Senior Technical Advisor – Secondary Education & Transitions

About the role

This senior position supports the Mastercard Foundation’s Secondary Education & Transitions (SET) platform, advising senior leadership on strategy, program design and stakeholder engagement across Africa. The role reports to the Senior Director, SET and serves as a trusted technical partner to both the foundation and external education actors.

Key responsibilities

• Advise on the development of education strategies, transformative initiatives and program design across the SET portfolio.
• Provide expert insight on education systems, policy trends and emerging opportunities throughout Africa.
• Support the design of sustainable, system‑level interventions that improve learning outcomes and youth transitions to work.
• Cultivate and strengthen relationships with governments, ministries, education institutions, development partners and other ecosystem actors.
• Contribute to thought leadership, evidence generation, policy engagement and ecosystem convenings.
• Serve as a strategic sounding board to senior leaders while remaining hands‑on in program delivery and implementation.

Required profile

• Respected education expert with deep knowledge of African education systems.
• Demonstrated ability to combine strategic thinking with a hands‑on approach.
• Comfortable challenging ideas, influencing senior stakeholders and navigating complex environments.
• Visionary, innovative, intellectually curious and passionate about scaling education transformation.
• Collaborative and influential with strong stakeholder engagement skills.

Required skills