Administration Operations Manager
GiveDirectly · Lilongwe · $3,000/month (stated in the posting)
About GiveDirectly
What if the most effective way to fight poverty was also the simplest: give people money and trust them to decide what they need?
Since 2011, GiveDirectly has proven that idea at scale. We’ve delivered more than $1B in cash directly to 2+ million people living in poverty and crisis across 15 countries, and rigorous research shows the results: healthier kids, stronger businesses, sturdier homes, and more resilient families and local economies. Cash is now widely recognized as one of the most scalable, cost-effective, and dignified forms of aid.
Our ambition goes beyond our own programs. We want cash to become the benchmark for aid, much as the index fund became the benchmark for investing, so that every aid dollar is held to one question: is this doing more good than giving the money directly to people living in poverty?
We’re growing fast, and this is a rare and important moment to join.
We expect to hit $1B in revenue in 2026 with significant growth forecast for 2027. At the same time we are building a new technology stack and operating model designed for a roughly 10x change in scale, and we are actively pursuing partnerships with major funders to move even more money in bigger ways, to people who need it. We are known for our extensive integration of technology into field processes; our quantitative approach to performance measurement; and our commitment to rigorous, independent, experimental evaluation of our impact, with multiple Randomized Control Trials completed and others in progress.
How we work
Our team spans 20+ countries and 69 languages. Our culture is candid, analytical, and non-hierarchical. We expect high ownership and give people real responsibility early. Our values are central to how we hire, work, and grow, and they are deliberately opinionated:
- Recipients first. Recipients’ preferences come before those of donors or ourselves.
- Team next. We optimize for organizational success, not individual success.
- Be proactively candid. We say what we believe and share information openly.
- Create positive energy. We aim to be a source of energy for colleagues, not a drain.
- Think rigorously; act quickly. We reason from first principles, then act rather than debate.
- Know yourself and grow. We own our imperfections and seek feedback to grow.
- Accept reality. Propose solutions. We focus on what can change and bring solutions, not just problems.
- Be productively ambitious. We take risks for step-change impact, not incremental progress.
If they describe how you like to work and they energize you, this could be a great fit.
Want to learn more? Read and listen:
We are one of Time100’s Most Influential Companies of 2026, and our work has been covered by The Economist, NPR, TED, and The Washington Post. We're now preparing to deliver billions of dollars a year to people in extreme poverty, if funding allows. Read our CEO's essay on what that will take.
Role overview:
GiveDirectly Malawi has grown steadily since its introduction in 2019 and in 2025 launched our most ambitious program and research agenda yet, delivering funds across an entire district alongside the largest-ever randomized trial on unconditional cash.
The Admin. Operations Manager runs the administrative engine of the country office. They are accountable for the functions every team depends on but few see: vendor and casual labour payments, petty cash, office premises and security oversight, field and office assets management, transport and logistics, visitor coordination, and regulatory compliance. When these work, programs move. When they slip, the cost lands on recipients, staff and vendors alike.
The Admin. Operations Manager is a people manager first. They lead a cross-site team of associates and support staff, and they are expected to build capability, not just allocate tasks. They work in close partnership with the Procurement & Warehousing Manager, with Finance on payments and reconciliations, and with the Programs team on the logistics that field operations require. They advise the Operations Director and Country Director on administrative planning, budget and process improvement.
Responsibilities:
Payments, petty cash and expense management
- Own the end-to-end payment cycle for vendors, contractors and casual labour: validate invoice and timesheet authenticity, match each to goods or services actually received, assemble the full documentation pack, check the ledger for duplicates, and submit through the agreed payment request workflow.
- Hold the team to a standing target of no overdue supplier invoices.
- Apply the correct withholding and statutory tax treatment to each payment, and share filing proof with the payments team.
- Follow payments through to settlement with Finance, maintain the payables tracker, and reconcile vendor accounts and payment discrepancies.
- Run the petty cash cycle end to end — float request, retirement with receipts and memo, review and complete documentation — and produce the month-end cash count certificate.
- Train staff across the country office on the payment and expense systems and on documenting expenditure correctly.
Office premises, facilities and security
- Oversee upkeep of the country and field offices, liaising with landlords on maintenance, and maintain the utilities, connectivity and supplies the office needs to operate without interruption.
- Scope and secure field office locations as programs require, furnish them to standard within the agreed lead time, and manage relocation and closure.
- Manage office access and guard services, holding providers to the agreed scope of service.
- Act as the office focal point for day-to-day safety and security practice, and escalate incidents in line with policy.
- Provide and maintain a safe work environment, including adequate first aid facilities and protective equipment for field staff, as per GD standards or national regulations.
Office and field asset management
- Maintain a complete register of office and field assets — equipment, furniture, IT hardware and general supplies — updated monthly with new purchases, movements and disposals, with all assets tagged, allocated and tracked.
- Conduct quarterly asset verification against the register and report exceptions.
- Enforce staff protocols on handling and safe storage of GD property, and recover and reallocate assets when staff exit or projects close.
