Listing expires November 15, 2026
Who We Are
International Justice Mission (IJM) is the global leader in protecting vulnerable people from violence around the world. Our team of over 1,200 professionals are at work worldwide in over 30 offices. Together we are on a mission to rescue millions, protect half a billion, and make justice unstoppable.
We are a global community that cares for one another. We believe that the way we work is as important as the results we achieve. We provide professional excellence with joy and celebration to all those we serve.
The Need
For over 25 years, IJM has pioneered the work to protect vulnerable people from violence. 9 out of 9 times in the last decade, IJM’s Justice System Strengthening Projects have reduced slavery and violence between 50 and 85% for very large populations of people in poverty. As we grow to expand our impact to protect 500 million people from violence, we are seeking a Country Director to be responsible for the overall execution of operations for the Malawi Country Office, and to provide leadership and strategic direction to advance IJM’s mission of protecting vulnerable populations, including vulnerable women and children, from violence through justice system strengthening, partnership development, and organizational excellence.
The Country Director originates and drives national strategies, cultivates high-impact relationships, and ensures operational, financial, and cultural alignment with IJM’s global goals, while fostering a resilient and high-performing team. This role ensures employee engagement, safety, security, as well as professional development, and monitors and controls the budget, expenditure, and program activities to ensure staff performance and program goal achievement. The Country Director engages directly with IJM Global Programs and Operations teams, leads national activation and supports regional/global advancement and activation.
The Country Director will provide visionary leadership and strategic direction to drive collaboration with government stakeholders, cultural and other community leaders, survivors, civil society organizations and other partners to ensure the consistent and sustainable enforcement of Malawi’s laws designed to protect women and children from violence. This will include supporting Malawi law enforcement, social services, prosecution and judicial system to protect survivors and restrain perpetrators; build psycho-social capacity and a network of care providers to promote the restoration of survivors; and holistically strengthening the capacity of the criminal justice system to, sustainably and effectively, protect the vulnerable.
Reporting to the Regional President, the Country Director will also receive support from a wider international team of regional and global staff, particularly in areas of program quality, governance and legal compliance, new business development, grant acquisition and compliance, safety and security management, finance, and advocacy and communications.
This position is based in Lilongwe, Malawi and reports to the Regional President, Africa.
Responsibilities:
Leadership and Management:
- Ensure the programs, services, and methodologies deliver results as tangible progress toward protection, as defined by IJM;
- Ensure country office leaders and staff are developing in all aspects of their work, including leadership, strategy development, project/program development and management, budget management, staff care, and training;
- Ensure all staff, interns, fellows and volunteers have a clear understanding of IJM’s mission, operational values, global vision, and program, objectives and strategic goals;
- Build team capacity through high-caliber external hires and ensure any new office structures/teams function efficiently and effectively;
- Collaborate with IJM subject matter experts and Global Program leaders to align to the regional and global strategies;
- Ensure staff engage in appropriate goal setting, performance review, and conflict resolution; and monitor program and staff performance, ensuring that feedback is regularly provided;
- Foster a team mindset and culture to be effective, efficient and resilient, and to pursue excellence; and
- Cultivate IJM’s brand and culture by modeling, celebrating and promoting organizational rhythms and core values.
Strategy & Knowledge Development & Implementation:
- Ensure the design, development and implementation of projects are in alignment with: IJM’s vision and theory of change; IJM’s global, regional and program strategies; and IJM’s justice policy and protection program framework;
- Ensure the formulation of innovative program designs that address major obstacles to protect migrants;
- Ensure development of programming, including concept notes, proposals, baseline terms of reference and budgets;
- Ensure the country office has a monitoring, evaluation, research and learning plan to assess and document proof of program impact, developed in consultation with regional and global specialists; that the country office establishes partnerships to access needed data; and, that the country office staff execute MERL plans;
- Ensure program data is used through activation to build investment in IJM’s source country model;
- Ensure the project is meeting key program KPI targets and is on track at all times to achieve protection of its target population by the project end date.
