Vacancy title:
Chief Education
Employment type: Full time, Industry: Nonprofit, and NGO, Category: Management, Education, Teachers & Education, Executive director, Team leader
Jobs at:
United Nations Children’s Fund
Deadline of this Job:
Thursday, November 12 2026
Duty Station:
Kigali | Kigali
Summary
Date Posted: Thursday, November 5 2026, Base Salary: Not Disclosed
JOB DETAILS:
UNICEF works in over 190 countries and territories to save children’s lives, defend their rights, and help them fulfill their potential, from early childhood through adolescence.
At UNICEF, we are committed, passionate, and proud of what we do for as long as we are needed. Promoting the rights of every child is not just a job – it is a calling.
UNICEF is a place where careers are built: we offer our staff diverse opportunities for professional and personal development that will help them reinforce a sense of purpose while serving children and communities across the world. We welcome everyone who wants to belong and grow in a diverse and passionate culture, coupled with an attractive compensation and benefits package.
For every child, the right to Education
Background
Rwanda has made strong progress in expanding access to education and prioritizes quality and relevant learning under Vision 2050 and NST2. However, challenges remain in foundational learning, school completion and transition, and access to education and employment opportunities for adolescents and young people. Through its 2025–2029 Country Programme, UNICEF supports national priorities in early and foundational learning, teacher development, inclusive and digital education, education data, and flexible learning pathways. The Chief, Education will provide strategic and technical leadership and strengthen partnerships to accelerate equitable learning and skills outcomes, particularly for the most disadvantaged children and young people.
Purpose of the Position
As Chief of Education, you will provide strategic leadership for UNICEF Rwanda’s education portfolio, ensuring the delivery of sustainable, high-impact results aligned with UNICEF’s Strategic Plan and results-based management principles. You will oversee major education investments and partnerships, including grant-funded programmes, while supporting government-led sector coordination and strengthening national education systems. The role drives inclusive, equitable and resilient learning opportunities by promoting innovation, multisectoral collaboration, Generation Unlimited (GenU), and South-South cooperation. You will also champion resource mobilization and innovative financing solutions, leveraging partnerships across government, donors, the private sector, foundations and civil society to expand quality education and skills development opportunities for children and young people across Rwanda.
Lead UNICEF Rwanda’s education portfolio and help shape inclusive, equitable and future-ready learning opportunities for children and young people across the country. As Chief of Education, you will provide strategic leadership, technical direction and operational oversight for a diverse education programme spanning early childhood development, foundational learning, secondary education, skills development, and school-to-work transitions.
Working closely with government, development partners, the private sector and young people, you will drive the design and delivery of high-impact education initiatives, including RISE Rwanda and other major grant-funded programmes. You will champion innovation, data-driven decision-making and technology-enabled learning, while ensuring that gender equality, disability inclusion, refugee inclusion and climate resilience are embedded across all programmes.
You will lead a multidisciplinary team, mobilize resources and strategic partnerships, strengthen national education systems, and support government efforts to expand quality learning and skills opportunities at scale. The role also serves as a key advisor on education policy, financing and sector reform, helping to translate evidence and innovation into sustainable national impact.
Key Accountabilities
- Managerial Leadership
- Programme Development and Planning
- Programme Management, Monitoring and Quality Control of Results
- Advisory Services and Technical Support
- Advocacy, Networking and Partnership Building
- Innovation, Knowledge Management and Capacity Building
Minimum requirements
Education: Master or equivalent (Advanced University Degree) in education, economics, psychology, sociology, international development, public policy, public administration, statistics, educational technology, development studies and any other related fields is required.
Work Experience: At least 8 years of relevant work experience in programme, research, education, education program management, education policy, sector coordination, monitoring and evaluation, grant management, resource mobilization, digital learning, education data systems, inclusive education, youth skills development and any other related fields is required.
Skills:
- Professional experience in programme planning, management, and/or research in education at the international level is required.
- Good knowledge of global developments in education and international engagement strategies is required.
- Good education and policy sector analysis capacity, understanding of policies and strategies and ability to support policy dialogue is mandatory.
- Good technical knowledge of digital pedagogy, accessible technology-enabled learning is required.
- Demonstrated ability in results-based programme and grant management is mandatory.
- Demonstrated ability to lead multidisciplinary teams is expected.
Language Requirements: Fluency in English is required.
Desirables
- Knowledge of another official UN language (Arabic, Chinese, French, Russian or Spanish) or a local language is an asset.
- Good ability to support engagement with partners.
- Good understanding of gender and inequity issues in relation to education and development and the application of gender / equity analysis to policy and planning in education.
- Experience working in a developing country is considered as an asset.
- Relevant experience in a UN system agency or organization is considered as an asset.
- Relevant experience at country level, particularly in development, fragile settings and humanitarian contexts.
For every Child, you demonstrate
UNICEF's Core Values of Care, Respect, Integrity, Trust and Accountability and Sustainability (CRITAS) underpin everything we do and how we do it.
UNICEF competencies required for this post are
- Builds and maintains partnerships
- Demonstrates self-awareness and ethical awareness
- Drive to achieve results for impact
- Innovates and embraces change
- Manages ambiguity and complexity
- Thinks and acts strategically
- Works collaboratively with others
- Nurtures, leads and manages people
UNICEF promotes and advocates for the protection of the rights of every child, everywhere, in everything it does and is mandated to support the realization of the rights of every child, including those most disadvantaged, and our global workforce must reflect the diversity of those children. The UNICEF family is committed to include everyone, irrespective of their race/ethnicity, disability, gender identity, sexual orientation, religion, nationality, socio-economic background, minority, or any other status.
UNICEF encourages applications from all qualified candidates, regardless of gender, nationality, religious or ethnic backgrounds, and from people with disabilities, including neurodivergence. We offer a wide range of benefits to our staff, including paid parental leave, breastfeeding breaks and reasonable accommodation for persons with disabilities. UNICEF provides reasonable accommodation throughout the recruitment process.
Mobility is a condition of international professional employment with UNICEF and an underlying premise of the international civil service.
Humanitarian action is a cross-cutting priority within UNICEF's Strategic Plan. UNICEF is committed to stay and deliver in humanitarian contexts. Therefore, all staff, at all levels across all functional areas, can be called upon to be deployed to support humanitarian response, contributing to both strengthening resilience of communities and capacity of national authorities.
Work Hours: 8
Experience in Months: 96
Level of Education: postgraduate degree
Job application procedure
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