About The Rockefeller Foundation

Founded by John D. Rockefeller in 1913, The Rockefeller Foundation is dedicated to the mission of solving humanity’s toughest problems at their roots. Rather than settling for small improvements, the Foundation engages in big bets – broad, deep, multi-year initiatives – to scale innovative solutions, mobilize change makers and drive positive, breakthrough improvements in climate, energy, food systems, public health and other areas, with the goal of promoting the well-bring of humanity across the world.

The Rockefeller Foundation has built its presence in and partnerships with the public, private and philanthropic sectors in Asia for over a century. From establishing Thailand’s first health ministry, expanding access to reliable power across India and Myanmar, to providing regenerative school meals for vulnerable children in Indonesia, the Foundation leverages science and technology to advance opportunities and a sustainable future for millions of people in the region.

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 on 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.

Work Schedule: This role is on a hybrid work schedule, and required to be in the office on Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursday. This role will require the ability to travel. 

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%): Support the Senior Vice President as a representative in the region, stepping in as needed in place of the SVP, to strengthen the Foundation’s influence, partnerships, and visibility.

• 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 strong focus on team cohesion, capability building and overall staff development and engagement.

• Coordinate with global operational functions (finance, HR, legal, security, communications) to ensure smooth regional operations.

• Collaborate closely with teams across the Foundation, including those based in New York, to ensure effective knowledge flow, timely inputs, and regular updates on regional progress.

Education, Experience and Skills

• A Master’s degree or higher in public policy administration, international development, international relations, economics, social science, or a related field.

• A minimum of 12 years of professional experience working at a senior level in policy engagement and partnership roles in Asia, with demonstrated experience in network-building and external representation across country, regional, and global settings. Familiarity across multiple Asian markets is preferable.

• Strong ability to engage diverse stakeholders with diplomacy and communicate effectively across multicultural contexts.

• Proven success independently managing senior government and multilateral relationships (i.e. - beyond representation).

• Demonstrated experience in driving large-scale collaborations, particularly with development finance institutions, multilateral organizations, and philanthropies.

• Demonstrated ability to shape and influence agendas, applying strong systems thinking and analytical capability to translate complex trends and policy shifts into strategic direction and actionable partnerships.

• Proven ability to manage complex plans and deliver results, translating strategy into coherent and actionable programs.

• Experience managing projects, consultancies, and budgets, while fostering a collaborative and high-performing team culture.

• Fluency in English. Proficiency in other Asian regional languages is a plus.

• Deep commitment to the Foundation’s mission, values, and fiduciary responsibility, with a strong sense of financial stewardship.

• Exceptional communication and presentation skills, with experience engaging executive leadership, boards, and external partners.

• High energy, integrity, and dedication to excellence, consistently producing work of the highest quality.

Competencies

• Balances Stakeholders: Anticipates and balances the needs of multiple stakeholders.

• Cultivates Innovation: Creates new and better ways for the organization to be successful.

• Manages Complexity: Makes sense of complex, high quantity, and sometimes contradictory information to effectively solve problems.

• Values Differences: Recognizes the value of different perspectives and commits to inclusion, equity, and diversity in every aspect of work.

Application

To explore this opportunity with the Rockefeller Foundation, please contact Kenneth Chan at Perrett Laver via kenneth.chan@perrettlaver.com for inquiries and more information on the process, quoting reference 8469.

If you are interested in applying, please submit a CV and Cover Letter detailing how you fulfil the role description and person specification. All conversations and correspondence will be treated with the utmost confidentiality. The deadline of application is Friday, June 19, 2026 at 12:00PM Bangkok Time.

The Rockefeller Foundation is a pioneering philanthropy built on collaborative partnerships at the frontiers of science, technology, and innovation that enable individuals, families, and communities to flourish. We make big bets to promote the well-being of humanity in food, health, energy, and finance, including through our public charity, RF Catalytic Capital (RFCC). For more information, sign up for our newsletter at www.rockefellerfoundation.org/subscribe and follow us on X @RockefellerFdn and LinkedIn @the-rockefeller-foundation.

As an organization, we focus on six values to advance our culture and continue our success. We are dedicated to being Transparent, Optimistic, Accountable, Collaborative, Trusted, and Equitable. We expect all employees at the Foundation to contribute by developing their unique perspectives and talent, challenging conventional wisdom through evidence and reason, and amplifying marginalized voices.

The Rockefeller Foundation is committed to the principles of equal employment opportunity and compliance with all federal, state, and local laws concerning employment discrimination, including the Americans with Disabilities Act. To this end, the Foundation ensures equal opportunity to all employees and applicants regardless of race, color, age, gender, sexual orientation, religion, marital status, national origin or ancestry, citizenship, lawful alien status, physical, mental, and medical disability, veteran status, liability for service in the United States Armed Forces, or any other protected status.

The Rockefeller Foundation is an Equal Opportunity Employer.

Perrett Laver is an equal opportunity employer and welcome applications from all qualified candidates. Information provided will be treated in strict confidence and used only for recruitment purposes. Protecting your personal data is of the utmost importance to Perrett Laver and we take this responsibility very seriously. Any information obtained by our trading divisions is held and processed in accordance with the relevant data protection legislation. The data you provide us with is securely stored on our computerised database and transferred to our clients for the purposes of presenting you as a candidate and/or considering your suitability for a role you have registered interest in. As defined under the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) Perrett Laver is a Data Controller and a Data Processor, and our legal basis for processing your personal data is ‘Legitimate Interests’. You have the right to object to us processing your data in this way. For more information about this, your rights, and our approach to Data Protection and Privacy, please visit our website https://perrettlaver.com/privacy-statement/.