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Regional Hub Director

Latin America and the Caribbean

Remote, based in Latin America and the Caribbean

Fixed-Term (6 months)

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Applications for this role are now closed.

Why Focus on School Leadership

The Latin American and the Caribbean (LAC) region faces significant challenges in education due to the impact of COVID-19. According to the World Bank (2022), even before the crisis, 52% of children were experiencing learning poverty—a figure now projected to exceed 70% due to prolonged school closures and unequal access to effective remote learning caused by the digital divide. Recent estimates suggest that students have lost an average of 1.5 years of learning. Moreover, two years of disrupted education may have pushed learning outcomes back by more than a decade.

 

Investing in school leadership offers a promising pathway to improving education quality in LMICs. The 2024/5 Global Education Monitoring (GEM) Report highlights how effective school leadership significantly impacts student learning, teacher practices, and overall school performance. Key findings include:

  • Instructional leadership improves teaching quality in 32 countries.

  • Effective school management correlates positively with student learning outcomes in 65 countries.

  • Despite this, school leaders are under-supported:

    • Over 70% of countries expect school leaders to facilitate staff professional development, yet many leaders themselves receive no such training.

    • Around 30% of countries mandate induction and training for new school leaders.

    • Only 49% of countries have national professional standards for school leaders.

    • Around 63% of countries use competitive recruitment processes for school leaders.

    • In 14 LMICs, school leaders spend 68% of their time on administrative tasks, limiting their focus on instructional leadership.

These findings underscore the critical need to invest in and support school leadership as a lever for improving education systems across the LAC region.

In this role, you will

We are looking for a strategic network facilitator to advance our collective mission as the Director of our Latin America and Caribbean Hub. The Regional Hub Director will report to GSL, and will drive all Hub-related activities. The role will include, but not be limited to:

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Strategize the vision of the Hub (20%)

  • Review the strategy designed for the LAC Hub and organize the planned activities for the year

  • Develop an engagement strategy by consulting with the co-convenors to onboard all the Hub participants, and keep the co-convenors appraised of the workings of the Hub by sharing progress reports

  • Organize and execute the meetings, workshops, and events

 

Manage the Hub’s ongoing activities (50%)

  • Map strengths from within the network, and connect stakeholders to help and support each other

  • Work with the Hub members to build local coalitions and define shared priorities

  • Help the Hub participants find answers and solutions to their school leadership challenges and needs

  • Constantly engage with the Hub’s members to understand their focus areas, and to engage with them about school leadership

 

Engage the wider educational ecosystem (15%)

  • Hold regular consultations with the educational ecosystem players who are not directly involved in the Hub

  • Share the learnings and takeaways from the consultations with the convenors, and course correct the direction of the Hub 

 

Contribute to the sustained functioning of the Hub (15%)

  • Help with the ongoing fundraising efforts for the Hub 

  • Explore and talk to potential supporters of the Hub

The Latin America and the Caribbean Hub for School Leadership

While school leadership is an emerging, critical issue for civil society organizations, national and multi-national level government agencies, donors, multilateral organizations and academics, these stakeholders often lack dedicated spaces for collaboration, dialogue, and shared learning. This fragmentation limits the sector's ability to understand the work being done, generate robust evidence, scale impactful initiatives, and advance public policies that support school leadership development.

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GSL is setting up work to build enabling conditions for school leaders at national and regional levels. In the LAC region, GSL partnered with 6 local organizations —Centro Lemann in Brazil, Fundación Coppel and Educando in México, Empresarios por la Educación in Colombia, Enseña Perú in Perú, and the Varkey Foundation in Argentina— to co-develop the The Latin America and the Caribbean Hub for School Leadership. This Hub is envisioned as a platform to connect NGOs focused on school leadership across the region, leveraging their collective expertise to drive systemic change and elevate school leadership as a cornerstone for improving the quality and equity of education. For more details on the Hub’s development and our progress so far, click here.

Candidate Qualifications
Required Qualifications 

(we will use these in our screening process; if you do not meet each of these, you will be denied)

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  • Based in, and originally from, Latin America or the Caribbean

  • Full professional fluency in Spanish and English (spoken and written)

  • At least 10 years of experience in working in leadership positions in regional/national governments in the LAC region OR working in leadership positions within organizations that work extensively with governments in the LAC region

  • Experience in taking a project from ideation to implementation

  • Proven success in leading big projects with multiple stakeholders from different sectors, who often have competing interests and priorities

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Preferred Qualifications 

(these will not be used for screening purposes; if you feel you have some but not all of these, you are still encouraged to apply)

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  • Experience in leading research work and researchers to efficiently gather information on policies and program implementations, and to track them in an easy-to-use manner

  • Project management experience, with a proven ability to manage multiple deadlines while maintaining high-quality standards

  • Strong public speaking and communication skills, with the ability to communicate complex ideas to different audiences

  • Experience in partnership development, including experience in major donor cultivation, stewardship, and retention.

  • Demonstrates a generalist mindset with the ability to adapt quickly, learn new skills, and willingly contribute to tasks outside of primary responsibilities as the Hub’s needs arise.

