Job Openings at Abt Associates

Opportunity

In 2021, USAID Kenya awarded Abt Associates, the Kenya Vector Control Activity. It seeks to build on PMI investments under PMI AIRS and VectorLink. The purpose of the project is to plan, implement, provide technical assistance for, monitor and evaluate critical malaria vector control activities. This includes indoor residual spraying (IRS) and insecticide treated net (ITN) activities for prevention of malaria in Kenya. The project has six objectives: (1) indoor residual spraying and other proven vector control interventions, (2) entomological monitoring and surveillance, (3) ITN durability monitoring (4) data driven decision making to inform strategic deployment of ITNs and IRS, (5) capacity building of Kenya national malaria program and selected counties and (6) continuous net distribution system in the community through multiple channels. In 2022, Abt Associates shall implement IRS in Homa Bay and Migori Counties and in other counties thereafter as determined by USAID Kenya.

Under the supervision of the Chief of Party, the Finance and Administration Director will have primary responsibility for contractual, financial and administrative management for the project, supervision and oversight of all contractual, financial and administrative support staff, and establishment of the systems and procedures required to ensure compliance with USAID regulations and Abt policies. S/he will provide management support and oversight in the implementation of program activities in the areas of finance, human resources, administration, subcontractor management, information technology and procurement. S/he shall work closely with technical leads in the financial and compliance oversight of any local subcontractors.

Specific Duties And Responsibilities Include The Following

• Works with the Chief of Party to liaise with USAID on finance and administrative issues.
• Serve as the project’s contact with the client on finance and administrative issues, participating in discussions on contract issues and actions, and following up on client requests and concerns.
• Manages the financial operations and reporting activities and provide guidance and technical assistance to project site teams.
• Creates and maintains financial reporting and tracking systems that provide basic data measurements on financial performance of project activities.
• Develop and/ recommned cost cutting and compliant strategies to implement the project with less resources
• Oversees development, management and monitoring project budgets and annual workplans; ensure s project procurements are included in approved workplan and do not exceed approved annual budget.
• Ensure that the project operations are in compliance with all USAID and Abt policies and procedures.
• Ensure that contractual and internal approval requirements (e.g., waivers, approval memos) are met, and prepare justifications supporting these actions in coordination with project leadership and business support groups
• Conducts regular trainings to build the capacity of technical and adminitration personnel on different topics including compliance, travel, budgeting, forecasting and procurement.
• Provide ongoing financial administration to the project, including the processing of approvals for procurements, consultant agreements, and vendor invoices.
• Monitor integrity of site office procurements through spot checks and attendance at evaluation committee meetings for higher value or complex procurements.
• Enforce competition of services or goods instead of sole source whenever feasible.
• Ensure vouchers include proper documentation and approvals prior to site office payment.
• Oversee the timely submission of the monthly field expenses (ROV) to the headquarters office.
• Serve as the project’s contact with the client on finance and administrative issues, participating in discussions on contract issues and actions, and following up on client requests and concerns.
• Support the development, execution, and management of subcontractor and consultant agreements.
• Develop and implement systems to streamline financial practices and procedures to mitigate risk of fraud
• Inform and keep home office backstop team updated on all contractual, financial and legal issues affecting the project
• Perform random audits of inventory to make sure inventory reports prepared by operations team are always accurate and up to date.
• Serve as primary project liaison with Abt’s Human Resources Department on personnel issues, and support other staff as needed in recruitment and onboarding of staff, employee benefits tracking and administration, and assist in preparing consent requests for salary increases with home office project management staff. Oversees the hiring and termination processes for staff, working in collaboration with HR and the COP.
• Directly supervises the finance and procurement managers
• Manages and direct the startup, general operations, and closeout of the program.

Qualification Requirements Include The Following

• Bachelors Degree (minimum), or a Masters Degree (desirable), in Business , Administration, or other relevant field.
• At least 10-12 years of professional experience managing financial, procurement and contractual aspects of large international development projects, preferably USAID-finded projects.
• Significant experience managing and supervising financial and procurement management personnel.
• Familiarity with US Government Cost Accounting Standards and subcontract management
• Strong analytical and computer skills, with an emphasis on budget development, budget management and financial analysis.
• Experience in logistics, procurement, and supply chain management highly desirable.
• Experience in audit highly desirable
• Written and spoken fluency in English.

