Director, Program Operations (Re-advertisement) at African Wildlife Foundation

Key Responsibilities

Leadership

• Lead the review , implementation, and adoption of AWF’s project management methodology, tools, standard operating procedures and expectations
• Lead , develop and supervise a team of professional staff
• Ensure AWF’s vision is well understood by the project teams
• Provide expert input into and deliver creative solutions to improve AWF’s unique culture
• Promote a culture of accountability, urgency in delivery and quality of work using the established RACI

Program Implementation

• Oversee program implementation and ensure conservation impact, compliance with donor regulations and effective communication with other AWF departments
• Oversee effective and relevant program inception meetings, and planning exercises for programs in Africa
• Work with the landscape and country coordinators and directors, to coordinate development of project plans and budgets advising on what is achievable given time, budgets, and operations
• Ensure that program managers are using the project management system ( Envisio) and recommend an adaptive management course as needed
• Question programmatic assumptions, plans and pace to ensure that AWF remains on a good course considering changing operational realities
• Ensure that requirements for proposal development (log-frames, technical design, and other inputs) are high quality and provided to the relevant fundraising teams in timely manner
• Build , maintain and improve systems for collecting programmatic means of verification (MOVs)
• Ensure timely and high-quality programmatic reporting and conservation outputs from landscape teams
• Evaluate the challenges faced by the Field teams and act to mitigate risks and develop opportunities
• Integrate AWF’s Rights based approaches in AWF’s programming
• Oversee AWF’s classroom Africa program
• Represent AWF at relevant forums

Qualifications

• Master or Bachelor’s  degree   in   ecology, conservation, project management, sustainable development, or related Advanced degree preferred
• At least 10 years’ experience managing large field-based conservation and sustainable development grants with annual budgets in excess of US$1 million
• Demonstrated ability to lead professional teams
• Ability to think strategically, anticipate future consequences and trends, and incorporate them into the organizational Willingness to question the status quo.
• Decisive, with a high level of business acumen and the ability to balance the delivery of programs against the realities of a budget
• Strong project management experience
• High level of emotional intelligence
• Results based orientation
• Personable, with the ability to get the best from a team without unnecessary interpersonal conflict or
• Ability and willingness to travel sometimes to  very remote and sometimes physically challenging locations
• Fluency in English and French