Networking & Partnership:
- Establish cooperative relationships with local, national, and international public justice professionals, including police and prosecution personnel, government leaders, and NGO leaders, to advance the country office’s objectives;
- Equip strategic government and civil society partners with IJM’s model and best practices to carry out justice system strengthening and achieve program objectives;
- Represent IJM’s programs before government organizations, non-governmental organizations, media outlets, and other stakeholders and audiences, building IJM’s brand, reputation and leadership in delivering anti-forced labor solutions;
- Actively participate in regional activation, and advancement activities;
- Host visits for IJM guests, teams, and volunteers and provide them with context for IJM’s work; and
- Support efforts to ensure adequate funding for programs from both private and institutional donors as required.
Policies and Procedures:
- Ensure that the country office adheres to all organizational policies, procedures, and timelines, including but not limited to those related to: ILED, aftercare, security, IT, data, finance and budget, HR and personnel management, communications and storytelling, child protection, and strategy and program development.
Communication:
- Promote IJM’s theory of change to internal and external stakeholders and monitor the communication strategy of the staff to the internal and external stakeholders;
- Ensure consistent and clear communication with all country office staff; and
- Work closely with global, regional and country office communications staff to ensure that the country office’s work is well messaged, ensuring quality and global guidelines are followed, and that IJM’s global work is well promoted with country office stakeholders.
General Tasks:
- In collaboration with regional and global finance and program management staff, oversee the cash flow of the office, spending against grant and non-grant budgets and plans, and ensure that the country office operates within its budget; and
- In collaboration with global and region, ensure the country office operations and staff in the office and in field, maintaining compliance with IJM’s security policies, reporting to IJM leadership on security matters as they develop, and ensuring appropriate crisis management.
Qualifications:
- Bachelor’s degree in law, international development, or other related field required; (Master’s or Doctorate level preferred);
- Minimum 10 years’ experience successfully leading cross-cultural teams to achieve ambitious objectives in challenging environments with excellent outcomes;
- Experience working in Malawi or comparable African contexts;
- Minimum eight years’ experience in international development, with demonstrated rigor and success;
- Experience of working with international donors and intergovernmental organizations, engaging at a senior level to secure and successfully manage international donor funded programs;
- Proven ability to negotiate and work with partner organizations and key stakeholders towards achieving specific objectives;
- Demonstrated experience with organizational capacity strengthening and partnership building;
- Advocacy and/or policy experience with key stakeholders including governments, cultural and other community leaders, institutional donors, civil society organizations and other partners;
- In-depth understanding of programming to combat violence against women and children. Broader experience in access to justice, Rule of Law and human rights issues in African contexts is preferred;
- Ability to serve as a mentor;
- Demonstrated successful leadership and management experience with a multi-disciplinary team in a cross-cultural setting, including active mentoring and coaching;
- Proven ability to set and achieve significant outcomes and impact;
- Excellent communications writing and professional speaking skills;
- Proven ability to develop and manage key relationships within the highest levels of government and the development sector; and
- Strong programmatic understanding, including harnessing monitoring, evaluation, research and learning to successfully reset strategic interventions.
Critical Qualities:
- Eager commitment to IJM’s Core Values;
- Demonstrated ability to appropriately handle stress and conflict;
- Courageous, confident, servant leadership;
- Sound and disciplined in judgement and problem solving;
- Rigorously result-oriented;
- Resilient, persevering in joy through challenge and failure;
Application Process:
Upload Resume and Cover Letter in one PDF document .
IJM holds strict safeguarding principles and a zero tolerance to violations of the Safeguarding Policy, Protection against Sexual Exploitation, Abuse and Harassment Policy, and Code of Ethics. Candidate selection is based on technical competence, recruitment, selection and hiring criteria subject to assessing the candidate’s value congruence and thorough background, police clearance, and reference check processes.
At IJM, we’re committed to building a diverse workforce through fair and equitable employment practices. IJM encourages people of any race, color, age, sex, marital status or political ideology to apply for employment .
IJM requires a background check, police clearance and thorough review of references with an employment offer and/or employment contract.
