Position description

Building Tomorrow, an international nonprofit organization working to provide literacy and numeracy for all children, is seeking a seasoned and influential Senior Education Technical Specialist to serve as the in-country senior-most education expert in our Uganda office. This new and pivotal role serves as the primary technical bridge between Building Tomorrow and the Government of Uganda, ensuring that all technical contributions are evidence-based, aligned with national priorities, and designed to drive systemic change.

The organization

Started in 2006, Building Tomorrow supports community-powered learning in rural areas. Through over 700 Building Tomorrow Fellows and over 26,000 Community Education Volunteers, Building Tomorrow has enrolled over 272,000 out-of-school children and reached over 1,200,000 learners with our signature Roots to Rise (R2R) literacy and numeracy camps.

Between offices in Uganda, Rwanda, and a global office in the US, Building Tomorrow has a full-time staff of over 340, just eight of whom work outside East Africa. Building Tomorrow has received funding and recognition for its innovative work from Clinton Global Initiative, Echoing Green, Big Bang Philanthropy, Forbes Magazine, the U.S. Library of Congress, and the Klaus J. Jacobs Awards.

Position highlights

The Senior Education Technical Specialist is a strategic role that requires a unique blend of technical expertise in education, high-level government engagement, and a deep understanding of systems-level reform. The successful candidate will possess the technical qualifications, experience, and gravitas necessary to engage senior government officials and stakeholders, positioning Building Tomorrow as a thought leader and trusted partner in advancing foundational learning at scale.

This position reports to the Chief Education Officer (CEdO), with support from the Chief of Strategy and Scale for government relations strategy. The Senior Education Specialist will also provide direct supervision to the Scale Project Manager, ensuring the successful execution of key government integration initiatives. This is a full-time position based in Kampala, Uganda, with up to 25% domestic and international travel.

Key responsibilities

Government Engagement & Technical Assistance

• Serve as the primary technical liaison to the Ugandan Ministry of Education and Sports (MoES) and the National Curriculum Development Centre (NCDC) regarding Roots to Rise (R2R), Building Tomorrow's signature foundational learning model, ensuring alignment with national education frameworks and priorities.
• Represent Building Tomorrow in high-level technical and education forums, including steering committees, working groups and curriculum reviews, contributing expert input on foundational learning and community-powered education.
• Lead the development of technical components of government integration initiatives, including the Primary Teacher College (PTC) initiative and the development of Continuing Professional Development (CPD) modules. This includes supervising the Scale Project Manager.
• Provide strategic technical support to District Education Offices and Building Tomorrow implementation teams, ensuring fidelity to the model within the public school system and addressing technical challenges as they arise.

Technical Thought Leadership & Systems Representation

• Map all local and regional educational forums, ensuring effective representation, documentation of relationships, and maintenance of a common organizational narrative.
• Coordinate and develop a system to document technical coordination with in-country education stakeholders (NGOs, Development Partners, and Civil Society) to align efforts, avoid duplication, and strengthen collective impact on systems strengthening.
• Identify, vet, and develop recommendations for new technical and strategic engagement opportunities.
• Partner with the Research Manager to position Building Tomorrow as a thought leader in community-powered learning and foundational literacy and numeracy by presenting evidence, sharing learnings, and contributing to policy briefs, conference proposals and grant proposals.
• Ensure key information—including government meeting notes, policy updates, research findings, and R2R program updates—is synthesized and clearly communicated to all key internal stakeholders.

Programmatic and Curriculum Support

• Maintain a deep understanding of the R2R program through active membership on the Pedagogy team, regular field visits, and participation in pedagogical review cycles and design processes.
• Support the CEdO to draft and edit pedagogical learning materials.
• Partner with the Research Manager to design internal research proposals addressing pedagogical challenges raised by program teams.
• Provide technical oversight to ensure that government-led implementation of R2R aligns with agreed-upon co-creation frameworks and Building Tomorrow's community-powered learning approaches.
• Liaise with the Monitoring, Evaluation, and Learning (MEL) team to ensure field data collection and baseline study questions align with key organizational priorities, and that data is effectively communicated to Programs teams for adaptive management and continuous improvement.

Supervision, Mentorship & Internal Capacity Building

• Direct Supervision: Provide direct line management, technical guidance, and performance oversight to the Scale Project Manager, ensuring the successful delivery of project milestones, budget adherence, and alignment with organizational and government objectives.
• Work with staff representing Building Tomorrow in external forums to ensure alignment of talking points, organizational priorities, and technical accuracy.
• Partner with the Training Manager to develop and transition training plans from a BT-led model to increasingly government-led and -owned frameworks, supporting long-term sustainability.

