Global Senior Manager, Behavior Change at VisionSpring

• The global senior manager designs the customer journey, from building awareness of the need for vision correction to eyeglasses purchase, in communities where 75% of VisionSpring customers are buying glasses for the first time ever, connecting authentically with customers in order to overcome barriers of stigma and affordability so all people can see clearly to succeed in school, work, and life. The person in this role supports and develops local teams and activating partners to dig deeply into consumer and cultural insights, identifies the ecosystem influencers and opportunities, innovates new approaches to customer engagement and experiences, creates effective behavior change campaigns and evidence-based marketing toolkits, drives collective action, strengthens partner relationships, and identifies new avenues of impact and revenue.
• The global senior manager provides vision, strategic direction, and leadership for VisionSpring and its coalition partners in nine key markets—Ghana, Bangladesh, Uganda, Kenya, India, Vietnam, Nigeria, Zambia, and Malawi—building on and expanding an evolving portfolio of strategic programs and projects. VisionSpring initiatives focus on demand generation and mobilization initiatives for our business models and programs operating in multiple markets. Collaborative action initiatives advance the objectives of the Clear Vision Collective (Bangladesh and Uganda) and emerging behavior change initiatives of the Coalition for Clear Vision (India and Kenya).
• The global senior manager works with the executive directors and in-country coordinators of the two coalition partnerships as clients and collaborators, and serves as a member of the coalition marketing committees. This position reports to VisionSpring’s global director of marketing and communications (based in Chicago, U.S.) and may be located in Nairobi, Kenya or Accra, Ghana.

About You

• Strategic Ideation: You foster the development of ideas and solutions, drawing on and synthesizing insights from customers and data. You inspire unique strategies, testing and improving upon them to about desired customer behaviors.
• Adaptability: You adapt to different cultural contexts, market dynamics, and unforeseen challenges. You are flexible and adjust to suit diverse markets.
• Relator: You build strong relationships within your team and with partners/clients with diverse perspectives. You build trust and foster collaboration across borders and amid competing priorities.
• Maximizer: You apply lean principles to optimize resources. You identify unique team strengths and market leverage points to achieve the best possible results.
• Communication: You shine in conveying ideas and information in clear, expressive language¾written, spoken, and visual. You are quick to get thoughts on paper and ensure messages are well-received.

About Us

• VisionSpring is creating access to affordable eyewear, everywhere. Clear vision creates opportunities for increased learning, work, safety, civic participation, and quality of life.
• As a social enterprise, social change motivates us first. Our focus on sales and revenue targets serves and advances our mission objective—to increase functioning, productivity, and income earning potential for our low-income consumers by correcting refractive error with eyeglasses.
• We are working to transform the systemic dysfunction of an optical market that has failed to deliver eyeglasses—a 700-year-old technology—to 1.1 billion consumers in need of vision correction, most of whom live on less than $4 a day.
• We serve low-income consumers, not as beneficiaries but as customers. Our customers expect a high-quality and affordable product, and they will spend limited discretionary income for the immediate and tangible benefits of vision correction.
• By selling eyeglasses, we awaken new demand and seed a viable market. By selling new eyeglasses we are able to serve four times as many people per dollar input than the alternative of donating recycled ones. To efficiently scale, we must deliver each new unit with lower cost.
• We run our business on both sales metrics and social impact measures. We use a range of organizational forms and practices to get the job done.
• We believe in scaling our impact, not our organization. We are a lean team of doers.

What You’ll Do

Behavior Change Campaign Development and Execution

• Guide qualitative and quantitative research with local and technical experts for strategy and creative development, including knowledge, attitude, and practices (KAP) surveys, and market/customer segmentation.
• Develop a customer-centric approach across the consumer journey.
• Design, plan, and execute effective demand generation campaigns with local partners.
  • Oversee request for proposal (RFP) processes to contract and engage external parties;
  • Guide creatives in developing collateral and campaign content; and
  • Engage team members and partner organizations in using their capacities and relationships to deliver campaigns in communities.
• Pilot innovative behavior change strategies and tactics. Test and roll-out integrated marketing campaigns across various channels, including social and print, grassroots initiatives, and community activation.
• Support collective action for greater impact, including oversight of project workplans and progress.
• Build brand awareness, understanding, and equity.

Toolkit Creation and Knowledge Sharing

• Measure campaign effectiveness and capture lessons learned for future initiatives.
• Analyze campaign performance across markets. Extract key insights into the efficacy of different campaign elements, tactics, and approaches, and synthesize results into actionable recommendations and best practices.
• Create evidence-based marketing toolkits—templates, guidelines, and case studies—that stakeholders can adapt for use in their unique contexts, including: market analysis, consumer insights and audience segmentation, brand strategy (based on existing brand guidelines), marketing strategy (5 Ps), and monitoring and evaluation.
• Facilitate workshops and training sessions to disseminate toolkit content; share knowledge to help organizations across the eyecare sector improve their marketing and behavior change efforts.

Requirements

• Minimum of 15 years of experience in marketing strategy roles with progressive responsibility in multiple international markets.
• Nonprofit experience in international development or social enterprise with collaborative action as a key program component.
• Leadership experience in coordinating with partners, external agencies, campaign development, and developing messaging architecture, including for branding, product/service sales, and consumer behavior change.
• Experience working in creative agencies and/or guiding local agency partners in media planning and creative campaign development.
• Outstanding English skills in writing, editing, and interpersonal communications.
• Experience marketing to low-income consumers and/or clients serving this segment in global geographies.
• In-depth knowledge of market research and the ability to turn data into actionable insights and evidence-based marketing toolkits.
• Master’s degree or higher in a relevant field.
• Impeccable attention to detail with strong project management, organizational, and analytical skills.
• Commitment to working respectfully across diverse teams.
• Able to travel, up to 15% of time, for domestic and international assignments to locations with limited infrastructure.
• Must be legally and permanently authorized to work in Ghana or Kenya.