Activity Manager - USAID Africa Trade and Investment (ATI) at DAI Kenya - Development Alternatives, Inc.

Overview of Job Description

The Activity Manager will be responsible for managing several large multi-year buy-in activities with significant labor and/or field presence, with support from technical advisors and the ATI team. Responsibilities include providing technical and management support to buy-in activities, working with the technical and operational teams to identify and mobilize resources in support of implementation, and supporting USAID clients. The Activity Manager is also responsible for buy-in activity budget management and financial forecasting, in close coordination with the Operations/Finance team and with support from other team members. The Activity Manager will also be responsible for generating buy-in activity scopes of work, supporting the design of procurements and grants programs, and tracking budgets across ATI’s portfolio. In addition, s/he will provide surge procurement and operational support to existing ATI staff as needed.

Responsibilities and duties

• Manage and track buy-in activity implementation progress by personnel, consultants and subcontractors, ensure it adheres to the approved workplan and deliverable schedule, and troubleshoot deviations;
• Support development and review of technical deliverables and contribute to subsequent learning;
• Manage relationship with client and implementing partner and serve as a project point of contact for the duration of the assigned buy-in activities;
• Lead on all matters related to the buy-in, including but not limited to contractual, operational, MEL, reporting, and financial matters;
• Ensure assigned buy-in activities are managed in accordance with USAID regulations and DAI Procurement policies;
• Liaise with implementing parties to ensure proper M&E data capture and data quality to contribute to overall ATI project M&E reporting; and
• In tandem with relevant technical staff, generate buy-in scopes of work and budgets as needed
• As needed, support the project’s procurement and operational staff
• Travel to regional offices as required

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree and a minimum of 10 years of relevant professional work experience
• Significant experience in budget, operational, and process management or more general project and business process management experience relevant to USG program implementation;
• Proven project management, communications, writing and interpersonal skills including strong experience with client management;
• An extremely well-organized and self-directed individual with sound technical skills, analytical ability, good judgment, and strong operational focus;
• Ability to work in a fast-moving, fluid team setting with multiple stakeholders
• Fluency in spoken and written English required, foreign language skills preferred