Senior Project Lead - Cost Optimization Initiative

Save the Children

WE BELIEVE EVERY CHILD DESERVES A FUTURE.


Around the world, too many children start life at a disadvantage simply because of who they are and where they come from.

Millions of children are dying from preventable causes, face poverty, violence, disease and hunger. They are caught up in war zones and disasters they did nothing to create. And they are denied an education and other basic rights owed to them.

All children deserve better.

We champion the rights and interests of children worldwide, putting the most vulnerable children first.

With 25,000 dedicated staff across 117 countries, we respond to major emergencies, deliver innovative development programmes, and ensure children's voices are heard through our campaigning to build a better future for and with children.

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https://www.savethechildren.net

Senior Project Lead - Cost Optimization Initiative

  • enterprise-wide efficiency opportunities across all support functions and organisational levels. 
  • Drive Cost Optimisation and Benefits Realisation: Establish cost baselines, analyse current and future state, and ensure delivery, tracking, validation, and sustainability of efficiency benefits and cost savings including structured reporting to senior stakeholders.
  • Enhance efficiency in Service Delivery: Identify opportunities to simplify, standardise, and optimise service delivery models and levels of effort across functions and geographies.
  • Lead Programme Governance and Delivery: Establish programme governance structures, oversee workstreams, manage dependencies, and ensure timely delivery of agreed milestones and outcomes.
  • Influence and Engage Senior Stakeholders: Facilitate alignment, decision-making, and collaboration across senior stakeholders, functions, and geographies to support successful delivery.
  • Leverage AI, Digital Solutions, and Analytics: Promote the use of AI, automation, analytics, and digital technologies to improve operational efficiency, decision-making, and organisational effectiveness.
  • Manage Programme Risks and Organisational Change: Proactively manage programme risks, issues, and organisational impacts while ensuring effective change management and adoption of new ways of working.
  • Embed a Culture of Continuous Improvement: Foster innovation, accountability, and continuous improvement, ensuring efficiency initiatives are embedded into long-term organisational practices and governance.

 Experience and Skills

  • Essential
  • An extensive track record of leading large-scale organisational transformation, organisational redesign, and enterprise-wide change programmes within complex global organisations.
  • Significant experience operating within complex INGOs, federated organisations, multinational matrix environments, or similarly complex stakeholder structures.
  • A proven ability to design and implement enterprise-wide organisational redesign initiatives across both programmatic and support functions, including operating model transformation and service delivery redesign.
  • A proven ability to apply excellent analytical and problem-solving skills, and to work collaboratively to deliver of effective solutions to project related issues. This will include taking on hands on analysis activities to support the wider team as required
  • Extensive experience engaging, influencing, and building alignment among Executive Leadership Teams, Global Functional Leaders, Country Directors, Member organisations, and senior stakeholders across multiple geographies.
  • A proven ability to lead and influence in highly ambiguous, politically sensitive, and rapidly changing environments, including influencing stakeholders without direct authority.
  • Strong knowledge and practical experience of operating model design, shared services, process harmonisation, workforce and level-of-effort optimisation, finance transformation, and organisational effectiveness initiatives.
  • Exceptional executive communication, presentation, and stakeholder management capability.
  • Experience leveraging AI, automation, analytics, and digital transformation approaches to improve organizational performance.

Desirable

  • Experience leading global transformation programs exceeding USD 100M operational scope.
  • Experience working across both headquarters/global teams and decentralized country operations.
  • Experience supporting ERP transformation Initiatives.
  • Experience in Lean Six Sigma, continuous improvement, or operational excellence methodologies.
  • Exposure to enterprise analytics, AI-enabled transformation, or intelligent automation initiatives.

Education and Qualifications 
Essential

  • Master’s degree in business administration, Finance, Organizational Development, Strategy, Operations, Management, or related field.

Desirable

  • Professional certification in Programme Management, Change Management, Lean Six Sigma, Organizational Design, or related discipline is strongly preferred.

Method of application

If you are interested and qualified, kindly submit your application via the link provided below,

https://www.savethechildren.net/careers/apply/details?jid=17040&utm_source=Jobinkenya

Deadline  3 Aug 2026 - 23:59

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