ABOUT Operation End Starvation (OES):

Operation End Starvation (OES) is a new, independent, U.S.-based 501(c)(3) global platform designed to end child deaths from hunger. Built as an American-led public-private partnership, OES is structured to transform how lifesaving malnutrition interventions are financed, procured, and delivered. Cost-effectiveness is OES’s first principle and North Star.

Malnutrition is a leading underlying cause of child deaths globally, contributing to nearly half of all deaths in children under five. Proven, low-cost solutions exist, yet millions of children still die due to poor focus and targeting, fragmented systems, slow funding flows, and bureaucratic delivery constraints.

OES is designed to change that.

By combining catalytic philanthropic capital with large-scale public funding, OES introduces a new model that is:

• Transparent and accountable in how funds are deployed.

• Competitive in how procurement and delivery are structured.

• Lean and fast in execution, removing unnecessary bureaucracy.

• Designed to operate at scale with measurable, lifesaving impact.

OES’s mission is twofold:

• Immediate impact: Rapidly scale delivery of malnutrition treatment to save lives.

• System transformation: Build a durable, multi-donor platform that fundamentally improves how global malnutrition solutions are financed and delivered.

OES already has substantial philanthropic seed funding from a network of foundations, and in July 2026, the U.S. Department of State announced its first $100 million direct investment into the platform. OES is expected to quickly become a central mechanism for moving hundreds of millions of dollars in malnutrition investments worldwide and save millions of lives. OES will drive a historic leap forward in the fight to finally end child deaths from starvation.

APPLICATION INSTRUCTIONS:

To apply, please submit the following to openrecruits@headgloballlc.com with “Portfolio Lead, Sudan” in the subject line:

• A brief cover letter

• Resume or CV

Only shortlisted candidates will be contacted.

POSITION SUMMARY:

The Sudan Portfolio Lead has primary responsibility for programmatic grantmaking, portfolio management, partner performance, and technical oversight across OES’s Sudan portfolio. The role owns OES’s programmatic oversight of its implementing partner portfolio in Sudan and is accountable for what that portfolio delivers against the country strategy. OES's programs are delivered by implementing partners, and the Sudan Portfolio Lead is the person who knows what each partner aims to achieve and the progress they make, as well as what the portfolio as a whole is on track to deliver and where it will overshoot or fall short.

The role works in the technical substance of what OES funds (e.g. delivery models, caseload assumptions, coverage, and costs) and judges what is realistically achievable, by when, and under what conditions. The Sudan Portfolio Lead is OES’s lead counterpart to implementing partners on program design, scope, workplans, performance, and funding decisions, working closely with the Sudan Liaison Officer, who provides in-country political, access, operational, and relationship context. The role leads the processes through which OES evaluates what to fund in Sudan, including solicitation and selection, technical due diligence, andpreparation of funding recommendations for OES leadership. It ensures that sub-awards accurately reflect what partners are expected to deliver, and that OES's funding decisions are documented to a standard that will withstand scrutiny.

The Sudan Portfolio Lead reports to the Director of Global Programs and works in close collaboration with the Sudan Liaison Officer, the Deputy Director of Programs and Partnerships, Sub-Awards and Grants Manager, the Lead for Forecasting and Performance Analytics, and the Global Supply Chain team. The Portfolio Lead owns the programmatic rationale, technical requirements, and performance expectations for OES-funded work in Sudan; the Sub-Awards and Grants Manager owns formal award administration and compliance, with the two working closely throughout the award lifecycle.

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES:

Sudan Portfolio Management: Maintain OES's understanding of what each partner in Sudan is delivering, what the portfolio is on track to achieve, and where it will overshoot or fall short.

• Ensure the Director of Global Programs and OES leadership have a current and accurate view of where the Sudan portfolio stands, what it will take to hit targets, and what will not be achieved.

• Work deeply enough in the technical substance of each partner’s activities - including delivery models, caseload assumptions, coverage, costs, access constraints, and operating conditions - to judge what is realistically achievable, by when, and under what conditions.

• Identify early where a partner's spend rate, delivery rate, or workplan indicates that targets will not be met or will be exceeded, working with the partner and OES to identify performance-related drivers and course corrections.

• Own program delivery and performance risk across the Sudan portfolio, identifying emerging exposure and recommending actions required to mitigate it.

• Recommend expansion, contraction, or replacement of partners to the Director of Global Programs, on the basis of performance and portfolio need, and drawing on the Sudan Liaison Officer's assessment of what is feasible in-country.

Partner Performance Management: Hold OES's implementing partners to what they agreed to deliver, and work with them to close the gap where they are not.

• Serve as OES's lead liaison to implementing partners in Sudan on all matters of program, scope, workplan, and performance.

• Lead candid, regular performance conversations with partners, grounded in delivery data, technical analysis, and operating context, and work with partners to address gaps early.

• Determine, in close collaboration with the Sudan Liaison Officer and wider Global Programs Team, whether a performance gap reflects partner capability, plan design, access constraints, or the wider operating environment, and recommend the appropriate course correction.

• Work with partners on workplan revisions, scope adjustments, and course correction; secure the Director of Global Programs' approval where these change scope, cost, or targets, and bring the resulting requirements to the Sub-Awards and Grants Manager for execution.

Partner Selection, Due Diligence and Funding Decisions: Give OES the evidence, analysis, and record it needs to decide what to fund in Sudan, and to defend those decisions afterward.

• Lead the programmatic and technical aspects of OES’s EOI and RFA processes for Sudan, including design, solicitation strategy, timeline, applicant assessment, and technical review, in close coordination with the Sub-Awards and Grants Manager.

