Consultant, Head, Innovation Labs at Mastercard Foundation

Paglat, Maguindanao del Sur, Philippines -

Full Time

Start Date

Immediate

Expiry Date

13 Apr, 26

Salary

0.0

Posted On

13 Jan, 26

Experience

10 year(s) or above

Remote Job

Yes

Telecommute

Yes

Sponsor Visa

Skills

Project Management, Innovation, Collaboration, Solution Development, Operational Management, Youth Engagement, Community-Based Approaches, Financial Management, Group Facilitation, User-Centric Design, Strategic Partnerships, Impact Measurement, Cross-Functional Collaboration, Cultural Sensitivity, Adaptability, Integrity

Industry

Non-profit Organization Management

Description

THE OPPORTUNITY Reporting to the Director, Innovation Labs, the Consultant, Head, Innovation Labs, joins the team at a pivotal moment and will play a hands-on role in strengthening project execution, helping the Innovation Labs team deliver high-priority work, ensuring alignment, consistency, quality, and speed. The role is designed to lead and manage project implementation across the Innovation Labs cycle—from early-stage intake, discovery, and incubation to full adoption and scaling. You will ensure operational discipline and delivery excellence, making solutions practical, well-integrated, and usable across Foundation and Partner teams. The Consultant, Head, Innovation Labs will also help shape the Labs’ evolving service delivery model and build structures for consistent, scalable implementation. Additionally, the role will contribute flexibly to strategic initiatives, people management, and operational strengthening as needed. Duration: 1 YEAR CONTRACT. The successful candidate will be based in one of our listed offices in Africa (Rwanda, Ethiopia, Uganda, Kenya, Senegal, Ghana and Nigeria). WAYS YOU CAN CONTRIBUTE As a Consultant, Head, Innovation Labs, you will strengthen the Innovation Labs' offer and the Foundation’s innovation agenda by: Leading Innovation Initiatives: Manage projects across the Innovation Labs experimentation cycle, ensuring disciplined execution, real-world relevance, and timely delivery. Facilitating Collaboration and Co-Creation: Design and lead collaborative processes with Foundation teams and partners, ensuring that solutions are customer-centric, adopted, and scalable. Developing and Scaling Solutions: Oversee the incubation, rollout, and scaling of solutions aligned with the Foundation’s Young Africa Works and EleV strategies. Standardizing and Operationalizing Delivery: Contribute to the development and continuous improvement of the Labs’ service delivery model, ensuring solutions and processes are replicable, scalable, and sustainable. Surfacing Opportunities: Drive discovery work to identify innovation opportunities that are responsive to the needs of youth, partners, and the ecosystem. Leading Technical Areas: Act as thematic lead on selected innovation domains and products, shaping protocols, methods, and user-centric approaches. Strengthening Relationships: Build and sustain trusted relationships across the Foundation and partner networks to foster a strong community of practice. Representing and Positioning the Innovation Labs: Contribute to thought leadership and represent the Labs in internal and external forums to strengthen strategic partnerships. Managing and Developing Talent: Manage direct reports as required, supporting performance, growth, and alignment with the Foundation’s mission and culture. Supporting Cross-Foundation Initiatives: Contribute to cross-functional initiatives across the Impact, Research & Learning function and the broader Foundation. WHO YOU ARE An advanced degree or equivalent experience is required, preferably in innovation-related disciplines. Additional training in International Development, Economics, Evaluation, Research Methods, or Social Sciences is an asset. Extensive experience in international development and/or market-based initiatives, aligned with the Foundation’s priorities in Africa. Extensive experience in leading impact-driven innovation initiatives (projects/programs/ products, etc.), with a deep understanding of what it means to drive innovation that scales. Proven track record leading complex, multi-stakeholder, impact-driven projects, including operational and financial management. Experience with youth-led, community-based, or participatory approaches to design and knowledge generation. Strong understanding of innovation, technology, and science trends, particularly in African contexts. A foundational understanding of impact evidence and insights related to various domains, with deep expertise in one or more areas, is an asset. Skilled in group facilitation and participant-centred design methods. Competence in budget development and financial management. Fluency in English required. French desirable. Professional maturity and sensitivity to working within different cultures. Flexible, adaptable, and able to execute a range of job duties and changing priorities. Possess professional maturity, sensitivity with different cultures, and impeccable integrity that exemplify the Foundation’s values. You have a commitment to Mastercard Foundation’s values and vision. INNOVATION LABS: CREATING THE SPACE FOR BREAKTHROUGH PROGRAM INNOVATION THAT SCALES At the Mastercard Foundation, innovation serves as a lever for accelerating scalable and lasting impact. As we expand our ambition to enable dignified and fulfilling work for 30 million young women and men in Africa and meaningful livelihoods for 100,000 Indigenous youth in Canada, the role of innovation has never been more critical. Innovation Labs is the flagship innovation initiative of the Impact, Evidence & Learning (IEL) function at the Mastercard Foundation. Innovation Labs serve as the Foundation’s program experimentation engine—co-sourcing breakthrough program hypotheses in partnership with Program Platform teams, de-risking them through disciplined incubation, testing, and learning, and transitioning successful experiments into fully fundable Young Africa Works programs. In short, Innovation Labs are the place where breakthrough opportunities are explored early, tested rigorously, and handed over for large-scale adoption. The Mastercard Foundation values the unique skills and experiences each individual brings to the organization and we are committed to creating and maintaining an inclusive and accessible environment for everyone. Completion of satisfactory business references and background checks are essential conditions of employment. For more information and to sign up for the Foundation’s newsletter, please visit http://www.mastercardfdn.org/ Follow the Foundation on Twitter at @MastercardFdn The Mastercard Foundation is a registered Canadian charity and one of the largest foundations in the world. It works with visionary organizations to advance education and financial inclusion to enable young people in Africa and Indigenous youth in Canada to access dignified and fulfilling work. Established in 2006 through the generosity of Mastercard when it became a public company, the Foundation is an independent organization separate from the company, with offices in Toronto, Kigali, Accra, Nairobi, Kampala, Lagos, Dakar, and Addis Ababa. Its policies, operations, and program decisions are determined by the Foundation’s Board of Directors and leadership. Learn More The Foundation operates within the Indigenous communities in Canada to deliver on our EleV strategy and bold goal of enabling 100,000 Indigenous youth to complete their education, access economic opportunities and drive meaningful change in their communities by 2030. Across Africa, the Foundation’s Young Africa Works strategy aims to spur systemic change to enable young people the opportunity to find meaningful work that is dignified and fulfilling. The Young Africa Works strategy sets out an ambitious goal for the next decade: by 2030, our work will enable 30 million young people in Africa, especially young women, to secure employment they see as dignified and fulfilling. These programs are in partnership with the relevant government entities, communities, institutions, and individuals – ensuring that the Foundation delivers on its mission of collaboration and co-creation with those whose voices need to be heard the most, and can be change agents for themselves, their families, and communities. Mastercard Foundation seeks a world where everyone has the opportunity to learn and prosper. We are ambitious and driven. Our values transcend and rise above everything else as our guide. We encourage you to bring your bold ideas, curiosity, and expertise to your work. We laugh at ourselves and with each other. We are a team. Our journey together makes our impact even more meaningful. Learn More

Responsibilities

The Consultant, Head, Innovation Labs will lead and manage project implementation across the Innovation Labs cycle, ensuring operational discipline and delivery excellence. They will also contribute to shaping the Labs’ service delivery model and support strategic initiatives as needed.