Managing Director, Asia Regional Office

Position Overview

The Asia Regional Office for The Rockefeller Foundation achieves the Foundation’s priority objectives in the region by driving network collaborations and partnerships, having an ear to the ground, and expanding the influence of the organization within the Asia region. This includes working to both facilitate large-scale impact in Asia in partnership with different initiative teams within the Foundation, but also to seed nimble and trusted networks within the region to truly capitalize on Asia’s philanthropic and development potential for human welfare across the globe. The Managing Director will serve as a regional deputy to the Senior Vice President and is a critical strategic partner and leader in this effort.

The Managing Director will act both independently and represent the Foundation as directed, co-own the development and execution of the Asia regional strategy, and run the operating system of the Asia office. The role requires leading, managing, and implementing the influence and advocacy strategy for the Foundation in Asia. The Managing Director is also responsible for exploring potential collaborations from other Asian geographies to spread the Foundation’s mission across Asia.

Principal Duties and Responsibilities

Internal Program Coordination (50%)

• Act as the central coordination point between regional stakeholders and global program teams to ensure effective implementation of initiatives.
• Work closely with the SVP to shape and advance the Foundation’s regional strategy, ensuring alignment across strategic priorities, partnerships, and programmatic execution.
• Act as a strategic integrator between global strategy and regional execution to bring Asia’s voice and intelligence to the organization and translate the enterprise strategies into a coherent Asia narrative and execution plan, including resource mobilization.
• Provide forward-looking strategic intelligence and contextual analysis of regional political, economic, and development landscapes to inform programmatic priorities and institutional positioning.
• Ensure that regional engagements contribute to institutional learning, helping translate field insights into global strategy refinement.
• Facilitate collaboration across internal teams to ensure alignment, integration, and effective implementation of regional initiatives.
• Identify and support opportunities for partnerships, innovation, and investments, while providing programmatic oversight to grantees and partners, including management of and quality assurance of programmatic and policy outputs.
• Responsible for the design and coordination of leadership visits and regional marquee events, including AsiaXchange, in coordination with global teams, to advance institutional priorities, partnerships, and visibility.

External Engagement and Partnerships (20%)

• Manage a select group of priority external relationships.
• Help shape the RF’s regional strategy and positioning, working closely with the SVP to identify emerging opportunities, risks, and high-leverage moments across the region and translate these into actionable regional priorities.
• Drive ecosystem orchestration by convening and sustaining strategic relationships with key regional stakeholders and positioning the Foundation as a trusted thought partner in the region.
• Identify and cultivate strategic partnerships, collaborations, and co-investment opportunities to amplify impact.
• Manage a select group of priority external relationships.
• Represent the organization in high-level engagements with governments, multilateral institutions, development partners, philanthropic organizations, private sector leaders, and civil society, while strengthening the Foundation’s reputation and visibility through strategic forums, convenings, and communications.
• Provide public thought leadership and ensure effective implementation of regional strategy and uphold high standards of quality and coherence across partnerships, engagements, and programmatic initiatives.

Asia Regional Office Operations (30%)

• Provide overall leadership and management of the regional office to ensure operational excellence and alignment with organizational priorities.
• Oversee regional operational planning, including annual budgets and resource allocation, ensuring alignment with strategic priorities and optimal deployment of resources.
• Partner with the SVP to foster a collaborative and inclusive culture, with a strong focus on team cohesion, capability building, and overall staff development and engagement.
• Coordinate with global operation