Program Manager
Modern People Solutions (MPS) is a Fractional HR and Recruitment Advisory firm. We specialize in working with companies in the heavy equipment industry, not-for-profit, and professional services sectors. Our goal is to connect amazing employees and candidates together for long-term success.
We are proud to support a mission-driven international not-for-profit organization, Operation Eyesight, in the search for a strategic and highly organized Program Manager. This important international programs role is responsible for supporting high-quality program management, institutional donor compliance, grant management, country office coordination, and implementation oversight across Operation Eyesight’s global portfolio.
The Opportunity
Operation Eyesight is a global, Canada-based nonprofit working to eliminate avoidable blindness by bringing sustainable eye care to underserved communities across Africa and South Asia. For over 60 years, the organization has partnered with local hospitals, governments, and communities to deliver long-term solutions — not just short-term aid — through vision centers, surgeries, training, and community health programs. With a strong focus on prevention, capacity building, and system-level impact, Operation Eyesight is committed to creating lasting change and improving quality of life for millions of people around the world.
What Does the Opportunity Look Like?
The Program Manager is a key international programs role responsible for supporting high-quality program management, grant management, institutional donor compliance, and country office coordination across Operation Eyesight’s international portfolio.
Based in Canada, this role works closely with country offices, partners, the Director of International Programs, finance, MEAL, institutional funding, advancement, and technical colleagues to ensure projects are well designed, properly budgeted, effectively implemented, monitored, forecasted, reported, and closed in line with donor requirements and organizational standards.
This position supports the full project cycle, from donor opportunity tracking, proposal development, theories of change, logframes, performance measurement frameworks, budgets, workplans, and donor submissions through project start-up, implementation oversight, financial monitoring, risk management, adaptive management, reporting, and close-out.
The Program Manager helps ensure that projects funded by Global Affairs Canada and other institutional donors are managed with strong results-based management, clear accountabilities, realistic budgets, accurate forecasts, sound documentation, and consistent communication between Canada and country offices.
This role contributes directly to donor credibility, financial stewardship, implementation quality, organizational learning, and sustainable global eye health impact.
Key Responsibilities1. Institutional Funding & Proposal Development
- Support identification, assessment, and tracking of institutional donor opportunities, including Global Affairs Canada and other major institutional funders.
- Coordinate proposal development processes, timelines, internal reviews, and submission workflows.
- Contribute to concept notes, proposals, theories of change, logic models, logframes, workplans, performance measurement frameworks, budgets, and supporting donor documentation.
- Ensure proposals are operationally realistic, strategically aligned, and donor compliant.
- Partner with finance, MEAL, country offices, and technical teams to ensure strong program design and implementation planning.
2. Program Design & Results-Based Management
- Support project design aligned with Global Affairs Canada and other institutional donor expectations.
- Strengthen results-based management processes, including logic models, indicators, baselines, targets, and monitoring frameworks.
- Collaborate with MEAL leadership to ensure practical monitoring, evaluation, and reporting systems.
- Support integration of gender equality, disability inclusion, safeguarding, environmental considerations, and sustainability into project design.
- Identify gaps, risks, and inconsistencies in project plans before implementation.
3. Project Oversight & Implementation Management
- Provide day-to-day management support for institutional donor-funded projects across international country offices and partners.
- Coordinate project start-up, implementation planning, reporting schedules, procurement planning, and compliance requirements.
- Monitor implementation progress against approved plans, budgets, deliverables, and donor commitments.
- Support country offices in identifying and resolving operational, budgetary, compliance, or implementation risks.
- Facilitate regular cross-functional project review meetings and follow-up actions.
4. Budget Monitoring & Financial Coordination
- Partner with finance and country offices to monitor budgets, forecasts, expenditure, donor restrictions, and financial performance.
- Review budget variances, identify financial risks, and support corrective action planning.
- Assist with donor budget revisions, reforecasts, no-cost extensions, and financial reporting coordination.
- Ensure strong alignment between narrative reporting and financial performance.
5. Donor Compliance & Grant Management
- Maintain oversight of donor agreements, grant conditions, reporting schedules, and compliance obligations.
- Develop and maintain grant management tools, trackers, risk registers, reporting calendars, and compliance systems.
- Coordinate internal quality assurance of donor reports and submissions.
- Support amendment requests, donor communications, audit readiness, and documentation management.
- Ensure partner roles, obligations, and deliverables are clearly defined and monitored.
6. Reporting, Learning & Quality Assurance
- Coordinate high-quality donor reporting, internal updates, dashboards, and leadership reporting.
- Ensure reports are evidence-based, results-focused, financially accurate, and donor ready.
- Collaborate with MEAL colleagues to ensure reported outcomes are supported by credible data and analysis.
- Contribute to organizational learning, reporting templates, project close-out tools, and continuous improvement practices.
- Support advancement and communications teams with verified program information and impact reporting.
7. Cross-Functional Coordination & Systems Improvement
- Serve as a key coordination point between Canada-based teams, country offices, partners, and implementation stakeholders.
- Support collaboration across finance, MEAL, advancement, institutional funding, and program teams.
- Develop and improve project management systems, templates, tools, trackers, and documentation practices.
- Strengthen country office capacity in project management, donor compliance, reporting, and forecasting.
- Promote practical systems that improve accountability without creating unnecessary administrative burden.
What’s In It For You?
- Opportunity to contribute directly to impactful international development programs that improve lives globally.
- A dynamic role with exposure to institutional funding, program strategy, donor management, and international operations.
- Meaningful collaboration with global teams, country offices, technical experts, and mission-driven leadership.
- The chance to strengthen systems, processes, and partnerships that support sustainable global eye health programs.
- A purpose-driven organization committed to measurable impact, collaboration, and long-term change.
What Are We Looking For?
- Bachelor’s degree in international development, public health, global health, business administration, project management, social sciences, or a related field.
- 5–7 years of progressively responsible experience in international development, NGO program management, grant management, or institutional donor-funded programming.
- Strong experience with Global Affairs Canada requirements, including results-based management, donor compliance, budgets, reporting, and proposal development.
- Experience supporting multi-country programs, country offices, local partners, or health system-based programming.
- Strong project cycle management experience, from proposal development through implementation, reporting, and close-out.
- Budget monitoring and forecasting experience, with the ability to identify risks and work collaboratively with finance teams.
- Excellent written communication skills and ability to produce donor-ready materials.
- Strong systems/process improvement mindset and ability to create practical, usable tools and workflows.
- Experience in global health, disability inclusion, community health, or international health programming considered an asset.
Location: Canada-based (Hybrid or Remote depending on organizational needs)
Apply Here: https://mpeoplesolutions.com/jobs/program-manager/
Pay: $80,000.00-$90,000.00 per year
Work Location: Hybrid remote in Calgary, AB
