Senior Director of Learning & Impact

Senior Director of Learning & Impact

Position: Full time

Team: Learning / Global Programs Team

Location: Remote

Salary: $152,000 USD

Reports to: Vice President of Global Programs

Supervises: Data and Knowledge Manager

Travel: Up to 10% annually

Application Deadline: Applications will be accepted through August 31, 2026, and reviewed on a rolling basis as they are received. Candidates are encouraged to apply early, as the position may close before the deadline if a strong candidate pool emerges.

WHO WE ARE

At Thousand Currents, we believe the people most affected by injustice are the ones already building the solutions. Around the world, peasant farmers, Indigenous communities, women's collectives, and grassroots movements are organizing across borders to transform food, energy, and the commons as well as the underlying economic systems. Our role is to back them with flexible funding, with the relationships and platforms that amplify their leadership, and with the long-term solidarity that movement-building requires.

Thousand Currents funds, connects, and supports visionary grassroots groups and movements leading solutions in food, climate, and the economy.

We support our movement partners in Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean, and Asia and the Pacific with core, flexible, long-term grants and value-added services.

OUR VALUES

We envision a future where community-led movements have transformed the way we grow food, generate energy, and build economies, creating a world where people and planet thrive together. To realize this vision, we embrace and practice a clear set of values:

• Courage - We confront injustice and inequality with love, strength, conviction, and integrity.
• Humility - We are part of a greater whole. We are one among many currents. We recognize our place among many forces for good and change that exist in the world.
• Experimentation - In order to take principled actions together, we prioritize learning, commit to self-reflection, embrace trial and error, and honor multiple ways of knowing.
• Creative collaboration - We share power, practices, and resources to reimagine new ways of living.
• Interdependence - With our futures intertwined, we respect all beings and build authentic relationships to move forward together.

POSITION OVERVIEW

In late 2025, following extensive consultation with our partners, Thousand Currents embarked on a new strategy. In turn, the organization has been revamping its Learning Framework to guide strategy implementation and adaptation over the coming years.

The Senior Director of Learning & Impact partners with the Executive Team to lead the ongoing work of building the systems, culture, and practices to foster learning across the organization and demonstrate our impact.

As the steward of the Organizational Learning framework, this role provides teams with technical support, and advises on refinements to Learning systems, tools, and processes. While the role has an organization-wide scope, it is positioned in the Global Programs Team, reporting to the VP of Global Programs and with a dotted line to the VP of Operations.

Key Responsibilities:

Functional Leadership & Strategy (30%)

• Serve as internal (and external) champion of Thousand Currents’ values aligned approach to learning, ensuring its clear articulation and supporting embeddedness in practice
• Oversee implementation and on-going refinement of Thousand Currents’ organizational learning framework and related systems in service of the organizational strategy
• Closely collaborate with the Executive Team to ensure shared ownership and accountability for learning across the organization and continuous improvement in organizational learning practices and systems
• Leverage “birds eye view” on organizational learning data and practices to lift up significant cross-team patterns and themes for Executive Team discussion
• Build and regularly refresh staff understanding of the learning framework, including its purpose, logic, connection to their work and their role in the learning process
• Oversee further development of online Learning Platform that integrates existing systems and serves as a “one stop shop” to access accurate learning framework data
• Consult to the VP of Operations to ensure alignment of organization-wide processes and tools for planning, learning and evaluation
• Define annual priorities and budget for the Learning & Impact function, ensuring regular budget monitoring
• Engage peers and maintain knowledge of sector trends and best practices, incorporating relevant insights to inform Thousand Currents’ internal approach
• Represent Thousand Currents in priority learning and evaluation spaces, where engagement will strengthen our practices

Data and Knowledge Production and Dissemination (40%)

• Collaboratively, with relevant staff across teams, develop and/or refine values-aligned organisational methodology, standards, processes and tools to collect and review key data, support analysis and collective sensemaking to inform adaptation
• Ensure integration of data and learning practices and systems across different teams so that they are well aligned and working together to support organizational learning
• In collaboration with the Data & Knowledge Manager, maintain annual rhythms, systems and processes to aggregate information and insights from TC teams to inform collective organizational learning and evaluation
• Closely coordinate with Global Programs team members to support data gathering from grantee partners and lead quality control and analysis efforts
• Ensure that data systems are meeting reporting needs, actively facilitating collective and cross team sense-making as appropriate for aligned data interpretation and analysis
• Steward responsible data practices across the organization including with regard to how data is collected, stored, accessed and used
• In collaboration with the Communications Team, guide the crafting of compelling stories that convey meaningful learnings and insights and support strategic dissemination of key learning

Cultivate a culture and practice of learning (15%)

• Build relationships with colleagues across teams as a foundation for consistent, honest, ongoing collaborative planning, learning, adaptation and impact sharing
• Design and facilitate implementation of periodic organization-wide reflections; galvanizing collective sensemaking the storytelling and accompanying team-based reflection where requested
• Partner with and provide technical assistance to teams to strengthen capacities to embed and make good use of learning systems and practices in their work
• Model and encourage orientations consistent with an organizational culture of continuous learning, experimentation and improvement (ie humility, openness curiosity)
• Support leaders in the organization to utilize evidence and data for decision making and reviewing organizational performance

