Country Director, Nigeria

Resolve to Save Lives (RTSL) is a global health organization that partners locally and globally to create and scale solutions to the world’s deadliest health threats. Millions of people die from preventable health threats. We collaborate to close the gap between proven, life-saving solutions and the people who need them. Since 2017, we’ve worked with governments and other partners in more than 60 countries to save millions of lives. We work toward a future where people live longer, healthier lives, communities flourish, and economies thrive. This is an ambitious vision, and it inspires us and our partners to make progress every day.  

Resolve to Save Lives (RTSL) partners with governments, public health institutions, civil society, and development partners to strengthen health systems, improve population health, and build sustainable country capacity. We focus on cardiovascular health, epidemic prevention, and healthier food systems and environment.  To find out more about our work, visit: Resolve to Save Lives: Developing global health solutions  

Resolve to Save Lives Nigeria LTD/GTE (RTSL Nigeria) operates as an affiliate within the wider Resolve to Save Lives (RTSL) global network. The RTSL Nigeria Board of Directors plays a pivotal role in setting strategic direction and providing oversight to RTSL Nigeria.  

Position Purpose

The Country Director is the senior-most representative and leader of Resolve to Save Lives (RTSL) in Nigeria. The role serves as the principal steward of RTSL's affiliate, Resolve to Save Lives Nigeria LTD/GTE (RTSL Nigeria), which is part of the wider RTSL global network. This role is accountable for the organization's reputation, external relationships, integrated country portfolio, people leadership, operational performance, and legal and fiduciary responsibilities.  

The Country Director serves as the bridge between RTSL's global initiatives and Nigeria's local context, ensuring that evidence-based approaches are adapted and implemented in ways that reflect country needs, government priorities, and operational realities. The role helps translate RTSL's technical expertise into locally relevant action, working in partnership with global program teams to ensure approaches are responsive to country priorities while generating learning that can inform RTSL's work globally.  

The Country Director leads RTSL's Nigeria office, builds trusted partnerships with government and key stakeholders, develops a high-performing team, ensures strong governance and operational excellence, and helps capture and share lessons from implementation in Nigeria to inform learning and strengthen impact across RTSL's priority initiatives globally.  

Success in this role is demonstrated through trusted partnerships, measurable public health impact, an integrated country portfolio, a strong organizational culture, effective stewardship of resources, and a respected long-term presence in Nigeria.

Core Responsibilities  

Country Strategy, Representation, and External Influence  

• Serve as RTSL's senior representative in Nigeria, building trusted and enduring relationships with federal and state government leaders, National Public Health Agencies, the RTSL Nigeria Board, donors, multilateral organizations, academic institutions, civil society organizations, and implementing partners.  

• Lead the implementation and periodic review of a coherent country strategy and annual priorities that align Nigeria's public health needs with RTSL's mission, global program strategies, funding commitments, and comparative advantage.  

• Position RTSL as a trusted, evidence-based advisor that provides timely strategic counsel while respecting country ownership and government leadership.  

• Protect and strengthen RTSL's reputation, credibility, and long-term legitimacy in Nigeria.  

• Monitor the external environment, identifying emerging opportunities, risks, and policy developments, and bring country insights into RTSL's global strategy and planning.  

Integrated Country Portfolio Leadership  

• Provide overall leadership for RTSL's Nigeria portfolio, ensuring that cardiovascular health, epidemic preparedness, primary health care, and future program areas operate as one coherent and mutually reinforcing country portfolio.  

• Partner closely with the Chief Program Officer, global program leaders, and Nigeria technical leaders to translate global strategies into contextually appropriate implementation while ensuring that country experience informs organizational learning and program evolution.  

• Promote coordination among government counterparts, implementing partners, sub-grantees, and RTSL global teams to maximize collective impact and reduce duplication.  

• Establish clear expectations for results and monitor progress against approved strategies, workplans, budgets, grants, and organizational objectives, leading timely course correction where necessary.  

