Director, Grants & Innovation at Palladium International

Primary Duties And Responsibilities

• Oversee grants administration, compliance and implementation procedures, and ensure compliance with USAID grants regulations, including procurement regulations
• Lead and coordinate technical design of innovative grants approaches to meet the technical strategies of the Inclusive Business Model, Financial Institutions and Business Advisory Service Providers teams
• Design and conduct grants solicitation and advertisements utilizing Palladium’s Pay for Results methodologies
• Oversee grants commitments, taking into account probability-weighted pipelines and other tools to manage grant agreements against obligated amounts
• Ensure design of grants are aligned with the project’s technical strategy and results-based methodology and in compliance with USAID rules and regulations
• Oversee pre-award risk assessments of grantees
• In accordance with Palladium’s USAID-approved Grants Under Contract (GUC) manual, develop and execute all aspects of the GUC process, including development of the GUC manual
• Design and prepare Grant Review Guidelines for evaluators, including scoring formats
• Convene the Grant Committee Meetings, lead negotiations with applicants, and prepare the Memorandum of Negotiations and Responsibility Determination Statement, awards and execution
• Negotiate, in collaboration with Palladium HQ, grant terms and agreements, with potential grantees
• Conduct grants tracking and reporting, ensuring timely usage of grants funds as per annual work plans and coordinating issue resolution with other teams
• Issue instructions and provide guidance to grantees for the Branding and Marking Plan and Monitoring and Evaluation of grant implementation practices
• Direct and oversee grants close out and final reporting
• Other tasks as deemed necessary

Required Qualifications

• Knowledge of USAID grants policies, procedures, and reporting requirements
• Bachelor’s degree in business administration, finance or a related field in international business management, finance, accounting and/or auditing experience.
• Experience in managing grants under contract for USAID-funded programs of a similar size
• Experience in managing innovation grants, performance-based grants, or other mechanisms to algin performance incentives with an activity’s strategic objectives
• Prior experience in a management role on a USAID funded program highly desired experience managing staff
• Demonstrated experience coordinating and collaborating with various stakeholders and grant awardees
• Knowledge of blended finance preferred
• Advanced knowledge of computers and MS Excel
• Local Kenyan candidates are preferred
• Written and oral proficiency in English required