US Program Director, Emergency Cash

About this role

GiveDirectly has delivered more than $1B in cash directly to 2+ million people living in poverty across 15 countries since 2011. We believe cash transfers are one of the most scalable, cost-effective, and dignified forms of aid, with the research to back it up. Our work has been covered by The Economist , NPR , TED , and The Washington Post . We are one of Time100’s Most Influential Companies of 2026.

Our culture is candid, analytical, and non-hierarchical. We support high ownership and real professional growth. Curious about what it's really like to work here? Read our values and hear from the people who do . If they resonate, this could be a great fit!

We are proud to be an equal opportunity employer, and we do not discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, gender, sexual orientation, national origin, age, disability, veteran status, or any other status protected by law.

Location: This role is fully remote but will regularly work on East Coast hours. We are unable to sponsor or take over sponsorship of employment Visas in the U.S. or U.K. at this time.

About this role

As a Program Director leading U.S. Emergency Cash responses, you will expand our emergency responses capabilities, partnerships, and ambition. This role drives program implementation and in-the-moment partnerships for fast, dignified disaster responses (like our 2025 Los Angeles Wildfires and SNAP pause responses).

GiveDirectly’s emergency responses are technology-enabled, with in-house and partnership tools like satellite-powered damage assessments, anticipatory aid to support before a disaster strikes and AI-supported targeting. You’ll bring a product & technology-driven approach to scale build and scale these systems responsibly.

You will oversee improving and scaling up GiveDirectly’s ability to immediately respond to major disasters in the United States by leading key operational and technical improvements, pursuing and closing new partnerships, and managing and growing a team of dedicated and surge staff.

Other responsibilities include new business development and wider U.S. portfolio responsibilities, like supporting staffing and budgeting exercises and maintaining close collaboration with GiveDirectly’s global emergency response teams.

You are highly organized, have an excellent command of implementation and technical tools, and are able to spot and close promising opportunities at the speed at which disasters strike.

In 2025, we delivered more than $20M in cash transfers across four disaster events and expect to grow this number considerably in the coming years.

Reports to: U.S. Executive Director

Travel Requirement: Must be able to travel approximately 3-5 times per year for team retreats, convenings, or programs visits. While we have a remote-driven emergency response model, disaster deployments on short notice are possible depending on situational needs.

Responsibilities

The Program Director should:

• Bring a high level of ambition, vision-setting, and follow through to scale up this work

• Understand and clearly communicate how GiveDirectly’s unique capacities, track record, and value proposition fit into the market/landscape

• Build and motivate teams and advocate for resources to sustain them (through proposals, budgets, workplans)

• With the leadership, partnerships, and communications teams, identify donors and set strategies for acquisition and management

• Oversee excellence in design and implementation, with a constant drive to improve, iterate, and learn

• Spot and evaluate technologies that can scale, and drive smart implementation of those tools within our wider delivery toolkit

Program design and implementation

• Oversee end-to-end design, planning, and improvements to U.S. disaster response capabilities, and identify, coordinate, and align external and internal stakeholders to ensure successful end-to-end execution

• Identify and operationalize new geographic and damage targeting tools

• Scope, develop operational process, and execute partnership agreements with 3rd-party platforms or governments to target pre-verified populations of low income households

• Oversee the design and execution of disaster response programs, including assessing trade-offs and risks of different design decisions (e.g. targeting, payments, customer service) and supporting a wider team to make day-to-day operational decisions

• Conduct operational diligence, feasibility, and risk assessments (including go/no-gos) for individual disaster responses

• Support goal-setting and programmatic prioritization by drafting and driving towards goals independently

• Oversee/ensure high quality management of partners, vendors, subgrantees, subcontractors, and other internal and external stakeholders to support implementation

• Assess project resource needs and drive the development of resource requests (funder budgets, internal staffing proposals) to ensure projects are resourced for success; monitor resource utilization (e.g. manage and monitor budgets), assessing areas of over and underinvestment

Team management and talent development

• Build team to enable GD to respond to all major disasters; maintain high standards for end-to-end talent development (hiring, performance management, offboarding, etc)

• Manage Senior & Program Managers, and support them to manage field teams (including full-time, part-time, and temporary staff)

• Work with direct reports to identify pathways for growth and development, with ultimate responsibility for retaining and developing more junior team members

New business, partnerships, and thought leadership

• In coordination with the U.S. Executive Director, U.S. partnerships manager, and broader fundraising teams, identify and pursue fundraising opportunities for individual disaster responses and general disaster funding, supporting end-to-end deal cycle from scoping/feasibility to diligence, contracting, and close of sale

• Establish and maintain high quality r

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