Vice President, Program Operations

Smile Train; New York (NY); On-site; USD 180,000 - 250,000; Full time

Job summary

Smile Train, the world’s leading cleft-focused organization, seeks a senior leader to serve as Vice President, Program Operations. This role provides strategic and operational leadership to ensure global program priorities are planned, coordinated, executed, and measured.

Reporting to the Chief Impact Officer, you will oversee work plans, budgets, forecasting, risk management, partner management, and organizational deliverables.

Qualifications

• MBA or advanced degree in business, management, public administration, international development, or related discipline or equivalent significant professional experience.
• Minimum of 5 years of progressive leadership and operational management experience.
• Minimum of 5 years of supervisory and people-management experience with staffing development.
• Significant experience in program operations, strategic planning, work planning, project execution, and organizational coordination.
• Strong financial management experience including budgeting, forecasting, and monitoring.
• Experience using data, dashboards, reporting, and performance-management tools for executive decisions.

Responsibilities

• Provide strategic and operational leadership across global programs initiatives, ensuring priorities and deliverables stay on track.
• Oversee program budget planning, forecasting, and financial submissions in partnership with leadership and Finance.
• Lead and develop a team across program areas such as research, speech, ENT, nutrition and other functions.
• Establish clear priorities, performance expectations and accountability while developing staff.
• Coordinate with Programs and headquarters functions to align cross-functional initiatives and regional plans.
• Develop and review annual plans, budgets, and regional work plans with regional leaders.
• Assess feasibility, scalability, sustainability, and implementation requirements for program initiatives.
• Identify and mitigate programmatic and operational risks in collaboration with senior leadership.
• Develop dashboards and reporting tools to provide timely, actionable information to leadership.
• Ensure accurate collection, management and use of program data to improve decision-making.
• Communicate program performance and risks to senior leadership regularly.
• Anticipate operational challenges and drive organization-wide solutions.
• Strengthen collaboration across global teams within Smile Train’s environment.
• Contribute to fundraising proposals and grant-related activities when appropriate.

Skills

Strategic leadership

Budgeting

Data dashboards

Program operations

Cross-functional collaboration

People management

Communication

Education

MBA or advanced degree

Job description

Smile Train is the world’s leading cleft-focused organization. Our vision is a world where everyone has access to safe, high-quality comprehensive cleft care and can live a full and healthy life. We train and support doctors and other medical professionals to provide our patients with free, life-changing, comprehensive cleft treatment. This sustainable model has allowed us to support more than 2 million cleft surgeries in 95+ countries since our founding in 1999, and we’re still just getting started. We are truly changing the world one smile at a time!

Make a Difference!

As Smile Train’s Vice President, Program Operations, you will serve as a senior leader within the Global Programs division, providing strategic and operational leadership to ensure global program priorities are effectively planned, coordinated, executed, and measured.

Reporting to Smile Train's Chief Impact Officer and working closely with Programs leadership, regional leaders, and colleagues across Smile Train, the Vice President, Program Operations will provide oversight of program operations, work plans, budgets, forecasting, risk management, partner management, and key organizational deliverables. The Vice President will lead and develop a team of professionals across specialized program areas while strengthening coordination, accountability, and operational excellence across the division.

A critical component of this role is connecting strategy with execution. The Vice President will ensure that program activities remain aligned with organizational priorities, that leadership has timely and accurate information to support decision-making, and that collaboration between Programs, regional teams, and other headquarters functions is coordinated and effective. The role will also champion the use of data, dashboards, and management tools to strengthen program performance, accountability, and continuous improvement.