Staff management, development and support (5%)

• Attract, develop, coach, and retain high-performance team members, empowering them to elevate their level of responsibility and performance and practice the same learning culture that you’re building for the organization
• Thoughtfully navigate power differentials, inviting feedback and practicing self-awareness
• Apply organizational policies consistently and support your staff in understanding and practicing them
• Model and facilitate practices of care and support for realistic workloads
• Foster a collaborative, aligned, and joyful work environment

Organizational Collaboration (10%)

• Show up fully for organizational activities, including staff meetings, retreats, and trainings;
• Pitch in when needed for organization-wide activities, such as the Thousand Currents Academy, annual events, fundraising drives, etc.;
• Manage your own regular administration, including timely submission of receipts, reimbursement requests, scheduling, travel planning, filing HR paperwork etc.
• Model Thousand Currents’ values, contributing to a positive organizational culture

Note: Thousand Currents is committed to responding flexibly to changing circumstances and priorities which means that the expectations of every position are dynamic. This description reflects the assignment of essential functions, but does not proscribe or restrict the tasks that may be assigned.

Qualifications and Experience

We recognize that people gain skills through a variety of experiences. We encourage applications from candidates who meet most of the criteria and are committed to our values.

We are looking for someone who brings most of the following:

• Significant senior-level experience ( 10+ years) leading learning, evaluation, applied research, or a closely related field (in social justice philanthropy, movement-aligned organizations, applied research institutions, or comparable settings.)
• Knowledge base in one or more of Thousand Currents’ thematic areas (e.g., food sovereignty, agroecology, energy democracy, climate justice, stewardship of the commons, and economic justice).
• Experience partnering with social justice and movement formations across, especially in the global majority. Strong preference for candidates who come from the communities we partner with across Latin America & the Caribbean, Africa, Asia & the Pacific.
• A track record of developing and implementing processes that advance rigor and learning across an organization.
• Demonstrated ability to build relationships of trust and effective collaboration as a foundation for learning
• Strong project management experience and excellent organizational skills; able to simultaneously facilitate the work of multiple teams.
• Experience working with CRM and/or knowledge management systems to support learning, data integrity, cross-team collaboration, and organizational reporting.
• Excellent written and oral communication skills; ability to distill and explain complex concepts.
• Experience leading the production of major analytical and knowledge products, including strategic reflections, evaluations, retrospective studies, case studies
• Strong facilitation skills and experience designing and holding spaces for collective sensemaking, reflection, and honest engagement with data.
• Flexibility, creativity and the ability to contribute at both strategic and tactical levels in a fast‑paced, dynamic environment.
• A personal style characterized by humility, self-awareness, accessibility, intellectual curiosity and a genuine team orientation.
• Demonstrated ability to work effectively in a fully remote, geographically dispersed and culturally diverse team, using digital tools to communicate, collaborate, and manage work across multiple timezones.

Please note: We are unable to provide visa sponsorship or relocation assistance.

Physical Requirements

The physical demands of this position are light and may require walking or standing to a significant degree. The position requires frequent computer use at a workstation. Availability to travel and maintenance of a valid passport is required. Travel represents up to 10% of the time for this position. Thousand Currents will make reasonable accommodations in compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990. This job description and its physical requirements will be reviewed periodically as duties and responsibilities change with business necessity.

Equal Employment Opportunity

Thousand Currents is an equal opportunity employer. Applicants shall not be discriminated against because of race, religion, sex, national origin, ethnicity, age, disability, political affiliation, sexual orientation, gender identity, color, marital status, or medical condition including acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS) and AIDS-related conditions.

To Apply

Please submit:

• Your CV or resume
• A targeted cover letter (maximum one page) that describes your ethos and approach to learning and evaluation, along with specific examples of your relevant experience navigating the complexities of this work.

In your cover letter, please focus on your experience rather than general statements of interest.

Application Deadline: Applications will be accepted through August 31, 2026, and reviewed on a rolling basis as they are received. Candidates are encouraged to apply early, as the position may close before the deadline if a strong candidate pool emerges.

If you need accommodations during the application or recruitment process, please contact humanresources@thousandcurrents.org.

Benefits:

• Health, Dental, and Vision cost reimbursement or stipend for employee + dependents, and out of country medical travel insurance for employee
• 10 paid annual holidays + open paid time off policy allowing flexible time off
• Up to 16 weeks of paid parental leave
• Up to $1,000 stipend to set up work space
• Up to $2,000 per fiscal year in wellness stipend, $1,500 per fiscal year for work from home expenses, and up to $2,000 per fiscal year for learning and development
• Retirement contribution paid monthly as a 4% salary boost
• Possibility of sabbatical leave after seven years of employment

Fully fluent in written and spoken English, additional language fluency is a plus