• Support resource mobilization by contributing country strategy, implementation insights, results, risk analysis, and funding priorities to donor engagement, proposal development, and reporting.  

Governance, Operational, and Fiduciary Stewardship  

• Serve as the principal management liaison to the RTSL Nigeria Board, ensuring effective governance, timely communication, and fulfillment of statutory responsibilities.  

• Hold delegated accountability for the legal, financial, operational, regulatory, fiduciary, reputational, and administrative stewardship of RTSL Nigeria.  

• Contribute to annual country planning and budgeting in collaboration with Nigeria and global teams.  

• Oversee financial performance, procurement, contracting, internal controls, compliance, audits, cash management, and stewardship of organizational assets.  

• Ensure the Nigeria office maintains fit-for-purpose operational systems, registrations, licenses, policies, insurance, records, and business continuity arrangements in partnership with Global Operations and Shared Services.  

• Serve as the accountable leader for staff safety, security, crisis management, and duty of care.  

• Exercise sound judgment within delegated authority while escalating matters with significant enterprise, legal, governance, financial, or reputational implications.  

People and Organizational Leadership  

• Lead, align, and develop a diverse, multidisciplinary Nigeria team, fostering an inclusive, respectful, and high-performing culture grounded in RTSL's values.  

• Establish clear expectations, accountability, coaching, delegation, and performance management practices that enable staff to perform at their highest potential.  

• Partner with HR and global leaders on workforce planning, recruitment, onboarding, succession planning, professional development, and employee relations.  

• Serve as a visible champion of RTSL’s culture and values, fostering a unified “One RTSL” mindset that emphasizes shared purpose, collaboration and mutual accountability across country and global teams.   

• Model calm, transparent, and values-based leadership during periods of organizational growth, ambiguity, public health emergencies, and change.  

• Create the conditions for effective collaboration across technical and operational teams while maintaining clarity of roles, responsibilities, and decision-making.  

Organizational Leadership  

• Serve as an active member of RTSL's Senior Leadership Team and Programs Senior Management Team, contributing enterprise thinking and organizational leadership beyond the Nigeria portfolio.  

• Bring country perspectives into organizational strategy while supporting collective executive decision-making and accountability.  

• Build strong working relationships across programs, Shared Services, Finance, HR, Legal, IT, Communications, Development, and the Office of the President to ensure organizational alignment.  

• Promote learning across RTSL by sharing successful approaches from Nigeria and adapting relevant innovations developed elsewhere.

Leadership Profile  

The successful candidate will demonstrate:  

• Organization-First Mindset – Sees beyond individual programs and functions and makes decisions in the best interests of RTSL's mission, long-term impact, and organizational sustainability.  

• People leadership – Builds strong teams, develops others, delegates effectively, sets high expectations, addresses difficult issues constructively, and fosters an inclusive culture of accountability.  

• Stewardship – Exercises sound judgment and treats RTSL's reputation, people, resources, legal obligations, and donor funds with care and integrity.  

• Collaborative leadership – Works effectively across cultures, disciplines, reporting lines, and organizations while building trust and shared purpose.  

• Integrative leadership – Brings together multiple programs, teams, and perspectives into a coherent country portfolio without displacing technical ownership.  

• Resilience and adaptability – Remains calm, constructive, and decisive amid ambiguity, competing priorities, and change.  

Required Qualifications  

Education  

• Master's degree or higher in Public Health, Medicine, Health Policy, Public Administration, International Development, Management, or another relevant discipline.  

• Additional executive leadership or management training is an advantage.  

Experience  

• Minimum of 15 years of progressively responsible leadership experience in global health, international development, public administration, or a related field.  

• At least 7 years in a senior leadership role with responsibility for organizational, country, or large program leadership.  

• Demonstrated experience leading complex, multidisciplinary organizations or country portfolios in Nigeria or comparable settings.  

• Extensive experience building trusted relationships with senior government leaders, Boards, donors, multilateral organizations, civil society, and other strategic partners.  