Key Responsibilities

• Provide strategic and operational leadership across key global Programs initiatives, ensuring priorities, work plans, timelines, and deliverables remain aligned and on track.
• Oversee program budget planning, forecasting, monitoring, and timely and accurate financial submissions in partnership with Programs leadership and Finance.
• Lead, manage, mentor, and develop a team of professionals across specialized program areas, including research, speech, ENT, nutrition, and other program functions.
• Establish clear priorities, performance expectations, and accountability while supporting the professional growth and development of team members.
• Serve as a senior liaison between Programs and other headquarters functions, ensuring cross-functional requests, projects, and initiatives are appropriately coordinated and strategically aligned.
• Partner with regional leadership in the development and review of annual plans, budgets, regional work plans, and program priorities.
• Provide strategic and operational input regarding the feasibility, scalability, sustainability, and implementation requirements of proposed program initiatives.
• Proactively review and flag programmatic and operational risks across the portfolio, working under the supervision of the Chief Impact Officer to resolve issues before they escalates. Monitor partner activities and organizational commitments throughout the year, engage partners as needed to address emerging concerns, and drive timely problem-solving to ensure issues are identified and acted upon well before fiscal year-end.
• Lead the development and utilization of dashboards, reporting tools, and performance measures that provide leadership with timely and actionable information.
• Ensure program data is appropriately collected, managed, analyzed, and used to strengthen decision-making and continuous improvement.
• Regularly communicate and debrief senior leadership regarding program performance, operational challenges, emerging risks, and strategic priorities.
• Anticipate operational challenges and lead the development of practical, organization-wide solutions.
• Strengthen collaboration and coordination across headquarters and regional teams within Smile Train’s global and multicultural environment.
• Contribute technical and programmatic expertise to fundraising proposals, grant-related activities, and other cross-functional initiatives as appropriate.

Candidate Profile

The ideal candidate is an accomplished senior leader who combines strong strategic and operational judgment with demonstrated success leading people, programs, and complex initiatives. This individual brings a sophisticated understanding of business and program operations, strong financial acumen, and the ability to translate organizational strategy into effective execution.

The successful candidate will be a confident and collaborative leader who can operate effectively across departments, regions, cultures, and levels of seniority. They will have the credibility and interpersonal skills necessary to influence across the organization, build productive partnerships, and establish clear accountability for results.

This leader will be equally comfortable developing people, reviewing budgets and forecasts, analyzing performance data, navigating complex organizational issues, and advising senior and regional leadership. The ideal candidate will bring strong emotional intelligence, sound judgment, and a solutions-oriented approach to a fast‑paced, global, mission-driven organization.

Required Education and Experience

• MBA or advanced degree in business, management, public administration, international development, or a related discipline; or equivalent significant professional experience in business and operational management.
• Minimum of 5 years of progressive leadership and operational management experience.
• Minimum of 5 years of supervisory and people‑management experience, including demonstrated success leading and developing professional staff.
• Significant experience in program operations, strategic planning, work planning, project execution, and organizational coordination.
• Strong financial management experience, including budgeting, financial planning, forecasting, and monitoring.
• Demonstrated experience developing and using data, dashboards, reporting, and performance-management tools to support executive decision-making.
• Demonstrated success working across departments, functions, and organizational levels.
• Excellent leadership, written and verbal communication, interpersonal, analytical, and problem‑solving skills.

Preferred Education and Experience

• Leadership experience within a nonprofit, charity, NGO, international development, healthcare, or public health organization.
• Experience working within a global or multi‑country organization and across multicultural teams.
• Experience navigating headquarters, regional, and field‑based organizational structures.
• Experience within a large or complex organization involving multiple stakeholders and functional areas.
• International professional experience.
• Exposure to fundraising, proposal development, grant writing, or development of program budgets for funding proposals.

Additional Eligibility Qualifications

• Demonstrated ability to lead, coach, mentor, and develop high-performing teams.
• Strong strategic, financial, analytical, and operational capabilities.
• Ability to manage competing organizational priorities while maintaining focus on strategic objectives and critical deliverables.
• Strong judgment and the ability to identify, assess, and flag operational and programmatic risks early, including partner-related issues, and to work with senior leadership to resolve them in a timely manner
• Ability to influence and collaborate effectively across cultures, functions, personalities, and organizational levels.
• Executive presence and the ability to communicate complex information clearly and concisely to senior leadership.