Regional Programme Director - Asia

Barnabas International is a large family of Christian ministries and charities focused on giving practical support to suffering, abandoned and persecuted Christians around the world. The ministry was founded in 1993, and since then, it has funded projects in more than 100 countries, providing hope and help to millions of our brothers and sisters in Christ. Some of our key projects include supplying food aid, medical supplies, educational and vocational training, Bibles, micro-enterprise, disaster relief, help for victims of violence, and support for pastors and church leaders. Barnabas Aid also provides advocacy for religious freedom, especially for persecuted and suffering Christians.

Barnabas is a Christian ministry and a charity. Employees are expected to subscribe to the Vision, Mission, Value and Statement of Faith, and their work may be viewed as being vocational. There is an occupational requirement for applicants to be practising Christians, who are engaged in their local church, in order to be able to carry out our roles.

Barnabas Aid is recruiting an exceptional leader to serve as Regional Director for Asia. This is a senior leadership role within the International Programmes Team, sitting on both the Programmes Leadership Team and the Strategic Leadership Team, and offering an outstanding opportunity to shape how BAI serves persecuted and suffering Christians across one of the world’s most complex and spiritually significant regions.

The Asia region spans South Asia, Central Asia, and Southeast Asia — some of the most sensitive and complex contexts in which Barnabas Aid works. Many of the communities we serve face active persecution, operate in restricted environments, and depend on the careful, sensitive stewardship of their relationships with BAI and our partners.

This is an extraordinary opportunity for a strategically minded, relationally gifted Christian leader to shape how BAI serves the persecuted Church across one of the world's most complex and spiritually significant regions.

The Regional Programme Director — Asia will provide strategic leadership for the development and delivery of Barnabas Aid's grant making and project management across the Asia Region. You will lead and develop a team of Programme Managers, build and sustain a strong partner network, and oversee a portfolio of high-quality, biblically grounded projects that deliver measurable impact for persecuted and suffering Christians.

As a member of both the Programmes Leadership Team and the Strategic Leadership Team, you will contribute to BAI's global Programmes strategy and to organisational strategy, culture, and effective cross-departmental working.

Regional strategy and portfolio leadership

• In collaboration with the International Chief Programmes Officer, lead the development, review, and implementation of the global Programmes strategy within the assigned Region, translating strategic priorities into a clear regional plan and pipeline.
• Maintain a balanced regional portfolio aligned with organisational priorities, donor intent, and restricted fund requirements.
• Identify emerging needs, risks, and opportunities in the Region and recommend strategic responses, including new initiatives and partnerships.
• Ensure that the Region is balancing its portfolio of Programmes according to the Country Classification framework.

Grant making and programme cycle management

• Oversee the end-to-end grant making process for Programmes in the region, ensuring proposals are assessed, costed, and approved in line with delegated authority, Gate processes, and Programmes Subcommittee requirements.
• Take lead responsibility for one sub-region and/or a portfolio of countries, leading on partner engagement and the whole project management cycle.
• Ensure robust needs assessments, project design, logical frameworks (where applicable), budgets, partner due diligence, risk assessments, and monitoring plans are in place before grants are committed.
• Oversee project implementation across the regional portfolio, including milestone tracking, reporting, learning, and close-out, ensuring records are maintained accurately and on time.
• Proactively identify project delivery issues and work with team members and partners to resolve them promptly.
• Maintain proficiency in the use of all systems and processes used to manage the workflow of the team.
• Work closely with the Programme Quality Team to ensure best practice standards, continuous improvement, and consistent application of policies, processes, and templates.

Leadership and people management

• Support the staff in the regional team by providing clear leadership, coaching, and line management, including goal setting, supervision, performance management, and development.
• Ensure capacity planning across the Region so that project management workloads are realistic and risks are appropriately managed.
• Lead recruitment, onboarding, and succession planning for the regional team, contributing to wider Programmes Team workforce planning as required.
• Deputise for the international Chief Programmes Officer when requested to do so during their absence
• Ensure Regional team members plan overseas trips appropriately and adequately, always factoring in security and safeguarding risks.

Partner engagement and external representation

• Ensure the regional team builds and sustains a strong partner network, with relationships that are effective, mutually accountable, and aligned with Barnabas Aid's mission and values.
• Develop and implement a plan for regular partner engagement and capacity building (including visits where appropriate and safe) to strengthen project delivery, monitoring, and safeguarding.
• Represent Barnabas Aid professionally with partners and other stakeholders, managing sensitive information and security considerations appropriately.
• Engage proactively with peer organisations and networks to bring insight on sector best practice into BAI's work.

Cross-organisational collaboration and governance

• Work closely with Outreach and Support departments to provide timely, high-quality project information and updates that enable supporter communications, fundraising, and reporting.
• Contribute to organisational planning and decision-making through active membership of the Programmes Leadership Team and the Strategic Leadership Team (as applicable).
• Prepare quality papers, dashboards, and narrative updates for internal decision-making meetings and governance forums as required.

Compliance, risk, and safeguarding

• Ensure compliance with Barnabas Aid policies and external requirements relevant to grant making and project delivery, including data protection and information security.
• Maintain effective regional risk management, including project, partner, fraud, security, and reputational risks, escalating issues promptly and recommending mitigations.
• Champion safeguarding and ensure safeguarding considerations are integrated into partner due diligence, project design, implementation, and reporting.

Other duties

• Carry out any other reasonable duties as the organisation requires.

Essential

·      Bible-believing follower of Jesus: Demonstrates a personal commitment to discipleship and growing in faith. In good standing with their Church, actively participating in its life and community. Committed to affirming and signing Barnabas Aid’s Statement of Faith.

·      Relevant degree-level qualification or equivalent professional qualification

·      Significant experience in grant making and/or project management, including managing multiple Programmes and partners.

·      Proven leadership and line management experience, including developing and supporting staff.

·      Experience assessing proposals, budgets, and risk, and making evidence-based funding recommendations.

·      Experience of governance processes and presenting to committees/boards

·      Experience using CRM and document management systems (e.g., Salesforce, SharePoint).

·      Experience of working with sensitive information and applying appropriate confidentiality and security practices.

·      Strong strategic thinking with ability to translate strategy into practical plans and priorities.

·      Excellent judgement and decision-making, including the ability to weigh risk, impact, and stewardship considerations.

·      Strong stakeholder management skills; able to build trusted relationships internally and externally.

·      Clear, accurate written communication, including producing high-quality proposals, reports, and committee papers.

·      Numeracy skills and confidence working with budgets, restricted funds, and financial reporting.

·      Good understanding of quality standards across the project cycle, including monitoring, evaluation, learning, and accountability.

·      Strong IT skills (Microsoft 365) and willingness to learn organisational systems

Desirable

·      Experience working in the charity, international development, or faith-based sector.

·      Familiarity with safeguarding, safer recruitment, and staff wellbeing initiatives.

·      Project management qualification (e.g., PRINCE2, PMI, Agile) or monitoring and evaluation training.

·      Safeguarding training/qualification

·      Language capability relevant to BAI's areas of operation

·      Knowledge of institutional donor compliance and reporting standards.

Personal Qualities

·      Collaborative, supportive and solution-focused leadership style; able to foster a healthy, productive team culture.

·      Resilient and adaptable; able to work under pressure and manage competing priorities.

·      High attention to detail and commitment to quality and continuous improvement.

·      Willingness and ability to travel as required

Please apply by submitting your CV and a cover letter demonstrating how your skills and experience make you a good fit for this role and for the mission of Barnabas Aid.