Sesame Workshop is seeking a Senior Education Director, Refugee Programs. The right candidate is a passionate and collaborative individual who will design and manage education-related activities for our new humanitarian initiative to bring early childhood education to Syrian refugees in Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, and Syria, in partnership with the International Rescue Committee. Recently awarded the first-ever MacArthur Foundation 100&Change $100 million grant, the program will be the largest early childhood intervention in the history of humanitarian response. More information on the program is available at www.sesameworkshop.org/refugees.
The Senior Education Director will focus on designing and overseeing the execution of education content for the Mass Media, Home, and Center components of the initiative in collaboration with Sesame Workshop and IRC US and regional teams. The Director will report to the Managing Director, Refugees Programs. The position is based in New York City with 30% international travel.
Responsibilities:
- Lead the development and implementation of the project’s educational framework, curriculum, multimedia learning materials, and other project documents in coordination with partners and advisors to drive towards the project’s educational objectives
- Design and oversee implementation of annual content advisories
- Lead the alignment of curricula, content, and intended project outcomes, working closely with the Content Research Department to support iterative project improvements
- Manage a team to produce and lead educational content, program design, project direction, and new project development responsibilities
- Recruit and manage project consultants, defining their scope of work, managing quality of deliverables, and serving as their liaison with Sesame Workshop, the IRC and research teams
- Monitor, in collaboration with IRC and NYU, that interventions are implemented per design
- Lead response and course-correction for project challenges, applying collaborative, flexible, and practical thinking
- 30% international travel
Qualifications:
- 10-15 years of relevant work experience in media production, designing and delivering early childhood development programs, humanitarian response, and/or educational design
- Arabic language skills required
- Doctoral degree in International Education, International Development, or a related field; or Master’s degree with significant corresponding professional experience
- Willingness to travel to and work in low-resource settings
- Professional experience in designing and delivering early childhood education, parenting programs, and/or related services in low-resource, emergency, and post-emergency settings
- Professional experience working with refugee and displaced populations
- Field experience in the Middle East / North Africa Region required (Levant region a plus)
