblasts of Kharkiv, Donetsk, Zaporizhzhia, Kherson, Mykolaiv, and Dnipropetrovsk oblast. We also have some programming in Odesa. The country office is in Kyiv, with a support office in Lviv and field offices in Dnipro and Kharkiv. We plan to phase out the Lviv support office in the second half of 2026.

CARE Ukraine currently partners with 12 local/national organizations, almost all of which are WLO’s/WRO’s. We channel some 80% of our funding through local/national partners. Through the activities that have been implemented so far, CARE Ukraine has been able to reach over 750,000 people, including IDPs and affected populations in hard-to-reach areas.

General information

CARE values equal opportunities and diversity. We do not discriminate based on race, religion, colour, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, age, marital status or disability.

Accountability within CARE

A commitment to CARE values and CARE’s integrity framework is critical to working with CARE. Any candidate offered a job with CARE will be expected to adhere to the following key areas of accountability:

• Comply with CARE’s policies and procedures with respect to safeguarding, code of conduct, health and safety, confidentiality, do no harm principles and unacceptable behavior protocols.
• Report any concerns about the welfare of a child or vulnerable adult or any wrongdoings within our programming area.
• Report any concerns about inappropriate behavior of a CARE staff or partner.

Safeguarding

Children and vulnerable adults who come into contact with CARE as a result of our activities must be safeguarded to the maximum possible extent from deliberate or inadvertent actions and failings that place them at risk of abuse, sexual exploitation, injury, and any other harm. One of the ways that CARE shows this on-going commitment to safeguarding is to include rigorous background and reference checks in the selection process for all candidates.

Gender equality

CARE is committed to meeting the standards of the CARE International Gender Policy (2019). Through this policy, CARE seeks to promote the equal realization of dignity and human rights for girls, women, boys and men in all diversities, and the elimination of poverty and injustice. Specifically, this policy seeks to improve the explicit incorporation of gender in programmatic and organizational practices.

Our offer

Competitive salary

Housing allowance

Risk allowance

Relocation package

Vacation according to the country office policies, plus additional days off on public holidays

Generous R&R policy

24/7 group accident insurance

Health insurance

Coverage of relevant training and development opportunities

We are looking for highly motivated team members who identify with CARE’s goals and values. We offer a varied role with numerous employee benefits within a supportive, international team.

Interested? Then please apply by sending us your CV (in pdf format max. 4 pages), a cover letter and your letters of reference in English by November 30, 2026.

Your contact person is Ditha Pahnke.

About us

About CARE Germany

Founded in 1980 and based in Bonn, CARE Germany is a member of the CARE International confederation—a global humanitarian network dedicated to fighting poverty and delivering life-saving aid in times of crisis. We work with communities to promote sustainable development, gender equality, and resilience, addressing the world’s most pressing challenges from climate change to conflict-driven displacement.

At CARE Germany, our staff are the cornerstone of our humanitarian efforts. Committed to the principles of CARE International and working tirelessly to uplift disadvantaged communities worldwide. Whether based in our headquarters or in our Country Offices in the Balkans, Ukraine, Iraq, or Libya, each team member plays a vital role in delivering aid, supporting long-term recovery, and advocating for those most in need. Regardless of their role, all staff contribute to a collective mission—one rooted in solidarity, compassion, and impactful action.