Advisor, Planning & Operations (P3)

Save the Children US; Lexington (KY); Hybrid; USD 84,000 - 94,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Flexible schedules

Health coverage

Paid holidays

Retirement plan

Growth opportunities

Job summary

Save the Children US is seeking an Advisor, Planning and Operations to support the Head of Program Implementation with visibility into department performance. The role manages meeting cadence, decisions, and resource alignment with budgets and objectives.

You will lead communications, knowledge management, and KPI reporting, coordinating cross‑functional projects and presenting progress to senior leadership. Hybrid work locations include DC, CT, and KY.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree or equivalent required.
• Experience leading change processes and working with senior executives.
• Strong analytical, organizational, and communication skills.

Responsibilities

• Provide visibility into PI department operations, performance, and resources.
• Develop workplans, KPI dashboards, and reporting for leadership and board materials.
• Coordinate meetings, notes, and action items; track decisions and follow‑ups.
• Maintain PI SaveNet pages and cross‑team communications to ensure timely information sharing.

Skills

Strategic planning

Stakeholder engagement

Change management

Communication

Leadership

Education

Bachelor's degree or equivalent

Master’s degree (preferred)

Tools

MS Office

Data visualization

Job description

Save the Children

For over 100 years, Save the Children has been fighting for the rights of children. The right to a healthy start in life. To have access to education. To be in a safe environment, protected from harm. We work in some of the world’s hardest-to-reach places – over 100 countries, including the U.S. No matter what your role is, when you join Save the Children, you’re creating positive, irreversible change for children, and the future we all share.

Save the Children

For over 100 years, Save the Children has been fighting for the rights of children. The right to a healthy start in life. To have access to education. To be in a safe environment, protected from harm. We work in some of the world’s hardest-to-reach places – over 100 countries, including the U.S. No matter what your role is, when you join Save the Children, you’re creating positive, irreversible change for children, and the future we all share.

The Role

As the Advisor, Planning and Operations, you will provide the Head of Program Implementation (PI) with clear and timely visibility into department operations and performance. For this, you will support the PI senior management team (SMT) governance by managing meeting cadence, tracking decisions and priorities, developing actionable workplans, and monitoring alignment of resources, staffing, and budgets to departmental objectives. You will be responsible for communications and knowledge management efforts by maintaining the PI SaveNet page, facilitating information sharing across teams, developing leadership communications, and supporting executive and board‑level presentations. In addition, you will oversee departmental reporting and performance measurements by coordinating KPI development and reporting processes, analyzing progress against strategic objectives, supporting organizational transformation initiatives, and monitoring cross‑functional projects and PHFFA activities to identify risks, resolve issues, and drive continuous improvement across the PI portfolio.

Location

Hybrid – Washington DC, Fairfield, CT or Lexington, KY office locations

What You’ll Be Doing (Essential Duties)

not inclusive of all role responsibilities. May be subject to change

Operations (40%)

• Manage PI SMT meeting cadence, track decisions and accountabilities, maintain department resources and platforms, and provide visibility into how the department is resourcing and delivering against its objectives
• Prepare agendas and materials for PI SMT and quarterly PI ESMT meetings; take and distribute meeting notes; track decisions and next steps and assign action items to relevant SMT members; ensure follow‑through commitments.
• Manage tracking and coordination of PI SMT and PI ESMT retreat priorities and other PI SMT workstreams
• Translate high‑level priorities into clear workplans with owners, timelines, and milestones, identify resourcing.
• Support SCI and PI leadership PHFFA meeting coordination, drafting meeting notes and associated communication
• Track PHFFA (SCI and SCUS) agreed upon countries/projects, opportunities and approved awards
• Develop and maintain a consolidated PI resourcing tracker covering consultants engaged by State Directors, International and Domestic program staff, Global Emergency Humanitarian Surge Platform deployments, and representatives on cross‑functional and agency‑wide projects;
• Ensure resourcing decisions and commitments are aligned with budget and planning, flagging gaps or misalignments to the Head of PI in a timely manner.

