Head of Africa

The application period will close on November 2, 2026, 9:00 am CET.

Background

Global Fishing Watch (GFW) is an international, nonprofit organization committed to advancing ocean governance through increased transparency. Founded in 2015 through a collaboration between Oceana, SkyTruth, and Google, Global Fishing Watch became an independent nonprofit organization in June 2017.

Our organizational strategy is centered on three pillars: 1) countering illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing; 2) strengthening marine protection by improving the design and effectiveness of marine protected areas, and other conservation measures; and 3) generating, and openly sharing actionable, and credible data on human activity at sea – increasing a science-based understanding of what is happening across our ocean and influencing change.

An overarching principle across all GFW’s work is promoting transparency in fishing, and other human activity, at sea in both policy, and practice. In doing so, we aim to realize our vision of a healthy, productive and resilient ocean. Across our work, we strive to make human activity at sea more visible, measurable, and accountable, built on our technology and open data, which empower governments, as well as civil society to improve ocean monitoring alongside management.

Purpose of Role

The Head of Africa Region will provide strategic, and operational leadership for Global Fishing Watch’s Africa portfolio – currently active in Senegal, Gabon, Madagascar, and with sub-regional fisheries bodies, including the Sub-Regional Fisheries Commission (SRFC). This senior leader will be accountable for developing, and driving the Africa regional strategy, leading a distributed regional team, ensuring rigorous financial stewardship, and managing complex grant deliverables alongside partner relationships.

The successful candidate will combine high-level political engagement, in support of public data transparency, efforts to combat illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing, and advance marine protection, consistent with Global Fishing Watch’s strategy; with the operational discipline required to manage multi-country programs, sub-grants, and donor relationships. Crucially, this leader will look beyond their immediate region to contribute to wider organizational objectives, and ensure strong cross-regional alignment, learning, and central organizational cohesion.

Primary Responsibilities

The job holder will have the following key responsibilities:

Regional Strategy and Program Delivery (35%)

• Lead Regional Strategy: Design, implement and regularly evaluate the Africa regional strategy, and work plans, ensuring alignment with Global Fishing Watch’s organizational goals, and impact priorities.
• Advance Data Transparency: Develop and deliver political strategies to secure public commitments for fishing vessel tracking data, and vessel registry data sharing across the continent, with an immediate focus on deepening engagement with the SRFC, along with priority West and East African countries.
• Tool Adaptation and Policy Impact: Work closely with internal technical, and policy teams to adapt our data tools to the explicit needs of partner governments, and NGOs (local and international), positioning regional data cooperation as a cornerstone in the fight against IUU fishing, and achieving the global “30×30” target of protecting 30 percent of the ocean by 2030.
• Partnership Development: Build a continental engagement pipeline of stakeholders, and partners. Identify and assess strategic partnership opportunities, maintaining a clear, and prioritized pipeline for engagement across Africa.

Grant Management and Financial Stewardship (25%)

• Grant Oversight & Reporting: Serve as the primary accountable lead for all Africa regional grant deliverables, ensuring strict compliance, high-quality execution, and timely narrative, alongside financial reporting to funders.
• Sub-Grant and Partner Coordination: Oversee the logistics, compliance, and programmatic performance of complex sub-grants to local, and regional partner organizations.
• Budgeting and Fiscal Discipline: Formulate, track, and maintain the regional budget, working closely with the
• Chief Operating Officer (COO) and Business Finance Director to ensure strong financial controls, clear forecasting, and effective risk management.

Team Leadership and Operational Management (20%)

• Lead and Support the Regional Team: Supervise, mentor and inspire a distributed regional team, fostering a high-performance culture rooted in collaboration, accountability, diversity, equity, and inclusion.
• Drive Performance and Accountability: Establish clear Objectives and Key Results (OKRs), manage day-to-day performance, and review progress.
• Ensure Safe and Effective Operations: Enforce systems, policies and procedures to ensure a safe, secure, compliant, and welcoming work environment across multiple African jurisdictions.

Global Organizational Integration and Strategy (10%)

• Strengthen Cross-Regional Cohesion: Dedicate a strategic portion of time to wider global objectives, actively sharing cross-regional insights, and identifying joint initiatives with other regional heads (LATAM, Med), and project staff (Pacific, Asia).
• Central Alignment: Actively contribute to central organizational initiatives, working groups (e.g., Data Ethics,
• Diversity, Equity and Inclusion), and the evolution of future global work streams.

Fundraising, Partnerships and External Representation (10%)

• Resource Mobilization: Partner directly with the Chief Impact Officer, and the Partnership and Philanthropy team to identify, cultivate, and secure funding streams to sustain, and expand the Africa portfolio.
• Represent Global Fishing Watch externally, and High-Level Diplomacy: Act as the primary spokesperson and face of the organization in Africa, building trusted relationships with government agencies, sub-regional fisheries bodies, intergovernmental bodies, civil society, funders/donors, while representing the organization at international, along with regional forums and conferences.

Profile

Essential Experience and Qualifications

• Senior Leadership Experience: Progressive management experience leading large-scale, multi-country programs in Africa, ideally within an international NGO, intergovernmental agency, or ocean conservation space.
• Grant and Compliance Mastery: Proven track record of managing large, complex, multi-donor grants, including robust financial oversight, sub-grantee management, and rigorous KPI reporting.
• Political Acumen and Diplomacy: Demonstrated success in navigating high-level governmental relationships, ministerial networks, or regional bodies (such as the SRFC/CSRP or African Union) to achieve policy, or transparency outcomes.
• Operational Excellence: Experience working with matrixed internal operations teams to implement standard operating procedures, project management frameworks, while monitoring, evaluation, and learning structures.
• Language: Professional fluency in both English, and French is required.

Desired Attributes

• Comfortable operating at the intersection of technology, data, environmental policy, and ocean governance.
• Strong relationship-builder with the credibility to engage senior government, donor, and civil society stakeholders.
• Strategic thinker with strong operational judgement, and the ability to translate ambition into deliverable plans.
• Committed to transparency, accountability, and responsible use of data for public good.

Terms and Conditions

Employment will be held with an Employee of Record (EOR) contract in the host country.

To apply for the post

To apply for this role, please submit a copy of your CV/resume and a cover letter outlining your interest in the role and how you fulfil the requirements set out in the job announcement by clicking here. Please ensure you send your