- Forecast asset replacement, run the annual disposal cycle, and manage disposal of obsolete, damaged, lost or stolen assets with the required documentation and approvals.
- Procure and maintain insurance coverage for office assets and vehicles, and manage claims.
Transport, logistics and visitor coordination
- Oversee the office vehicle fleet and the Logistics Officers who operate it, including scheduling, maintenance, fuel management and cost control against the field transport budget.
- Coordinate staff travel — flights, accommodation and ground transport — and oversee logistics for high-priority visitors.
- Lead on visas and permits for GiveDirectly visitors and employees, and prepare supporting and invitation letters for visa applications.
- Coordinate transport of materials and staff to field locations.
- Support office functions and team events, including retreats and field-site logistics.
Team leadership and capability building
- Lead the administration team across the country office and every field base: coordination, prioritisation, coaching, and quality assurance of deliverables.
- Supervise office facilities and support staff — cleaners, catering staff and Logistics Officers — to maintain an orderly and functional office.
- Hire, onboard and performance-manage direct reports, including verifying timesheets, leave and attendance.
- Complete Quarterly Development Discussions (QDDs) for all direct reports on the global performance cycle, using them to set development goals and track progress.
- Ensure SOPs and templates are in place, understood and used consistently across all sites.
- Enable rapid scale-up: for each new field office, recruit and orient the Field Admin Associate, cleaners and transport support needed for the site to open on time.
Systems, risk and compliance
- Improve back-office systems — payments workflow, records, office administration — so they support delivery at scale rather than constraining it.
- Assess resource and capacity gaps across the administration function on an ongoing basis and plan ahead to fill them.
- Maintain compliance with GiveDirectly policy, donor requirements, the code of conduct and Malawian regulation, implementing preventive controls and fixing process weaknesses before they become findings.
- Build expertise within the team on the national and local regulatory environment and compliance requirements.
- Support Finance and Internal Audit through review processes, providing payment and asset documentation, reconciling discrepancies and closing out findings.
- Lead development of the annual administration budget under the guidance of the Operations Director, review actual against planned spend, and flag variances early.
- Advise the Operations Director and Country Director on administrative planning and process improvement.
Desired qualifications:
- 5-7 years of work experience in office administration, operations or business support roles, including experience owning a payments or financial administration function.
- Bachelors/Masters in business administration, management or a relevant field.
- Strong alignment with GD values, and active demonstration of our core competencies: emotional intelligence, problem solving, project management, follow-through, and fostering inclusivity.
- Experienced people manager with demonstrated ability to deliver results through others and set up strong management processes, ideally across multiple sites.
- Sound working knowledge of payment processing, invoice validation, statutory tax treatment and basic financial controls.
- Exceptional ability to logic through complex operational questions & run robust analyses to inform management and programming decisions.
- Exceptional written & verbal communication skills to be deployed for a range of audiences (field teams, local and global leadership teams, regulatory authorities, service providers etc.).
- Excellent interpersonal skills and a collaborative management style.
- Enthusiasm for fast-paced environments, which may lack a pre-defined playbook for success and involve significant "learning by doing".
- Fluency in English and Chichewa, and willingness to travel to field sites within Malawi.
Working at GiveDirectly
GiveDirectly is an Equal Opportunity Employer. All qualified applicants are considered for employment without regard to the person’s race, color, religion, national origin, sex, sexual orientation, age, marital status, veteran status, disability, or any other characteristic protected by applicable law.
Flagging for US applicants: We invite you to "Know Your Rights" as an applicant.
Commitment to Safeguarding
As a global organization working with communities to eliminate extreme poverty, GiveDirectly takes the safeguarding of its recipients, staff, and partners seriously. To that end, GiveDirectly is a member of the Misconduct Disclosure Scheme, and will systematically check with previous employers about any abuse or misconduct related matters involving potential new hires. We may also employ other robust pre-hire screens, including in-depth reference checks, criminal background checks, and sanctions screens.
These efforts help us continue to build and maintain trust with the communities we work with, and prevent abuse to our recipients and staff.
**GD is committed to observing all local, national and international laws that protect people and basic human rights of all. GD is committed to a policy of “zero tolerance when it comes to preventing, reporting, or responding to any form of abuse or exploitation.” and expects anyone who works for GD to uphold the protection and safeguarding of our recipients as a priority.**
Reasonable Accommodations
We are committed to fostering an inclusive and accessible work environment. If you require any accommodations during the application or interview process, or to perform the essential functions of the role, please email us at careers@givedirectly.org with the email subject “Accommodation Needed”. We will work with you to ensure reasonable accommodations are made to support your needs.
Want to put your best foot forward on your GiveDirectly application? Take a look at our Candidate Application Prep Guide!
Referrals
Know the right person for this role? Please consider referring them. We offer a reward of $3,000 for a Senior Manager or above role, and $500 for a Manager role, paid if we end up hiring your referral. Thank you for sending great people our way!