  • Demonstrated commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion

Daily Work:

  • Contract duration: The pilot year for the Hub will run from June 2025 to December 2025. 

  • Workload: We anticipate that the time commitment during the first six months will be approximately 20 hours per week. The workload may be less in some weeks and more in others depending on project needs. There is a possibility that this work might extend past the original 6-month contract. In that case, the number of hours required could increase up to 40 hours per week. Specific weekly workload and time commitments will be determined based on the individual candidate's skills and experience.

  • Travel: No travel is expected at this stage and all activities will be conducted remotely. Regional travel might become possible if additional funding is secured.

  • Materials: The candidate must have internet access and access to a computer. These will not be provided for you.

  • Schedule flexibility: We are a fully remote organization and apart from meetings, you can organize your work in a way that suits you best, with lots of flexibility in when and where you work. Please note that in this role you will be working with many external stakeholders and GSL team members, so you will need flexibility in your schedule to accommodate these meetings and might need to have meetings both during and outside of regular business hours.

Work Location and Remuneration

The candidate can be based in any country in Latin America and the Caribbean. The candidate must have work authorization in their place of residence, as GSL is not able to sponsor employment visas. The candidate must have the ability to travel internationally as well as within the country.  

 

The full payment for the six month’s engagement will be between $11,550 – $14,850 USD and will be paid in the local currency where the candidate is based — for example, 13.437.000 – 17.276.000 ARS, 226,190 – 290,800 MXN, or 49.690.000 – 63.888.000 COP. Final compensation and workload will be determined based on a holistic assessment of the consultant's profile, encompassing experience, skills, availability, and the project's specific requirements. Adjustments may be made to balance varying skill levels or availability. We aim to establish a balanced arrangement that reflects your specific qualifications and the value you bring to the project.

Commitment to Diversity

GSL is an equal-opportunity employer.  We value diversity and are committed to creating an inclusive work environment for all employees - across nationalities, races, ethnicity, religions, economic backgrounds, sexual orientations, disabilities, languages, ages, genders, and prior experiences. In our hiring, we seek those with an inclusive mindset and who notice and correct inequities when they arise. 

Child Safeguarding

GSL is committed to safeguarding children. Background checks may be conducted as part of the hiring process. All team members are asked to agree to a safeguarding policy.

Applications for this role are now closed.

What we look for

Passion

You believe passionately that students can achieve at high levels, that education systems can be designed to ensure that achievement, and that developing school leaders is a key element in doing so.

Learning

You love to learn - from others, from research, from your work - and you are open to saying that you do not know the answer to a question, but that you will go and find the answers. You are also willing to help others on the team learn and are generous with your knowledge.

Leadership

You welcome opportunities to lead. Because we are a small team, everyone has a voice and has opportunities to lead meetings and projects. 

Relationships

You set a high bar for yourself and for others both in the work you produce and in the way you form relationships. You demonstrate care for others, and you think about the impact you have on those around you. You seek out, listen to and value the voices of those closest to children - students, teachers, school leaders, and our partners.

Self-Starter

You are a self-starter and great at managing your time. Because of our remote work, you will have a very flexible schedule but high expectations for what you accomplish during your work time. (Please note, though, that due to our team being spread across the globe, meetings may need to be scheduled at very early morning hours (5 or 6am) or very late evening/night hours (10 or 11pm).

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About GSL

School leaders have the potential to make incredible changes in the lives of students by building a strong school culture and helping teachers provide great instruction. Yet, school leadership has not been prioritized in low and middle-income countries. GSL works to change that through the following workstreams:
 

  1. We catalyze and support local partner organizations to deliver and scale high-quality training to school leaders. 
     

  2. We generate insights from our partners and the broader research community to inform education policymakers, researchers, and practitioners on the best ways to support and develop strong school leadership. 
     

  3. We connect our partner organizations with each other for deep learning between themselves and amongst the broader school leadership community - governments, funders, and policymakers.

We are a small but mighty remote team spread across the globe. We care about each other, and we care about the work.

In eight years, we have: 
 

  • Partnered with organizations in over 14 countries in the Global South and have supported over 13,000 school leaders, reaching approximately 2.3 million students.
     

  • Published three evidence reviews on what is known about school leadership globally, as well as an annual survey that helps the policy community hear school leaders' voices on their ground realities and the support they need in their roles.
     

  • Become one of the leading voices in conversations about school leadership in the global south, being asked to speak at conferences and webinars throughout the world, and being recognized for our work. In 2021, HundrED, in partnership with the World Bank, recognized GSL as one of the top ten impactful and scalable solutions that support teachers’ professional development. 
     

  • Established the School Leadership Network with the International Task Force on Teachers for Education 2030 hosted by UNESCO and the Varkey Foundation to convene online meetings with 150+ experts and 1000+ school leaders from 100+ countries to foster peer learning, share innovative practices, and strengthen school leaders’ voice in policy circles.
     

  • Expanded our work to support needs during COVID in the Philippines, Ghana, Uganda, Nigeria, and Peru.

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