• Capture and structure the inputs from the technical review panel, identifying the patterns, gaps, or concerns that must be arbitrated before a decision can be made.

• Conduct technical and programmatic due diligence on shortlisted applicants, including the credibility of the proposed delivery model, realism of caseload and coverage assumptions, soundness of the cost basis, access strategy, and demonstrated ability to deliver at the proposed scale under Sudan’s operating conditions.

• Prepare an assessment of funding options for the Director of Global Programs and OES senior leadership team, setting out investment scenarios for each option.

• Work with the Sub-Awards and Grants Manager to ensure that sub-awards accurately reflect technical delivery requirements and timelines to hold partners accountable, translating what OES has agreed to fund into the deliverables, targets, and milestones against which performance will be managed.

• Monitor the agreed indicators and conditions for the wasting surge facility and assess whether trigger criteria have been met, in coordination with the relevant analytics, supply chain, and country colleagues.

• Prepare recommendations on surge activation for the Director of Global Programs and Director of Global Supply Chain, setting out the case, proposed scope, cost, partner, timeline, and access considerations, and incorporating the Sudan Liaison Officer’s assessment of operational feasibility.

• Ensure funding decisions are documented to a standard that will withstand scrutiny.

Evaluation and Learning: Ensure OES can measure what its investment in Sudan is achieving and can compare across partners to learn what works.

• Ensure partner agreements, deliverables, and reporting requirements generate the delivery, cost, and performance data needed for OES’s cost-effectiveness analysis and independent evaluation.

• Maintain the comparative view across OES's partners in Sudan and what that comparison tells OES about how it should fund.

• Contribute the operational and technical understanding that allows evaluation findings to be interpreted correctly, including where differences in partner performance reflect context rather than capability or vice versa.

Reporting and Communications: Keep OES's account of the Sudan portfolio accurate, current, and ready for use.

• Produce regular and on-demand reporting on delivery against targets, spend position, partner performance, program delivery risk, and major operating constraints affecting the Sudan portfolio.

• Provide the portfolio content required for OES's donor reporting, working with the Sub-Awards and Grants Manager, and ensure its accuracy.

• Provide the portfolio analysis that informs OES's country strategy for Sudan, and contribute to strategy updates as required.

• Contribute portfolio material to OES's external communications, funder briefings, and Board reporting, in coordination with the Director of Global Programs

Required Experience and Competencies:

• Significant progressive experience in humanitarian or global health programming, including senior responsibility for complex program delivery or grant portfolios in fragile, conflict-affected, or access-constrained settings.

• Substantial experience working in or on Sudan, with a strong understanding of its humanitarian operating environment, access constraints, and delivery landscape. Direct experience with nutrition or wasting treatment programming is strongly preferred.

• Demonstrated experience managing a portfolio of grants or sub-awards through their full lifecycle.

• Experience managing implementing partner relationships and performance directly, including holding partners to agreed deliverables and negotiating course correction where performance falls short.

• Experience leading or substantially supporting competitive funding or partner-selection processes and producing clear, defensible decision records. Familiarity with U.S. Government award requirements, including 2 CFR 200, is preferred.

• Strong quantitative and cost-conscious program judgment, including the ability to assess delivery models, unit costs, caseload and coverage assumptions, and cost-effectiveness, and to translate OES’s analytical requirements into partner deliverables and reporting.

• Working understanding of nutrition supply chains, including how RUTF and therapeutic food availability, access, storage, and last-mile constraints affect what partners can deliver and at what cost; direct supply-chain expertise strongly preferred.

• Strong written communication, with the ability to produce reporting and analysis that leadership can act on without rework.

• Fluency in English and Arabic required; fluency in additional languages spoken in OES's areas of operation strongly preferred.

• Willingness and ability to travel regularly to and within Sudan and meet any visa requirements.

• Ability to meet any work authorization or other legal requirements applicable to the candidate’s primary work location.

WHAT YOU BRING:

• Command of a portfolio: the ability to hold every partner's budget, work plan, spend rate, and delivery position in view at once, and to know which one is about to become an opportunity or a problem.

• The technical depth to get into the substance of what a partner is actually doing and to understand the activity well enough to know whether the target is achievable.

• The ability to build candid, high-trust partner relationships, close enough that partners raise problems early, and clear enough that expectations and accountability are never ambiguous.

• The rigor to run a competitive selection process cleanly: capturing every input, weighting them honestly, and producing a record of decision-making that will withstand scrutiny.

• The judgment and confidence to recommend that OES stop, expand, redirect, or initiate funding - and to make that case with clear evidence.

WHAT OES OFFERS:

• A rare opportunity to take a high-potential early-stage institution from strong initial foundations to scaled global impact.

• The chance to shape how a major public-private platform is built, scaled, and governed.

• A mission-driven, entrepreneurial environment with significant ambition and institutional complexity.

• Close partnership with senior leadership, philanthropy, and policymakers.

• Competitive compensation commensurate with the role's seniority, complexity, and scope.

PLEASE NOTE:

This position is bound by OES’s PSEA Code of Conduct and safeguarding standards, and is responsible for upholding them in all interactions with program participants and communities and for reporting any concern through OES’s designated channels.

The role will be filled through a legally available arrangement, either through an employer of record or as a contracted consultant, depending on the person’s location, work authorization, and applicable legal requirements.

APPLICATION INSTRUCTIONS:

To apply, please submit the following to openrecruits@headgloballlc.com with “Portfolio Lead, Sudan” in the subject line:

• A brief cover letter

• Resume or CV

Only shortlisted candidates will be contacted.