Program Director - 30 Cities Program

Overview

POSTED: 16th September 2025
STARTING DATE: As soon as possible
FULL TIME, ROTTERDAM, NETHERLANDS

The mission of The Ocean Cleanup is to develop and scale technologies to rid the world’s oceans of plastic. To succeed, we both clean up existing pollution and prevent more plastic from reaching the oceans in the first place – the latter by intercepting it in rivers.

Our ambition is to, in the next few years, stop up to 1/3rd of global plastic pollution inflow by deploying Interceptors in the rivers of 30 of the most plastic polluted cities across Asia and the Americas (the 30 Cities program). This requires a steep deployment ramp and a deployment rate measured in number of deployments per week.

As Program Director, your role is to oversee the successful delivery of the 30 Cities program by supporting our functional teams by identifying and helping to resolve issues that challenge timely and on-budget delivery. Your success will be measured by the program’s completion within scope, schedule, and budget.

“The success of the 30 Cities program has the ability to directly transform more than a dozen waterbodies around the world and address up to 1/3rd of all plastic pollution from rivers. As its Program Director, you have the opportunity to materially influence the future state of our oceans.” – Boyan Slat

The Assignment

The Program Director (PD) is responsible for ensuring the on-time and on-budget of the 30 Cities Program. You will drive the program to meet the plan, manage recovery efforts if the program slips, and resolve challenges—particularly those involving team interfaces.

You will maintain an end-to-end overview of the river technology deployment process, synthesize key program information, and communicate updates through dashboards to the Management Team and the Supervisory Board. Additionally, you will develop new tools and processes to enhance the program’s effectiveness.

The PD is a key role within The Ocean Cleanup, reporting directly to the CEO.

Professional Qualifications

Even if you don’t meet every professional qualification listed, we strongly encourage you to apply if you believe you have the right skills, experience, and motivation to contribute to our mission. We recognize that talent and potential come in many forms, and we value diverse perspectives and unconventional career paths. If you’re passionate about the work we do and confident in your ability to make an impact, don’t hesitate to submit your application—we’d love to hear from you

• While possessing a degree or higher-level qualification is advantageous, our primary focus is on individuals with strong intellectual capacity and quick thinking.
• Highly experienced in Project & Program Management (incl. Risk management, budgeting, and scheduling).
• Project Management qualifications may be a plus but demonstrable success in project/program management is more important.
• 5+ years of experience in managing large-scale, complex programs across multiple countries, ideally in technical environments (e.g. Offshore, infrastructure, manufacturing)
• Familiarity with project management software (e.g., MS Project, Primavera) and dashboard software (e.g. PowerBI)
• Experience in managing external dependencies on a program (e.g. Regulatory, commercial, partners, suppliers)
• Experience with overseeing technical development, innovation, and/or compliance with environmental/quality standards is a plus

Personal Qualifications

• Tenacious and creative problem-solver
• Structured; being process-minded without being bureaucratic
• Skilled in negotiation and conflict resolution.
• Change management experience, especially in scaling organizations
• Excellent communication skills
• Ability to manage stress and maintain focus/set priorities under pressure

Additional Details

• Starting date As soon as possible.
• Location: The role is based in Rotterdam, The Netherlands.
• Reporting to Boyan Slat, Founder and CEO
• We have a flexible/hybrid work style but this role requires you to be at the heart of the organization; you will need to be in the office most of the time
• At The Ocean Cleanup, we believe we are stronger together, while harnessing the uniqueness each individual brings. That is why we take a fair, equal opportunity, and transparent approach to hiring and welcome special needs requests.

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