Project Specialist - Social Enterprise Start Up

Alsama UK and Alsama USA are sister organizations of the Alsama Project, which is headquartered in Lebanon. Each organization is registered and governed in its respective country, with oversight provided by three different boards of trustees. This post’s functional location is in Beirut, Lebanon while being managed and governed by Alsama UK.

Context for this role:

Alsama UK is launching a tech-enabled education social enterprise, one that:

• Will increase university/employment access for talented refugee youth
• Is innovative and supported by technology (AI in education)
• Set to scale across the Middle East initially, and then globally quickly

The vision:

• We aim to transform 50,000+ lives each year.
• Today, half a million refugee youth are lacking a high school certificate, even if they have the relevant academic & intrinsic capabilities. 
• Why? Many have informal, incomplete, or disjointed education. Without a recognised certificate, those youth get excluded from a path to jobs and universities.
• Alsama has developed a solution that we will launch in just 18months (2026). The solution is an exam that allows a young refugee to prove they are just as capable as a formally-educated high school graduate. The goal is to help 50,000 refugee youth globally each year, starting with a small pilot launched in 2026 in Lebanon. As with any such solution, it is the centre of a non-profit social enterprise. 

Alsama UK has already made significant progress: We have a prototype, a network of experts, universities, and advisors. We now need to refine our strategy, tech-ify, and scale. As with any social enterprise, we aim to be financially sustainable as early as possible, aiming to breakeven by 2030.

Key impact in this role:

1. Refine the strategy for the G12++
2. Secure Seed Grants to scale the business  
3. Prove concept of the exam, engaging global education experts and talent 
4. Secure informal & formal validation internationally & locally for the exam
5. Generate demand for the G12++ by universities and employers
6. Reach refugee youth via NGO partners at scale on trajectory to >50,000 p.a. in 2040
7. Coordinate a team of talented G12++ staff to deliver on the above

Who you will work with:

• Directly report to: Alsama Trustee, leading G12++ Certification 
• Directly work with: G12++ staff (currently a rotating team of 1-2 interns)
• More broadly engage with: Alsama CEO, Alsama Strategy & Development Team, G12++ Advisory Board (senior global group of 6 people)

Profile:

We are seeking a Project Specialist to lead this from an early start-up to become a financially sustainable global scale-up. 

This is a senior role requiring someone who is:

• a visionary with long-term focus
• entrepreneurial (persistent, adaptive, risk-tolerant, and decisive)
• outcome-oriented, productive, and gets stuff done
• self-motivated and independent
• able to mobilise others around them
• committed for at least 2 years

Skills

• Proven ability to convert creative, visionary, long-term strategic concepts into tactical, pragmatic implementation
• Appetite and energy for entrepreneurship, persisting through challenges by adapting to changing needs and context, identifying and mitigating risks without being paralysed them 
• Evidence of problem-solving to smartly navigate “unchartered territory” 
• Demonstrated structured and analytical decision-making, including using quantitative metrics to guide decisions 
• Proven independence and self-driven momentum to deliver tangible outcomes, constantly making forward progress even through challenges
• Comfort balancing multiple workstreams / priorities simultaneously 
• Demonstrated ability to mobilise others around them with a strong sense of collaboration, across wide range of stakeholders (seniority, sectors, cultures/nationalities) 
• Clear, structured, and compelling communication (both written and verbal)
• Fluent in productivity tools (e.g. Excel, PowerPoint, similar)
• Fluent in English; Ideally (but not necessarily), competent in Arabic
• Ability to travel to Alsama HQ in Beirut, Lebanon at select points during the 2+ years (work can be remote if candidate lives abroad)

Experience

• 4+ years of successful work experience, ideally in the private sector
• 2+ years of project management, ideally (but not necessarily) in an education-related start-up environment
• Ideally, 1+ year of managing/leading a team 
• Ideally, success in fundraising (whether investments in private sector or donations in charity/NGO sector)