Education Manager

Purpose of the position

The ambition of VVOB is to ensure learners around the world enjoy their fundamental human right to quality education, without exception. In striving for that ambition, we place our values ‘commitment,’ ‘integrity’, ‘respect’, ‘quality’, and ‘innovation’ central. As an Education Manager, you contribute to this ambition and these values by having the responsibility for technical educational aspects of VVOB’s country education programs. As a key management team member, you easily navigate between operations and strategy, inspire your direct reports, and grow and change with us. As part of and in close collaboration with the management team, you are responsible for programme management and implementation. You work closely together with all departments, specifically the Strategic and Education Advisors, and report to the Country Programmes Manager.

Support the development VVOB in Ecuador

Ecuador is a pioneer country for VVOB’s Skilling for Sustainable Futures (SF2) Flagship, a multi-country programme that offers an evidence-backed, scalable solution to prepare youth in secondary education (general secondary + secondary technical and vocational education and training) with the technical, entrepreneurial and transferable skills they need to succeed in the world of work. Together with the Ministry of Education (MINEDUC) and partner universities, VVOB is implementing ¡VAMOS! – "Vinculando el Agro-aprendizaje para un Mundo Sostenible" – a five-year (2022-2026) Belgium-funded programme that will develop, test and pilot a first model of the SF2 approach, with a specific focus on preparing youth for work in green(ing) agriculture value chains. The focus is on the continuous professional development of teachers and school leaders in five provinces (Bolívar, Esmeraldas, Los Ríos, Manabí, and Pastaza).

VVOB’s ambition for the coming years is to attract funding and forge partnerships for scaling ¡VAMOS! seek opportunities for SF2 expansion in terms of focus economic sectors and take concrete steps towards starting operations in other education sub-sectors in VVOB’s portfolio.

You will:

• Provide strong organizational (strategic and technical) leadership and overall management (on-the-job mentoring, coaching, capacity development, change management) for your direct reports and you foster good relationships with and between partners and teams, supporting a positive organizational culture. • Guide your team in planning, monitoring, and reporting programme activities and manage the related budget in cooperation with the Operations Manager and Country Programmes Manager. • Ensure coherence of the programme, promoting internal alignment and collaboration, to meet stated goals, outcomes, benchmarks, deliverables, reporting requirements, and budget projections. • Manage the development of educational content, trainings, course and curriculum design, support and quality assurance checks provide for relevant educational topics and guide the team to ensure coherence across educational products and alignment with project goals. • Lead VVOB’s scaling processes and strategies working closely with co-implementation partners (e.g., Ministry of Education, Ministry of Agriculture, world of work actors, among others). • Contribute to internal and external knowledge development and learning, by systemizing lessons learned from partnerships and synergies and pro-actively sharing lessons learned between partners, colleagues and other VVOB country teams.
• Engage external stakeholders and secure cooperation and support from VVOB’s partners for the implementation of VVOB country and formulation of new project and programme proposals, by bringing in expertise in the design of evidence-informed & evidence-generating education solutions. If you’re our Education Manager, your workweek at the office will include the following highlights: You organize a meeting with education advisors to track curriculum development, assess progress and challenges, and determine next steps.

If you’re our Education Manager, your workweek at the office will include the following highlights:

You meet with the communication advisor to assess the project’s communication strategy and discuss effective mechanisms to reach and communicate with project users.

Lunch! Time to get to know your colleagues better.

You review education products and assess educational content and provide feedback to the team as needed.

You have a meeting with the Ministry of Education to discuss project progress and results and scaling processes and strategies.

You have an evaluation conversation with one of your team members which you have prepared thoroughly, to discuss strengths and development areas and define a personal development plan.

Who are you?

Your expertise and experience

• You have a master’s degree in education, or in related field, or equivalent experience. • You have proven expertise (knowledge and experience) in education (preferably secondary technical education), notably in the following areas: in-depth understanding of the national education system in Ecuador; effective blended professional development of teachers and school leaders through the existing system; design of mechanisms for effective collaboration between education and world of work (incl. engaging the private sector in teaching and learning). • You have proven experience in successfully supervising, designing, managing, and implementing complex (preferably donor-funded) education projects with large annual budgets. • You have proven experience in successfully supervising, designing, managing, and implementing complex (preferably donor-funded) education projects with large annual budgets. • You have strong and proven management and leadership skills with a track record in leading and motivating your team. • Desirable: you are knowledgeable about mainstreaming environmental sustainability and green skills, digital for education, gender, and inclusion. • You are fluent in English with excellent writing skills (in both English and Spanish) • International experience and/or working on multicultural teams is a must.

What we’re offering:

• A full-time contract until 31/12/2026 with the possibility of extension depending on the availability of donor funding.
• A dynamic working environment in an international context.
• An exciting job in a growing organization with varied responsibilities and opportunities for professional development.
• An attractive salary & benefits package.