Deadline: Applications close October 25, 2026 at 5:00 pm UTC
Total compensation package: $8,000-$9,000 USD per month
Location: Remote – but must be within UTC-5 and UTC+2 time zones (NO EXCEPTIONS)
Who we are
The Engine Room (TER) is a nonprofit organization with a distributed global team of experienced and committed activists, researchers, technologists and community organizers. Our vision is for social justice movements to use technology and data in safe, responsible and strategic ways, while actively mitigating the vulnerabilities created by digital systems. Since 2011, we have supported more than 800 organizations, big and small, from different corners of the globe. As a result of our work, humanitarian organizations have reconsidered using questionable technologies, more funders are managing grantee data in responsible ways, and many more activist groups have developed robust technical infrastructures and data management practices.
TER is soliciting applications for a Senior Director for Programs. This role will help us deepen and expand our organizational and team capacity to support partners with community-grounded approaches to resilient data and security practices, digital rights, and the exploration of tools – be they cutting edge or low/no-tech solutions. This person will be a member of the senior and expanded leadership teams and will work closely with the Executive Director and Senior Director for Organizational Health. Learn more about our current work on our website.
Role Overview
Our ideal candidate and new team member brings strong programmatic leadership skills and is interested in the work we do now and excited about working with the team on where we go next. The thruline is a commitment to staying community-centered and Majority World focused.
To grow and thrive, the new Senior Director for Programs needs to be good at and excited about:
- Growing local partnerships and community-building
- Connect with partners and communities in meaningful and enduring ways.
- Expand how we learn from our partners and better understand our contributions in partnerships, improve the work we do and stretch our skillsets.
- Build compelling narratives about our work – and be forward-thinking about the narratives we are putting out.
- Strategic thought leadership
- Contribute alternative, disruptive and experimental ways of thinking to projects – and fresh perspectives from other experiences and places
- Connect the bigger picture by being grounded in the current context and our communities, while making connections to future work and partnerships.
- Build team and project leadership capacity for our programmatic work
- Be a leadership presence within programmatic work. Embrace the opportunity to know who we are – and re-invent TER and implement projects in new ways while supporting the team members and projects who work on them.
- Understand current tech and tech processes at a deep enough level to support our projects and team and also be able to look to the future (don’t have to be an engineer but a solid technologist background is preferred)
How to apply
The deadline for applications for these positions is October 25, 2026 at 5:00 pm UTC. You can expect to hear from us about the status of your application within 2 weeks of the deadline.
Applications should be submitted at this link which will take you to our instance on the HR Partner platform. Our selection process consists of the following stages:
- Initial application (several short questions) and CV/resume submission (20 minutes)
- Materials assignment (60 minutes)
- Two rounds of interviews (45 minutes each)
- Reference checks
Our recruitment practices are grounded in equity and we have implemented a number of practices to avoid bias. In the interest of this, we ask the following:
- Please do not submit photos, a cover letter or references. We will disregard applications that include them.
- Please do not contact team members directly via our website and LinkedIn regarding postings. Any response on their part would create an uneven playing field.
- Please do not use AI for the creation of your application or at any point in the application process. We want to know you as a person.
- Please be honest about your geographic location. Even if you live part of the year outside of the posted time zone, you are not eligible and should not apply. We do verify this.
TER invests intentionally and meaningfully in creating a healthy, remote organization. Our team members are curious, open and supportive of each other. We actively seek new perspectives, experiences and voices in our team and in our work. TER is an equal opportunity employer and does not discriminate against any applicant or team member because of race, color, religion, sex, national origin, disability, genetic information, age, or military or veteran status in accordance with US federal law. Applicants must be authorized to work in the country in which they live, we cannot provide visa assistance for this position.
Lastly, we do not work with, nor do we condone third parties who repost our job postings by scraping the internet. You may wish to learn more about our approach to recruitment on our Jobs page.