Must haves

• Education: Master's degree in Education (preferably with a specialization in Teacher Education, Curriculum Studies, Early Childhood/Foundational Learning, or Educational Leadership). A PhD is a strong added advantage.
• Experience: A minimum of 10 years of progressive experience in Uganda's education sector, with a proven track record of working directly with the MoES, NCDC, a recognized Public Teacher Training Institution, or with an NGO.
• Expertise: Demonstrated experience and deep understanding of:
  • Pre-service and in-service teacher education frameworks in Uganda.
  • Curriculum development and review processes, specifically in foundational literacy and numeracy.
  • Education policy analysis and systems strengthening in Uganda.
  • The dynamics of NGO-government partnerships in the Ugandan context.
• Skills & Competencies:
  • Technical Acumen: Deep knowledge of the Ugandan education policy landscape, including the National Teacher Policy, the thematic curriculum, and the current foundational learning agenda.
  • Supervisory Skills: Experience in managing and mentoring staff to achieve high-performance outcomes.
  • Communication: Exceptional written and verbal communication skills in English; ability to synthesize complex technical information into actionable policy briefs and compelling presentations. Proficiency in a local language(s) is highly desirable.
  • Strategic Thinking: Ability to align technical education work with the broader organizational goal of scaling through public education systems.
  • Collaboration: Proven ability to work effectively in matrixed organizations, balancing local implementation demands with global technical guidance.
• Other: Willingness and ability to travel significantly within Uganda and occasionally internationally.

• Serve as the primary technical liaison to the Ugandan Ministry of Education and Sports (MoES) and the National Curriculum Development Centre (NCDC) regarding Roots to Rise (R2R), Building Tomorrow's signature foundational learning model, ensuring alignment with national education frameworks and priorities.
• Represent Building Tomorrow in high-level technical and education forums, including steering committees, working groups and curriculum reviews, contributing expert input on foundational learning and community-powered education.
• Lead the development of technical components of government integration initiatives, including the Primary Teacher College (PTC) initiative and the development of Continuing Professional Development (CPD) modules. This includes supervising the Scale Project Manager.
• Provide strategic technical support to District Education Offices and Building Tomorrow implementation teams, ensuring fidelity to the model within the public school system and addressing technical challenges as they arise.
• Map all local and regional educational forums, ensuring effective representation, documentation of relationships, and maintenance of a common organizational narrative.
• Coordinate and develop a system to document technical coordination with in-country education stakeholders (NGOs, Development Partners, and Civil Society) to align efforts, avoid duplication, and strengthen collective impact on systems strengthening.
• Identify, vet, and develop recommendations for new technical and strategic engagement opportunities.
• Partner with the Research Manager to position Building Tomorrow as a thought leader in community-powered learning and foundational literacy and numeracy by presenting evidence, sharing learnings, and contributing to policy briefs, conference proposals and grant proposals.
• Ensure key information—including government meeting notes, policy updates, research findings, and R2R program updates—is synthesized and clearly communicated to all key internal stakeholders.
• Maintain a deep understanding of the R2R program through active membership on the Pedagogy team, regular field visits, and participation in pedagogical review cycles and design processes.
• Support the CEdO to draft and edit pedagogical learning materials.
• Partner with the Research Manager to design internal research proposals addressing pedagogical challenges raised by program teams.
• Provide technical oversight to ensure that government-led implementation of R2R aligns with agreed-upon co-creation frameworks and Building Tomorrow's community-powered learning approaches.
• Liaise with the Monitoring, Evaluation, and Learning (MEL) team to ensure field data collection and baseline study questions align with key organizational priorities, and that data is effectively communicated to Programs teams for adaptive management and continuous improvement.
• Provide direct line management, technical guidance, and performance oversight to the Scale Project Manager, ensuring the successful delivery of project milestones, budget adherence, and alignment with organizational and government objectives.
• Work with staff representing Building Tomorrow in external forums to ensure alignment of talking points, organizational priorities, and technical accuracy.
• Partner with the Training Manager to develop and transition training plans from a BT-led model to increasingly government-led and -owned frameworks, supporting long-term sustainability.

• Technical Acumen: Deep knowledge of the Ugandan education policy landscape, including the National Teacher Policy, the thematic curriculum, and the current foundational learning agenda.
• Supervisory Skills: Experience in managing and mentoring staff to achieve high-performance outcomes.
• Communication: Exceptional written and verbal communication skills in English; ability to synthesize complex technical information into actionable policy briefs and compelling presentations. Proficiency in a local language(s) is highly desirable.
• Strategic Thinking: Ability to align technical education work with the broader organizational goal of scaling through public education systems.
• Collaboration: Proven ability to work effectively in matrixed organizations, balancing local implementation demands with global technical guidance.

• Master's degree in Education (preferably with a specialization in Teacher Education, Curriculum Studies, Early Childhood/Foundational Learning, or Educational Leadership). A PhD is a strong added advantage.
• A minimum of 10 years of progressive experience in Uganda's education sector, with a proven track record of working directly with the MoES, NCDC, a recognized Public Teacher Training Institution, or with an NGO.
• Demonstrated experience and deep understanding of:
  • Pre-service and in-service teacher education frameworks in Uganda.
  • Curriculum development and review processes, specifically in foundational literacy and numeracy.
  • Education policy analysis and systems strengthening in Uganda.
  • The dynamics of NGO-government partnerships in the Ugandan context.
• Willingness and ability to travel significantly within Uganda and occasionally internationally.