Delivery Lead – Eastern and Southern Africa at DAI Kenya - Development Alternatives, Inc.

Buy-in Design & Implementation

• Supervise and manage a team of ATI Activity Managers to ensure quality delivery of the technical activities, coordination between regional/continental activities, and the development of strategies for high priority USG initiatives as needed, support technical decision-making, and ensure close coordination with the Chief of Party, CFO, Technical Directors and Admin/Ops teams and DAI Home Office staff.
• Work closely with Senior Technical Directors and Activity Managers to ensure client satisfaction from buy-in design through implementation and timely delivery of deliverables and milestones. This will include providing inputs and overseeing the design of buy-in SOWs, SOOs/SOWs for procurements and grants.
• Manage the resourcing of buy-in implementation by monitoring bandwidth, portfolio breakdowns and assigning resources (LTTA and STTA) to new and existing buy-in activities, in close coordination across project leadership. Plans, assigns, and directs Activity team work, including addressing and resolving problems.
• Work closely with ATI leadership and supervise Activity Managers on the development of buy-in scopes of work, activity design, implementation including reviewing scopes of work from a financial feasibility and compliance perspective. Support budget-related negotiations with current and potential buy-in clients.
• Participates in weekly ATI Senior Management meetings convened by the COP with Sr. Technical Directors and serve as senior representative of ATI in place of Chief of Party or Senior Technical Directors when needed.
• Support procurement and technical teams on final subcontractor SOWs and deliverable schedules, with a focus on standardizing deliverable metrics, pay-for-performance, and catalytic funding contractual framing in addition to supporting deliverables review
• Work with Grants Managers to design Annual Program Statements and other grant solicitation mechanisms and grant programming in line with client priorities, as well as coordinate grant management with the larger buy-in activities and identify suitable collaboration as applicable.
• Providing capacity building and guidance to subcontractors and grantees as needed to ensure that new and underutilized partners to USAID are given opportunities to build their familiarity with working with USAID effectively and advance the goals of USAID localization.
• Ensure implementation across buy-ins is strategic and cost-effective by ensuring ongoing collaboration, joint analysis, learning and use of data for decision-making and continuous quality improvement as well as efficient problem solving and solution development. Where feasible, make linkages to different buy-in initiatives in order to capitalize on successes, best practices, and other synergies.
• Mentor and train Activity Managers, Specialists and Associates, ensuring they receive all relevant training, and instilling shared responsibility to build learning into program design and implementation.

Contract & Operations Support

• Provide inputs to and support completion of USAID contract deliverables, including but not limited to Year One & subsequent workplans, Quarterly & Annual Reporting, Grants Manual, ESMF and Branding & Marking Plan. Establish a general implementation infrastructure, including templates, tools, and other guidance, to incorporate best practices across regions and consistent quality delivery of activities. Write and manage these guidance materials in order to accelerate onboarding and ensure activity staff are implementing buy-ins consistently across the project.
• Identify places for program-wide efficiencies or process/system improvements and support the development of procedures to standardize practices across regions, incorporating best practices and lessons learned. Identify where policies and procedures are not in alignment with best practice and ATI norms, and work towards correct realignment.
• Coordinate closely across ATI team to ensure that implementation is delivered in a consistent, cohesive manner and that processes are aligned across the project.
• Support CFO and financial management counterpart(s) in overseeing core project finances, particularly around technical components, including project accounting, budget management and cost control. Support regular client financial reporting including snapshots with invoiced to date figures and projections, quarterly and annual reports. Oversight of project pipeline and scenario forecasting.
• Ensure project internal controls are implemented in accordance with the DAI USG Operations Manual, USAID rules/regulations and the terms of the contract. In coordination with CFO, establish additional project guidance or policy deviations for operations, as needed. Oversees periodic file audits in conjunction with DAI Home Office staff.
• Support long-term personnel recruitment efforts, including drafting and posting scopes of work, interviewing, and onboarding/training new staff. Support the recruitment and supervision of consultants as needed.

Monitoring, Evaluation, & Learning

• Support ATI leadership, MEL and technical teams in planning and implementation of the project workplans and M&E targets, including developing standardized definitions, quality assessments of data, extrapolating and capturing learnings on technical and operational components, and identifying learning opportunities and use findings to support timely learning adaptation.
• Ensure market-driven approaches are fully integrated into programmatic interventions and refined with learning. Work closely with Partnership/Procurement team to engage a broad spectrum of private sector actors and promote replication of successful approaches.
• Source and coordinate strong opportunities and storylines for communications pieces and work with Activity and Communications team to develop and disseminate products.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree and a minimum of 10 years of relevant professional work experience; or a master’s degree and 8 years of relevant professional work experience;
• Exhibited experience supporting large-scale multi year projects with proven skills managing budgets, operations, processes, client, and project management with experience working in Africa
• Exhibited supervisory experience and matrixed team management, as well as experience with recruitment and building the capacity of new and existing team members.
• Experience building the capacity of new and underutilized partners, as well as building out a network of potential partners in the locations in which USG programming is being delivered.
• Demonstrated experience in identifying efficiencies, capturing learnings, and adapting implementation based on best practices
• Proven project management, communications, writing, and interpersonal skills with ex cellent judgment, sound problem solving and decision-making skills
• Ability to work in a fast-moving, fluid team setting with multiple stakeholders

Preferred

• Familiarity and/or relevant experience with the technical issues of private capital mobilization, trade finance and investment, USAID’s private sector engagement policy and partnerships, and related development priorities such as enterprise growth, gender inclusion, and job creation