Communications and Knowledge Management (25%)

• Own and maintain the PI department SaveNet page, ensuring it is current and contains latest resources, strategies, plans, dashboards, SOPs, and key reference materials
• Liaise with representatives from each PI team to ensure up to date landing pages and information:
• SMT (aggregate view)
• State Leads (state‑specific views)
• International Programs – including PHFFA projects and potential projects
• Humanitarian (Domestic & International)
• Ensure information is clear, visual, and accessible, and serves as the official data in supporting decision‑making and alignment
• Develop weekly, monthly and ad hoc SMT communication to teams
• In coordination with the Head of PI, send weekly SMT meeting notes to all PI staff
• Develop and issue quarterly updates on progress against departmental workplans and objectives
• Support the Head of PI to develop board materials and other presentations ensuring use of SC branding
• Responsible for all files and knowledge management of PHFFA agreements, policies, guidance, trainings and other relevant documents

Reporting and KPIs (35%)

• Alongside the PI SMT, monitor PI performance and use data to provide regular analysis against department annual objectives and make recommendations for strategic improvements.
• Lead finalization of USP metrics and reporting cadence
• Develop a simple, clear KPI scorecard for leadership use including USP, Humanitarian, International/PHFFA, Head Start
• Coordinate end‑to‑end KPI processes, including data collection inputs from relevant teams, timelines for data production and updates, alignment and use across internal stakeholders, and support development and refinement of visuals for both internal and external audiences
• Stay current and engage on SCUS and global movement transformation projects, where PI is a key stakeholder and ensure PI representation is included where relevant and provide regular updates against progress on these initiatives.
• Ensure all cross departmental PHFFA activities and milestones are tracked with relevant functions/teams, identify dependencies, develop tracker to monitor resolution of/or elevate issues or challenges to PI SMT.

Required Qualifications For The Role

• Minimum of a bachelor’s degree or equivalent experience, plus at least 5 years of relevant experience
• Demonstrated experience in leading change processes.
• Demonstrated ability to work with senior‑level executives to move complex issues forward.
• Proven ability to make decisions and demonstrate sound judgement in a fast‑moving environment
• Demonstrated experience developing and working on strategic plans.
• Demonstrated analytical, organization, and communication skills.
• Attention to detail, ability to multi‑task and work across Agency departments.
• Demonstrated ability to communicate and collaborate effectively with individuals and teams at all levels, both internally and externally
• Professional proficiency in MS Office suite
• Professional proficiency in spoken and written English

Preferred Qualifications For The Role

• Master’s Degree in field related to development, humanitarian work or business administration.
• Ability to speak a second, relevant language– French, Arabic or Spanish preferred.
• Previous Save the Children experience.

Compensation

Save the Children is offering the following salary ranges for this position, dependent on candidate location:

• Geo 1 - NY Metro, DC, and other locations with labor costs significantly above national average: Target Salary for this position is $91,800 - $102,600 base salary
• Geo 2 - Locations around the US National Labor Cost Average: Target Salary for this position is $83,725 - $93,575 base salary
• Geo 3 - Locations significantly below the US National Labor Cost Average: Target Salary for this position is $74,800 - $83,600 base salary

The salary ranges listed above are for US based candidates. For candidates located outside of the US, salary ranges will be based on the salary scales of the local employer of record. Actual base salary may vary based on, but not limited to, relevant experience, base salary of internal peers, business sector, and geographic location (more information on job structure is available here).

About Us

We are looking to build an inclusive team at Save the Children. We offer a range of outstanding benefits to support this goal:

• Flexible schedules and time off: Flexible schedules, generous PTO, 11 paid holidays plus 2 floating holidays, and hybrid working opportunities
• Health: Competitive health care, dental and vision coverage for you and your family
• Family: A variety of paid leaves: caregiver, parental/adoption, critical child illness and fertility benefits
• Employee Rewards Program: Annual merit increases and/or additional incentives for eligible employees
• Retirement: A retirement savings plan with employer contributions (after one year)
• Wellness: 15 safety and wellness days annually (if hired on or after July 1, safety and wellness days prorated to 8 days), mental health benefits and support through Calm and company-hosted events
• Employee Assistance Program: free and confidential assessments, short-term counseling, referrals, and follow-up services
• Learning & Growth: Access to internal and external learning & development opportunities and mentorships

Click here to learn more about how Save the Children US will invest in you.

Save the Children is committed to conducting its programs and operations in a manner that is safe for the children it serves and helping protect the children with whom we are in contact. All Save the Children representatives are explicitly prohibited from engaging in any activity that may result in any kind of child abuse.

Save the Children is committed to minimizing safety and security risks for our valued employees, ensuring all are given training, support and information to reduce their risk exposure while maximizing the impact of our programs for children and families. Our shared duty, both agency and individual, is to seek and maintain safe working conditions for all.

If you require disability assistance with the application or recruitment process, please submit a request to [e-mail].