Background

Rwanda Center for Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI Center) is a national institution hosted at the Rwanda Information Society Authority (RISA), under the Ministry of ICT and Innovation (MINICT), and implemented in partnership with Access to Finance Rwanda (AFR). Established in 2025, the Centre coordinates the design, demonstration, and scaling of the foundational digital rails that connect Rwanda's digital ecosystem. The Center holds two interlocking mandates: building Rwanda's foundational DPI stack and operating as Africa's Center of Excellence for Instant and Inclusive Payment Systems.

The Center's active portfolio spans the foundational DPI building blocks Rwanda has prioritized, including instant payments, digital identity, data exchange and consent frameworks, cross-border digital trade, and many other sector specific Digital Publicinfrastructures initiatives. The portfolio is delivered in partnership with leading philanthropic and multilateral funders.

About the Role:

The Head of Programs holds end-to-end accountability for delivery across the Center's portfolio. You’ll run the centre’s day-to-day across portfolio execution, reporting, monitoring and evaluation, team leadership, and inter-institutional coordination.

This is a senior delivery role in a centre operating on national and regional scale, with concurrent obligations to multiple partners on differing reporting cycles. The successful candidate will be technically credible, operationally disciplined, and effective in interfacing with government, development partners, and the private sector.

Organization:

Rwanda DPI Center — Rwanda Information Society Authority (RISA)

Position:

Head of Programs

Department:

Programs and Delivery

Location:

Kigali, Rwanda

Contract Type:

Full-time

Reports To:

Director, Rwanda DPI Center

Employee No:

S002

Responsibilities and Duties

Portfolio Delivery and Accountability:

• Hold end-to-end accountability for delivery across all active DPI Center programs, from inception to closure.
• Own the consolidated program tracker and lead weekly program execution schedules and reviews.
• Manage funder reporting across the portfolio, ensuring alignment with grant agreements, compliance with disbursement requirements, and audit readiness at every reporting cycle.
• Track milestone delivery against all workplans. Timely flag risks before milestones are due.
• Serve as the Center's day-to-day program contact with sectors, implementing agencies and partner organizations.

Team Leadership and Institutional build:

• Line manages a growing team of Program Officers, Data Analyst, and program coordinators.
• Set and review quarterly delivery targets for each team member.
• Lead recruitment and onboarding for the programs function as the Center scales. Identify resource gaps and escalate hiring needs in advance of operational impact.
• Build delivery as institutional capability: standard operating procedures, decision logs, and handover documentation that survive staff transitions.

Monitoring, Evaluation and Evidence:

• Design and operate the Center's monitoring and evaluation framework, defining indicators, data collection routines, and verifiable evidence repositories across DPI use cases.
• Produce quarterly impact reports that meet required compliance requirements and support the Center's institutional positioning.
• Maintaining a living DPI evidence base that demonstratees real-world impact suitable for reporting, regional benchmarking, and Center publications.

Inter-Institutional Coordination

• Coordinate with national operators,fiscal partners, and sector ministries on use case implementation. Maintain scope discipline across the portfolio.
• Support the Director in funder governance forums and partner reviews. Represent the Center in technical working groups where appropriate.

What We Are Looking For:

Required:

• Minimum 10 years of professional experience, with at least 5 years in leading delivery of complex, multi-funder programs at national scale.
• Demonstrated delivery experience in at least one foundational DPI domain: instant payment systems, digital identity, data exchange platforms, or cross-border digital infrastructure. General program management experience without a DPI or digital financial services track record will not be sufficient.
• Working knowledge of DPI safeguards, interoperability standards, and open-source DPI building blocks.
• Track record of managing programs funded by multilateral or philanthropic institutions, including grant compliance, disbursement mechanics, and audit readiness.
• Proven leadership capabilities with a commitment to team mentorship and professional development.
• Bachelor’s degree in computer science, Information Technology, Engineering, Public Policy, or Business Administration or related fields.
• Fluency in English. Working Knowledge of French or Kinyarwanda is an asset.

Strong Assets:

• Master’s degree in digital transformation, ICT Policy, Project Management, or Business Administration (MBA) or related fields.
• Certification in PMP, PRINCE2, or Agile/SAFe certification or equivalent demonstrated experience.
• Familiarity with the Rwandan public sector delivery context.
• Demonstrated success in delivering outcomes on national funded programs
• Direct delivery experience in two or more African markets.

How You Work

You operate at strategic and implementation levels in parallel, translating requirements into delivery actions and delivery realities into funder narratives.

You build durable systems: documentation, decision logs, and handover-ready files. The function should run reliably in your absence.

What We Offer:

A senior leadership package commensurate with the role. Full details will be discussed with shortlisted candidates.Beyond compensation, this role offers the opportunity to build a regionally significant institution at a formative stage, working directly with leading global partners and senior government leadership, and shaping how DPI is delivered across the African continent.

• Hold end-to-end accountability for delivery across all active DPI Center programs, from inception to closure.
• Own the consolidated program tracker and lead weekly program execution schedules and reviews.
• Manage funder reporting across the portfolio, ensuring alignment with grant agreements, compliance with disbursement requirements, and audit readiness at every reporting cycle.
• Track milestone delivery against all workplans. Timely flag risks before milestones are due.
• Serve as the Center's day-to-day program contact with sectors, implementing agencies and partner organizations.
• Line manages a growing team of Program Officers, Data Analyst, and program coordinators.
• Set and review quarterly delivery targets for each team member.
• Lead recruitment and onboarding for the programs function as the Center scales. Identify resource gaps and escalate hiring needs in advance of operational impact.
• Build delivery as institutional capability: standard operating procedures, decision logs, and handover documentation that survive staff transitions.
• Design and operate the Center's monitoring and evaluation framework, defining indicators, data collection routines, and verifiable evidence repositories across DPI use cases.
• Produce quarterly impact reports that meet required compliance requirements and support the Center's institutional positioning.
• Maintaining a living DPI evidence base that demonstratees real-world impact suitable for reporting, regional benchmarking, and Center publications.
• Coordinate with national operators,fiscal partners, and sector ministries on use case implementation. Maintain scope discipline across the portfolio.
• Support the Director in funder governance forums and partner reviews. Represent the Center in technical working groups where appropriate.

• Technical credibility
• Operational discipline
• Effective interfacing with government, development partners, and the private sector
• Team mentorship and professional development
• Fluency in English
• Working knowledge of French or Kinyarwanda (asset)
• PMP, PRINCE2, or Agile/SAFe certification or equivalent demonstrated experience (strong asset)
• Familiarity with the Rwandan public sector delivery context (strong asset)
• Direct delivery experience in two or more African markets (strong asset)

• Minimum 10 years of professional experience, with at least 5 years in leading delivery of complex, multi-funder programs at national scale.
• Demonstrated delivery experience in at least one foundational DPI domain: instant payment systems, digital identity, data exchange platforms, or cross-border digital infrastructure.
• Working knowledge of DPI safeguards, interoperability standards, and open-source DPI building blocks.
• Track record of managing programs funded by multilateral or philanthropic institutions, including grant compliance, disbursement mechanics, and audit readiness.
• Proven leadership capabilities.
• Bachelor’s degree in computer science, Information Technology, Engineering, Public Policy, or Business Administration or related fields.
• Master’s degree in digital transformation, ICT Policy, Project Management, or Business Administration (MBA) or related fields (strong asset).