Manager - Partnering with Cities at Sanergy

Citywise, Sanergy’s advisory services team, leverages Sanergy’s experience delivering full value chain sanitation services to accelerate efforts toward citywide inclusive sanitation. We partner with others to design and implement integrated systems that deliver safe, cost-effective and dignified sanitation. We have a proven track record delivering sanitation services to the poorest, most vulnerable populations in rapidly developing cities, command of technologies and service delivery models for urban sanitation, and a strong network of collaborators around the world. 

Sustainable Water and Sanitation Systems Activity (SWASSA) is a five-year, USAID-funded program in peri-urban areas of the Kivus region of the DRC, led by Mercy Corps. SWASSA’s goal is improved and sustained equitable access to clean water supply and safe sanitation services. Citywise is responsible for leading the iterative design and delivery of cost-effective sanitation service models. We are committed to establishing a foundational understanding of the business landscape, customer preferences, existing infrastructure, and other relevant norms and context, and to developing solutions, iteratively and in partnership with government, stakeholders and communities, to strengthen what exists and fill gaps in order to ensure that all residents have access to safely managed sanitation.

About the role

Citywise is looking for a resourceful and ambitious Manager - Partnering with Cities with experience in program design, project management, urban development and/or qualitative/quantitative research. The role will entail developing strategy and plans, developing proposals, building relationships with partners, and managing a portfolio of projects. A key focus in 2022 will be to support the startup of our work on SWASSA to ensure the timely implementation of an ambitious Year 2 work plan for the design and pilot testing of a container-based, full-value chain sanitation service in Bukavu, DRC. This leader will create a strategy to grow our portfolio in alignment with Sanergy’s values and objectives, while adapting to meet practical requirements of partnering with municipalities and bi/multilateral funding institutions.

Duties and Responsibilities

• Project Management and Delivery
  • Manage end-to-end implementation of projects, ensuring cohesiveness and comprehensiveness; you know the project backwards and forwards and serve as the point of integration even when multiple people are contributing
  • Manage direct reports and external consultants to complete deliverables
  • Manage SWASSA Program Manager (based in Bukavu, DRC) to: 
  • Collaborate with stakeholders including city officials to develop updated Shit Flow Diagram for Bukavu city 
  • Recruit and conduct capacity assessments of potential service providers for pilot implementation 
  • Provide capacity-building support for identified service provider to deliver container-based sanitation services
  • Oversee household level data collection 
  • Gather data to refine assumptions in business model
  • Develop and oversee application of data collection tools; oversee analysis and interpret results to inform project decision-making
  • Manage all active and potential projects simultaneously to ensure on-time fulfillment of commitments
  • Prepare and deliver comprehensive, accurate reports 
  • Hold ultimate responsibility for exceptional quality of all deliverables
  • Collaborate with Operations Manager to comply with and monitor against existing project budgets 
  • Archive project deliverables and lessons learned to support future projects 
  • Collaborate with Citywise teammates to develop and improve tools to increase efficiency in future projects
  • Collaborate with Operations Manager to facilitate invoicing and payment 
• Business Development 
  • Build pipeline of projects by monitoring formal opportunities 
  • Lead strategic development and maintenance of relationships with potential partners, including teaming strategy
  • Develop proposals, including program design and budget, and iterate with partners to reach final agreement
  • Collaborate with Operations Manager to execute contracts that clearly document shared expectations  
  • Develop and maintain up-to-date business development materials, e.g. project summaries, capacity statements
•  Strategy Development
  • Review and refine approach to realizing objectives through Partnering with Cities, in collaboration with Director
  • Develop strategy for growth of project portfolio, including setting growth targets and identifying ideal projects and partners to meet organizational objectives
  • Develop strategy for pipeline development and planning, considering long and uncertain timelines
  • Set challenging goals for business development efforts in line with the Citywise 5-year strategy; convert these to quarterly and mid-year goals and articulate resources/capacities needed to achieve these goals 

Qualifications

• >5 years of work experience, preferably in a program management or consulting capacity
• Master’s degree in a relevant field (e.g., business, public health, urban planning, public policy, engineering, etc.) or comparable experience
• Strong written and verbal communication skills in English; ability to speak French a strong asset
• Experience managing teammates and/or external consultants preferred, remote management a plus
• Experience managing implementation of field-based projects in resource-constrained settings; experience in market-based approaches and/or with SMEs preferred
• Experience managing collection and analysis of qualitative and quantitative data and quickly and frequently adapting based on findings; familiarity with human-centered design and iterative development a plus
• Recognized ability to prioritize and maintain a birds-eye view of multiple projects - you know how to create and maintain the tools/systems you need to ensure your team delivers on-time 
• Commitment to excellence - you know what constitutes a phenomenal deliverable - from rigorous analysis, evidence-based conclusions and practical recommendations to consistent formatting and professional presentation - and you pride yourself on consistently delivering phenomenal work 
• Excitement about tackling ambiguous, complex challenges; resourcefulness, creativity, and perseverance
• Humility and ability to develop relationships to collaborate 
• Familiarity with delivery of non-sewered sanitation services will be beneficial but is not required
• Experience working on USAID-funded projects will be beneficial but is not required