• Demonstrated experience translating organizational strategy into operational delivery while leading diverse technical and operational teams.  

• Experience overseeing organizational planning, budgeting, financial stewardship, operational management, compliance, and enterprise risk management.  

• Demonstrated success leading organizational growth, change, or transformation within complex, matrixed organizations.  

• Experience supporting resource mobilization, donor engagement, and strategic partnerships.  

• Experience working with or supporting governing boards is highly desirable.  

Skills & Abilities  

Leadership and Strategic Thinking  

• Exercises exceptional strategic judgment and political acumen and consistently puts the success of the organization ahead of individual programs, teams, or functions, making decisions that maximize collective impact.  

• Ability to integrate multiple programs, priorities, and stakeholders into a coherent country strategy.  

• Strong analytical and decision-making skills in complex and evolving environments.  

External Representation and Influence  

• Outstanding relationship-building, diplomacy, negotiation, and influencing skills.  

• Exceptional credibility with senior government officials, donors, Boards, and development partners.  

• Ability to represent RTSL with professionalism, integrity, and sound judgment.  

Organizational Leadership  

• Strong financial, operational, fiduciary, and governance capabilities.  

• Ability to balance strategic thinking with operational execution.  

• Excellent organizational and prioritization skills.  

People Leadership  

• Demonstrated ability to recruit, coach, develop, and retain high-performing teams.  

• Skilled in performance management, organizational development, and leading through change.  

• Commitment to fostering an inclusive, respectful, and collaborative workplace.  

Communication  

• Exceptional written, verbal, and interpersonal communication skills.  

• Excellent facilitation, negotiation, and executive presentation skills.  

• Ability to communicate effectively with diverse audiences, from Ministers and Boards to technical experts and frontline staff.  

Personal Attributes  

• High degree of integrity, humility, emotional intelligence, and resilience.  

• Strong problem-solving orientation and sound judgment.  

• Commitment to country ownership, partnership, and continuous learning.  

Other Requirements  

• Willingness and ability to travel frequently within Nigeria and internationally.  

• Commitment to RTSL's mission, values, and collaborative organizational culture.  

Reporting Relationships  

The Country Director reports to the Vice President, Global Operations, Organizational Learning and Culture and works in close partnership with the Chief Program Officer, global program portfolio leaders, and the leaders of Finance, HR, Legal, IT, Communications, and Development.  

The role serves as the principal management liaison to the RTSL Nigeria Board, ensuring effective governance and fulfillment of local entity obligations.  

Within RTSL Nigeria, technical leaders retain accountability for program strategy and technical excellence. The Country Director is accountable for the coherence of RTSL's Nigeria portfolio, external representation, country leadership, operational stewardship, and the long-term success of RTSL's presence in Nigeria.  

Compensation and Benefits

Resolve to Save Lives prides itself on cultivating a supportive, connected remote team doing work that matters. We do everything possible to ensure our employees are connected and set up for success.

The salary for this role is competitive and set according to national labor rates for the international NGO sector in Nigeria . The exact offer will be determined by various factors , such as the candidate’s skills and experience relative to the requirements of the role .

In addition to a competitive salary, Resolve to Save Lives provides a generous package of benefits, including:  

• Health insurance for you and your dependents  
• Contributions toward retirement  
• Paid annual leave and sick leave, in addition to public holidays  
• Two paid, week-long organization-wide breaks at mid-year and end-of-year  
• Professional development and home office setup benefits  
• Up-to-date computer equipment  

RTSL believes its programs are strengthened when they are developed and supported by individuals with diverse life experiences whose understanding of social and cultural issues can help make our work and workforce more inclusive. We encourage applications from and provide equal employment opportunities to all qualified applicants without regard to race, color, religion, gender, gender identity or expression, ancestry, sexual orientation, national origin, age, disability, marital status, organ donor status, or status as a veteran. Resolve to Save Lives complies with all applicable US EEO laws.