Minimum Qualifications

Bachelor’s Degree + Fifteen years of relevant experience, or Master’s Degree + Twelve years of relevant experience, or PhD + Ten years of relevant experience

Abt Associates is an Affirmative Action/Equal Opportunity employer committed to fostering a diverse workforce. Abt Associates provides market-competitive salaries and comprehensive employee benefits. Local candidates strongly encouraged to apply.

Disclaimer: Abt Associates will never ask candidates for money in exchange for an offer of employment.

go to method of application »

Opportunity

In 2021, USAID Kenya awarded Abt Associates, the Kenya Vector Control Activity. It seeks to build on PMI investments under PMI AIRS and VectorLink. The purpose of the project is to plan, implement, provide technical assistance for, monitor and evaluate critical malaria vector control activities. This includes indoor residual spraying (IRS) and insecticide treated net (ITN) activities for prevention of malaria in Kenya. The project has six objectives: (1) indoor residual spraying and other proven vector control interventions, (2) entomological monitoring and surveillance, (3) ITN durability monitoring (4) data driven decision making to inform strategic deployment of ITNs and IRS, (5) capacity building of Kenya national malaria program and selected counties and (6) continuous net distribution system in the community through multiple channels. In 2022, Abt Associates shall implement IRS in Homa Bay and Migori Counties and in other counties thereafter as determined by USAID Kenya.

Under the supervision of the Chief of Party, the Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning (MEL) Advisor focuses on surveillance and information management, monitoring programmatic vector control activities, digital solutions for vector control programming, and evaluating associated epidemiological, entomological, and environmental impact in targeted communities. S/he will promote the results of the program, disseminate evidence, and identify strategic opportunities to transfer knowledge to multiple stakeholders at project and country levels. The MEL Advisor will directly supervise the database manager. In collaboration with COP and DCOP, Finance and Administration, the MEL Advisor shall provide technical oversight and management of any local subcontracts under the MEL activities.

Specific Duties And Responsibilities Include The Following

• Provide leadership in M&E and foster a culture of innovation and learning through routine reflection of project performance, identification of lessons learned, and use of evidence to inform programming decisions to maximize project results and impact.
• Lead the needs assessments and baseline surveys/data collection process prior to IRS campaigns and other vector control activities.
• Lead establishment of routine M&E systems to support tracking of vector control program activities, progress, and performance.
• Improve programmatic monitoring efforts through managing the data collection of routine vector control activities and reporting the data for internal and client use.
• Design, review and test M&E tools for reporting formats and data collection.
• Ensure appropriate skills are maintained with the national and county vector control teams through focused trainings for continued maintenance of the established M&E tracking systems.
• Track and report data on all project indicators to the Abt Home Office and PMI/Kenya; This includes regular updating of the project’s official Monitoring and Evaluation Plan.
• Prepare performance monitoring plans, including developing and defining program indicators and sources of data, as well as annual reports and other project documents.
• Conduct periodic internal Data Quality Assessments and prepare the project for possible external Data Quality Audits to ensure validity, integrity, precision, reliability and timeliness of all performance data, identifying gaps and suggesting corrective actions on time.
• The position requires frequent travel to counties and field sites where vector control activities are taking place to conduct routine monitoring, program supervision, and support.

Qualification Requirements Include The Following

• Masters Degree in a relevant social science field, such as Public Health/Environmental health, Community Health, or Statistics.
• At least seven years of relevant professional experience in program monitoring and evaluation and in research, with previous IRS or other malaria program experience desirable.
• Demonstrated expertise in M&E, research and CLA methods with respect to public health programs including experience in design of M&E systems and tools
• Experience building the capacity of stakeholders at project, country or global levels in data generation and use (evidence translation)
• Experience in implementing digital solutions for health, including experience usingDHIS 2 software, GIS/mapping applications, mobile data collection systems (ie: ODK, KoBo, DHIS 2 Android Capture app, etc), and data visualization.
• Experience and familiarity with USAID program monitoring and evaluation, and performance monitoring.
• Strong analytic and quantitative database management skills, budgeting and report writing.
• English language fluency .

Minimum Qualifications

Bachelor’s Degree + Fifteen years of relevant experience, or Master’s Degree + Twelve years of relevant experience, or PhD + Ten years of relevant experience

Abt Associates is an Affirmative Action/Equal Opportunity employer committed to fostering a diverse workforce. Abt Associates provides market-competitive salaries and comprehensive employee benefits. Local candidates strongly encouraged to apply.

Disclaimer: Abt Associates will never ask candidates for money in exchange for an offer of employment.