SENIOR DIRECTOR, PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT AND PROGRAM DESIGN
CARE
Product, Design, Sales & Business Development
United States
Posted on Nov 12, 2025
JOB SUMMARY:
The Senior Director of Product Development and Design serves as an internal consultant and design catalyst within CARE’s Program Strategy, and Innovation (PSI) division. This role transforms evidence, learning, and insights into actionable and fundable program products—signature programs, solution packages, and investment-ready concepts—that deliver impact at scale. Working at the intersection of strategy, design, and evidence, the Senior Director leads a small, agile team that applies design and business case thinking to help CARE’s technical teams translate learning and innovation into tangible, scalable solutions. The role ensures CARE’s product development process is systematic, data-driven, and grounded in external trends and internal best practice—ultimately enabling CARE to compete, win, and deliver at scale.
RESPONSIBILITIES:
Product & Signature Program Development Leadership
- Lead CARE’s internal consultancy function for product design—supporting technical teams to develop evidence-based, high-impact 'products' and signature programs aligned with CARE USA’s strategic pillars.
- Translate insights and data from the internal Research, Evidence & MEAL team and fresh new external insights into actionable design inputs.
- Guide teams in articulating problem statements, impact pathways, theories of change, and business cases for change that are both evidence-based and market-savvy.
- Lead facilitation of technical experts to develop clear, ambitious, and compelling program strategy and technical “pitches”, backed by evidence of quality and cost effectiveness and understandable by a non-technical audience.
Design Facilitation & Advisory Services
- Serve as a facilitation and advisory resource to PSI’s technical teams, leading structured design sprints, co-creation workshops, and solution-mapping sessions.
- Use strong analytical and business lenses to ask probing, insight-driven questions that clarify purpose, challenge assumptions, and strengthen design quality and cost effectiveness and efficiency.
- Coach teams to articulate concise, funder-ready 'pitch products' and adaptive frameworks that can be customized across geographies and donors.
Evidence, Learning & Market Intelligence Integration
- Collaborate closely with the AVP Research, Evidence & MEAL to ensure knowledge, data, and evaluation findings directly inform the product pipeline.
- Map external and internal evidence to identify opportunities for program differentiation, learning replication, and competitive positioning.
- Ensure each new product or program design is grounded in cost-effectiveness, scalability, digital and alignment with CARE’s strategic metrics for impact.
Thought Leadership and Continuous Improvement
- Act as a champion for design excellence and innovation across CARE’s technical teams and the broader PSI division.
- Continuously refine CARE’s product design methodology, tools, and templates to improve efficiency and quality across the organization.
- Represent CARE in external design and innovation networks, positioning the organization as a leader in evidence-driven, women-centered program design.