Senior Director, Program (Chief Program Officer)

Reporting To: Chief Executive Officer
Start Date: Early 2027
Location: Dhaka-based; national and international travel required
Employment Type: Two years (open to extension or renewal)
Application Deadline: Rolling

About Teach For Bangladesh

While Bangladesh has achieved near-universal primary enrolment, learning has not followed: only half of Grade 5 students meet grade-level standards in Bangla, and fewer than one in three in Mathematics. Children who are poor, rural, or marginalized face the steepest barriers.

Teach For Bangladesh (TFB) is working to end this injustice. We believe lasting change requires a critical mass of leaders throughout the system who believe in every child’s potential and work together to build a Bangladesh where all children can learn, grow, and shape a just, sustainable future. TFB is building a movement of leaders committed to ensuring that every child in Bangladesh knows their inherent power and worth, and has the knowledge, skills, and agency to thrive.

Founded in 2012, TFB is registered as a not-for-profit Trust in Bangladesh and as a 501(c)3 in the United States. Since then, it has placed 659 Fellows in under-resourced schools across Dhaka, Chattogram, Cox’s Bazar, and Rangpur, directly supporting the learning and growth of over 125,000 children. TFB has built a growing alumni community of nearly 400 leaders now working across education, government, business, and civil society, carrying forward a shared commitment to equity and to the children and communities they serve.

Read more about TFB’s Theory of Problem and Theory of Change here. TFB is a partner of Teach For All, a global network of 60+ independent organizations around the world that are working to address educational inequity in their own country contexts, while sharing a commitment to a set of unifying principles.

Teach For Bangladesh is at a critical juncture. Having established its model and demonstrated meaningful early impact over more than a decade, the organization is now prioritizing greater financial resilience, deeper programmatic impact, and stronger institutional credibility. A new CEO, joining from outside the organization, will start in January 2027, and the Senior Director of Program (SDP) will be their key partner in shaping this next chapter. 

The Role

Teach For Bangladesh seeks a Senior Director of Program (SDP) who is 1) deeply aligned to our core mission and Theory of Change, 2) adept at building individual leaders, teams, and culture, and 3) excited to lead during a period of organizational transition and reset. The SDP will be responsible for leadership of TFB’s programmatic continuum and monitoring, evaluation and learning, directly line managing around  individuals. They will have a particular focus on building the capacity of the individual leaders and teams they manage. As a member of the Senior Leadership Team, the SDP will work closely with the CEO and other Senior Leaders on organization-wide strategy and key initiatives. 

The SDP will report directly to the CEO. They will serve as the leadership team’s anchor on TFB’s program model, design, and outcomes as the incoming CEO builds a deep understanding of the model. The SDP and CEO will consult with the Founder/Board Chair on major programmatic decisions. The SDP will also draw on Teach For All colleagues for guidance and cross-network learning. In the near term, the priority is depth and quality of impact – not overhaul, reinvention or expansion. Recruitment and training systems should be scale-ready, but scale is not a 2027 goal. 

Key Responsibilities

1. Leadership of the Programmatic Continuum

• Recruitment & Selection
  • Ensure that Teach For Bangladesh enlists exceptionally strong leaders from diverse backgrounds into the Fellowship program each year
  • Build and execute a strategy to recruit exceptionally strong applicants, prioritizing the most competitive universities and schools, and building a compelling brand for TFB at those institutions in order to attract high potential candidates
  • Continue to expand access for high-potential candidates from historically marginalized or underrepresented backgrounds
  • Build a team of high-impact recruiters who effectively identify, inspire and invest the highest potential candidates to apply for and join the TFB Fellowship
  • Update and streamline recruitment and selection systems and processes to run effectively and efficiently, and be “scale-ready” if the strategic opportunity to dramatically expand Fellow intake becomes viable
    
• Training & Support
  • Build out and/or strengthen Teach For Bangladesh’s Theory of Leadership, Theory of Leadership Development and Program Design in alignment with TFB’s Theory of Change
  • Set and meet rigorous goals for student academic and holistic outcomes, and use student data to continuously improve training and support
  • Design and deliver a rigorous pre-service Winter Academy experience that sets incoming Fellows up with the culture, mindsets, values, knowledge and skills to be effective leaders during the Fellowship
  • Develop and deliver high-quality in-service training and coaching support that enables classroom success, cultivates self-awareness and inner leadership, and sets Fellows up for post-Fellowship impact
  • Ensure coaches build and sustain strong school- and district-level relationships, with a dotted line to the Director of Government Affairs for reporting on this work, and coordinate closely with the Director of Government Affairs to align field relationships with TFB’s wider government engagement
    
