About Catholic Relief Services

Catholic Relief Services (CRS) is the official international humanitarian agency of the Catholic community in the United States. The organization works in more than 100 countries to save, protect, and transform the lives of people affected by poverty, emergencies, and other vulnerabilities.

CRS has operated in Uganda since 1965 and currently serves more than one million vulnerable Ugandans and refugees each year. Its Uganda programming focuses on Climate Change Adaptation and Mitigation, Market Systems Development, and Emergency Response and Preparedness, working through partnerships with government institutions, NGOs, the Catholic Church, and community organizations.

Job Summary

The Project Director will provide overall leadership and management of a child development, care, and protection project in Uganda.

The position is responsible for ensuring effective project systems, high-quality programming, donor compliance, partnership management, and coordination with government and consortium partners.

The Project Director will provide strategic and operational leadership throughout the project lifecycle, while managing senior staff, project resources, risks, security, and relationships with key stakeholders.

Key Responsibilities

Relationship Management

• Serve as the primary relationship manager and representative with key in-country stakeholders.
• Engage with the Ministry of Health (MoH), Ministry of Gender, Labour and Social Development (MGLSD), foreign governments, civil society organizations, faith-based organizations, and community networks.
• Identify, assess, and strengthen strategic project partnerships.
• Apply CRS partnership principles, tools, approaches, and strategies when managing partner relationships.
• Maintain strong relationships with government and other strategic stakeholders at national and sub-national levels.

Project Management

• Lead the development, implementation, and consolidation of the project in Uganda.
• Provide management, guidance, and technical oversight throughout the project lifecycle.
• Ensure project design, start-up, implementation, and close-out comply with:
  • CRS quality standards
  • Donor requirements
  • Industry best practices
• Coordinate project processes and activities with the global project team.
• Establish an environment where staff can openly share ideas, challenges, and solutions.
• Ensure project deficiencies are identified, analyzed, and addressed promptly.

Staff Leadership & Supervision

• Oversee staffing plans and recruitment of senior project personnel.
• Manage senior programming and operations staff.
• Ensure effective coordination between programme and operations teams.
• Promote staff wellbeing and effective team dynamics.
• Coach and mentor senior staff.
• Develop individual staff development plans.
• Conduct performance assessments for direct reports.
• Monitor national and regional developments that could affect staff or programme implementation.
• Ensure all staff understand and comply with CRS safety and security policies.

Programme Quality

• Oversee technical assistance and capacity-strengthening initiatives for project staff and partner organizations.
• Ensure project activities are designed and implemented to achieve donor expectations for quality, timeliness, and budget performance.
• Develop appropriate phase-out and sustainability strategies.
• Ensure compliance with CRS programme quality standards and MEAL policies and procedures.

Programme Learning & Knowledge Management

• Lead programme learning initiatives.
• Document and communicate how the project contributes to sector knowledge and thought leadership.
• Identify opportunities for research, learning, and publication.
• Facilitate dissemination of promising practices and lessons learned.
• Promote knowledge management and adoption of innovative approaches and best practices.

Financial Stewardship & Compliance

• Promote responsible and efficient use of CRS and donor resources.
• Ensure compliance with donor rules and regulations.
• Monitor financial performance and partner budgets.
• Oversee partner finances, milestones, administration, and reporting.
• Approve programme expenditures and budget adjustments within delegated authority.
• Support cost modification requests submitted to donors.

Communications

• Oversee development of project communication strategies and materials.
• Ensure communications comply with donor requirements and CRS branding and marketing procedures.

Qualifications

Basic Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in:
  • Health-related field
  • International Development
  • International Relations
  • A related discipline
• Minimum 8 years of relevant management and health technical experience.
• At least 5 years of experience managing donor funds, including multi-country grants.
• Strong experience in budget management.
• At least 2 years of experience managing staff and creating a learning-oriented work environment.
• Experience coaching and developing senior programme staff.

Preferred Qualifications

• Master’s or Doctorate degree in:
  • Social Work
  • Education
  • Health
  • A related field
• Recognized sector leadership demonstrated through publications, conference presentations, or similar professional contributions.
• Experience engaging government and other partners at national and sub-national levels.
• Knowledge of the CRS partnership strategy.

Knowledge, Skills & Abilities

• Strong understanding of health-sector service delivery systems.
• Knowledge of primary healthcare and national health strategies.
• Understanding of the roles of government, civil society, and faith-based organizations in health and development.
• Excellent relationship-management and stakeholder-engagement skills.
• Ability to manage strategic partnerships at senior levels.
• Proven experience leading and coaching diverse, multidisciplinary teams.
• Strong strategic thinking and analytical skills.
• Strong systems-thinking and problem-solving abilities.
• Sound judgment and decision-making skills.
• Excellent written, verbal, communication, and presentation skills.
• Ability to develop persuasive and audience-specific messaging.
• Proficiency in Microsoft Office applications, including:
  • Excel
  • Word
  • PowerPoint
  • Visio
• Experience with web-conferencing applications.
• Experience with information and budget management systems.

Language Requirements

Strong written and spoken English is required.

Travel

The successful candidate must be willing and able to travel up to 30% of the time to project locations and field offices outside Kampala.

CRS Core Competencies

CRS expects all staff to demonstrate the following competencies:

• Personal Accountability: Takes responsibility for their actions and decisions.
• Acts with Integrity: Demonstrates honesty and behavior aligned with CRS values and guiding principles.
• Builds and Maintains Trust: Maintains consistency between commitments, words, and actions.
• Collaborates with Others: Works effectively with people from diverse cultural and professional backgrounds.
• Open to Learning: Seeks experiences and perspectives that encourage learning and growth.

Leadership Competencies

• Lead Change: Promotes agility, innovation, openness, and continuous improvement.
• Develops and Recognizes Others: Builds staff capacity and supports individuals to achieve their potential.
• Strategic Mindset: Translates and communicates organizational strategy into practical team priorities and actions.

Key Working Relationships

Supervises:

• Senior Project Officer
• Senior MEAL Officer
• Grants & Compliance Officer

Internal Stakeholders:

• Head of Programming
• Program Managers
• MEAL Manager
• Partnership Capacity Strengthening Program Manager
• Operations teams

External Stakeholders:

• Donors
• Government representatives
• Local partners
• Peer agencies
• Other project stakeholders

Application Information

Deadline: 31 August 2026 at 5:00 PM

The position is open to Ugandan nationals only.

Only shortlisted candidates will be contacted.

CRS is an equal opportunity employer and encourages qualified applicants, including people from marginalized backgrounds and people with disabilities, to apply.

Important: This recruitment is being conducted in anticipation of a project award. Appointment of candidates is therefore contingent upon CRS successfully receiving the award.