Director of Programme Operations

Salary: (UK) £62,355 plus benefits (Our pay philosophy ensures consistency across locations and salaries. The starting salary for this opportunity plus benefits depends on location of the candidate).

The role:

We are recruiting for a values-driven leader to join Mary’s Meals International (MMI) as Director of Programme Operations. Reporting to our Chief Programmes Officer, you will provide strategic leadership to our global programme delivery and logistics functions, ensuring our school feeding model is implemented effectively, efficiently, and at scale.

You will lead the development of resilient operational systems, processes, and tools that support quality, efficiency, and growth, translating strategic goals into operational reality. You will ensure our programmes are aligned, scalable, and consistently delivering on our promise to the children we serve — even in the face of challenges. As a key member of the Programmes Leadership Team, you will contribute to cross organisational strategy and lead on operational improvements to enable our vision.

You will:

• Design and deliver our global programme operations strategy, ensuring alignment with Mary’s Meals’ overall vision.
• Lead transformational operational projects across diverse programme contexts, demonstrating a strong solutions focus with an agile approach to managing challenges in complex contexts
• Oversee the refinement and implementation of our school feeding delivery model, global standards, and SOPs.
• Drive operational excellence through innovation, quality improvement, and cost-effectiveness.
• Oversee global programme delivery functions including food procurement, logistics, fleet, and kitchen construction.
• Build operational resilience to ensure continuity of daily meals in challenging contexts.
• Provide leadership, coaching, and capacity building to our operations teams, fostering accountability and empowerment.
• Represent Mary’s Meals externally, as a key member of the programmes team and the wider Mary’s Meals network.

About you:

An experienced operations leader with extensive senior-level experience in international programme operations and logistics, you will have a proven record of delivering large-scale operational transformation, designing and improving delivery models, and leading diverse teams.

With strong analytical skills and a data-driven approach, you make sound decisions in complex environments and manage change effectively. You are a skilled communicator and collaborator who excels in building capacity, strengthening systems, and aligning cross-functional teams. Knowledge of school feeding, humanitarian logistics, or similar sectors, and experience managing operations in emergency or fragile settings, would be advantageous but not essential.

About us:

Mary’s Meals is a global movement supported by people from all walks of life and we are focused on one goal – that every child receives a nutritious daily meal in a place of education. We continue to change the lives of over 2.6 million children who today will receive Mary’s Meals.

We believe in the innate goodness of people, respect the dignity of every human being and family life and believe in good stewardship of the resources entrusted to us. In line with our values, Mary’s Meals is fully committed to a culture of safeguarding. Mary’s Meals is committed to preventing any type of unwanted behaviour at work and we expect all the Mary's Meals family to share this commitment and work in the best interest of the communities we serve. Our safe recruitment practices ensure that only those that are committed to our high standards join our movement.

Salary advertised is for UK-based candidates. Our salary philosophy ensures consistency across locations where Mary’s Meals operates — please reach out to jobs.mmi@marysmeals.org for more information about salaries in other locations.

Additional information:

This role will undertake travel to countries where our programmes operate and will involve regulated work with children. You will be required to register with the Protected Vulnerable Group Scheme or local equivalent before undertaking your role.

To apply:

If you are inspired to join our movement and our vision, mission and values resonate with you, we would love to hear from you. To apply, please click below to send your CV and a short covering note (no more than 1 page) telling us why you are a great fit for this role and why you would like to work for Mary’s Meals International.

Closing date for applications is Sunday 31st August 2025.

We reserve the right to close this vacancy early if we receive sufficient applications for the role. Therefore, if you are interested, please submit your application as early as possible.