• Alumni Impact
  • Reinvigorate the Alumni Impact strategy, in alignment to TFB’s Vision, Theory of Change, and the current reality of education in Bangladesh
  • Build out and execute strategy related to 2-3 prioritized pathways for alumni impact
  • Cultivate connection, community and healthy culture among the alumni

2. Monitoring, Evaluation & Learning

• Define and refine clear organization-wide impact metrics aligned to TFB’s Theory of Change.
• Work with vertical leads to set ambitious and measurable targets across student outcomes, Fellow leadership development, and alumni contribution to systems change.
• Oversee robust monitoring, evaluation, and learning systems that ensure high-quality data collection, analysis, and reporting
• Translate data into actionable insights that inform program design, strategic decisions, and resource allocation
• Strengthen TFB’s ability to clearly articulate and communicate its impact to the Board, donors, and external stakeholders, working closely with the Senior Director of Partnership Development 
• Foster a culture in which evidence and reflection drive continuous improvement.  

3. Team Building & Management 

• Directly manage the three program vertical heads, and MEL team, holding regular check-ins, providing coaching and honest feedback, overseeing performance evaluation, and investing in the professional growth and leadership development of each team member
• Build trust, cohesion and collaboration across the verticals, ensuring that the teams are working effectively with one another towards the organization’s vision, priorities and goals
• Establish clear accountability, shared values, and a performance culture rooted in TFB’s core commitments
• Lead with a values-based approach that retains and motivates high-performing staff through a demanding period–including through inclusive hiring and onboarding, meaningful team-building, and creating the conditions for people to do their best work; modelling the kind of leadership TFB seeks to foster at every level
• Strengthen internal systems and structures–for coordination, communication, and accountability–so that the team can work together effectively toward shared goals

4. Senior Leadership and Organizational Development 

• Support organization-wide initiatives such as those intended for staff professional development, strengthening management practice and team culture 
• Support strategic planning exercises, translating TFB’s Vision and Theory of Change into long- and medium-term priorities, goals and plans
• Inform overall budget development, and manage relevant portions of the budget
• Join the CEO in preparing for and participating in quarterly Board meetings
• Support external engagement and spokespersonship where appropriate.
  

What We Are Looking For

• A genuine, personal commitment to educational equity–rooted in a belief in every child’s inherent worth and potential. Understands the structural and historical drivers of inequity, and sees communities and children as inherently powerful and capable. 
• Comfortable navigating ambiguity and building in resource-constrained environments. Finds a way through–creatively and with perseverance–without waiting for ideal conditions.
• Honest under pressure, open to challenge, and committed to continuous learning. Approaches power and leadership with self-awareness and a genuine commitment to shared ownership.

• Past success of managing teams to achieve ambitious results, including supporting staff members to grow and develop 
• Able to communicate a compelling vision for excellence, effectively addressing the barriers and motivations of different individuals to align and invest them in the vision
• Highly-organized with proven time management skills and experience creating efficient systems to juggle multiple projects simultaneously 
• Able to build and sustain strong relationships quickly with a diverse pool of individuals 
• Has experience collecting, analyzing and using data to inform strategic and tactical decisions
• Prior staff experience with Teach For Bangladesh or another Teach For All network organization, with a deep understanding of the program continuum (recruitment & selection, training & support, and alumni impact)
• Deep expertise in teacher development, leadership development, or education programming; classroom teaching experience is a strong plus
• Professional experience in Bangladesh and/or similar country contexts is strongly preferred
• 12+ years of professional experience, including 5+ years in senior leadership roles
• Fluency in written and spoken English is essential; Bangla is helpful but not required

How to Apply

Teach For Bangladesh is committed to building a diverse and inclusive leadership team that reflects the communities we serve. We strongly encourage applications from those who come from historically-marginalized identities, and from leaders across sectors who may not have previously considered a role like this.

Staff-alumni of Teach For All network organizations, especially with meaningful leadership experience in the areas of Recruitment & Selection, Training & Support, and/or Alumni Impact are strongly encouraged to apply. Non-Bangladeshi hires are eligible for one round-trip air ticket from and back to their home country in 12-month period of employment. Teach For Bangladesh will assist in the process of procuring an appropriate visa, and provide some relocation support, such as support finding long-term accommodation, and temporary initial housing.

To apply, please email your resume and a one-page cover letter to careers@teachforbangladesh.org. Please indicate the position applied for in the subject line of your email. Your cover letter should be no longer than one page. 

Please note that only short-listed candidates will be contacted.