Representative Israel

BASIC INFORMATION

Position: Representative Israel

Team: Programme

Reports to: Chief Programme Officer

Based in: Israel

Salary: Korn Ferry level 17 (ILS 311,252 to ILS 427,972)

THE POSITION

The Israel Representative is a senior leadership role responsible for stewarding and strengthening the Foundation’s established and high-performing portfolio in Israel. The role requires thoughtful management and scaling of active partnerships across government, municipalities, and civil society, with a focus on institutionalisation and long-term impact.

The Representative will build on a strong foundation of existing grants and relationships, ensuring continuity while evolving the portfolio carefully over time. The role combines strategic leadership, partnership management, grant oversight, contextual judgment, and contribution to the Foundation’s global priorities.

PRINCIPAL RESPONSIBILITIES AND TASKS

Partnerships and grantmaking

Serve as the Foundation’s representative in Israel, acting as the main point of contact for partners in government, civil society, philanthropy, academia, and the private sector.

Steward and strengthen an established and active portfolio of grants and partnerships. This role requires building on an existing strategy — managing, improving, and scaling it over time rather than redesigning it from scratch.

Build and maintain strong partnerships that:

• Advance early childhood development and parental wellbeing at scale in Israel
• Strengthen the wider early childhood field at national and municipal levels

Lead and oversee a diverse grant portfolio, including:

• Designing and negotiating new grants
• Overseeing implementation, budgets, and sustainability
• Reviewing progress and results
• Identifying risks and adjusting plans, when needed
• Supporting successful programmes to become embedded within public systems

Develop funding approaches that strengthen the Foundation’s long-term role in Israel, focusing on sustainability, often with public systems.

Identify and develop new partnerships that address key early childhood challenges, including work with community organisations, diverse communities, municipalities, national ministries, private sector, and other funders.

Coordinate training for partners, including through executive education, study tours, peer learning, and advisory support, ensuring these respond to real needs.

Ensure internal processes (grant making, budgeting, reporting, monitoring) support partnership goals.

Monitoring, evaluation and strategic learning

1. Promote a culture of learning and reflection within the Israel portfolio and among partners.
2. Work with MEL colleagues to strengthen measurement of reach, leverage, parental wellbeing, feedback, and other outcomes.
3. Use data to guide decisions, improve implementation, and support scaling of effective models.
4. Lead regular reporting on portfolio progress, including contributions to Board reporting and strategic reviews.
5. Share lessons from Israel with the wider Foundation, and bring relevant global insights into the Israel portfolio.
6. Support the development of knowledge and policy materials that advance early childhood priorities in Israel.

Context navigation and stakeholder management

1. Exercise sound judgment in a complex political and social environment.
2. Maintain strong relationships across Jewish, Arab, Haredi, migrant, and low-income communities, as well as national and municipal leadership.
3. Monitor developments in the broader context and assess implications for the portfolio, identifying risks and opportunities early.

Leadership and representation

1. Represent the Foundation at senior levels in Israel, including conferences, policy discussions, and public forums.
2. Act as a credible and thoughtful ambassador for the Foundation’s mission.
3. Advise the Chief Programme Officer on developments and risks.
4. Manage and support a small team, including and consultants, and collaborate closely with colleagues in The Hague and across portfolios.
5. Contribute to cross-foundation priorities beyond the Israel portfolio, including strategic projects led by the Chief Programme Officer, when required.

PROFESSIONAL CONTACTS

Inside the Foundation: Programme Team and all Foundation staff

Outside the Foundation: Philanthropies, governments, technical partners, multilateral organisations, and business

QUALIFICATIONS, SKILLS AND COMPETENCIES

• At least 10 years of relevant experience in social policy, philanthropy, government, or related fields. We also welcome candidates from the private sector who have led complex partnerships and are motivated by social impact.
• Strong understanding of Israel’s social, economic, and policy landscape.
• Experience working in an international organisation or collaborating with colleagues across countries and time zones.
• Proven ability to build and maintain trusted relationships with a wide range of stakeholders, including government officials, municipal leaders, civil society organisations, business leaders, academics, and funders.
• Experience leading complex initiatives involving multiple partners and interests.
• Demonstrated ability to deliver results through collaboration and sound judgment.
• Strong leadership and partnership management skills.
• Excellent organisational skills, including planning, prioritising, and managing multiple streams of work.
• Experience using data and evaluation to inform decision-making.
• High level of emotional intelligence, maturity, and self-awareness.
• Knowledge of early childhood, urban development, or related fields is an advantage.
• Fluency in Hebrew required. Fluency in Arabic is an advantage.
• Strong written and spoken English, or willingness to strengthen English proficiency within the first year.

Organisational competencies:

Teamwork | Learning ability | Results orientation

Job specific competencies:

Leadership | Negotiating | Networking

How to apply:

The recruitment process is managed by Mitam. To apply, please submit your CV (Hebrew CVs are also accepted) via the link below. The application deadline is March 26, 2026. Only suitable candidates will be contacted: https://www.mitam-hr.org/jobs/112

About the Van Leer Foundation

The Foundation aims to contribute to inclusive societies where all children and communities can flourish. We do this by bringing people together with different perspectives and supporting them to achieve large-scale impact. Our work covers three main activities:

• A Good Start. Giving all children a good start in life sets the foundation for inclusive societies. Through our flagship programme on early childhood development, we work globally to improve the wellbeing of babies, toddlers, and their caregivers. We provide investment and knowledge to help leaders develop and scale effective policies and services.
• Van Leer Institutions. We believe the human sciences and the arts are powerful tools to promote inclusive societies because they can help make space for divergent views and mutual understanding. This underpins our support for the Van Leer Jerusalem Institute and Jerusalem Film Center. We support both through recurring annual grants.
• The Endowment. We rely on our endowment to finance our philanthropic activities and do not raise funds. The endowment invests in a highly diversified portfolio of public market equity and debt and has a substantial allocation to private equity. The full portfolio is screened to meet ESG criteria. We also have an allocation for mission-related investments (MRI) through which we invest in funds aligned with the UN Sustainable Development Goals closest to our work on early childhood development.

Our team consists of 40+ professionals representing more than 20 nationalities. We have offices in Brazil, India, Israel, Jordan, Senegal and the Netherlands. The team has a wide array of expertise including in early childhood development, urban planning, effective philanthropy, public policy, executive education, monitoring and evaluation, advocacy, strategic communications, impact investing and financial management.