Senior Advisor - Delivery at Tony Blair Institute for Global Change

Role Summary

• TBI’s Global Client Solutions (GCS) team is at the heart of how we define “what we do” and then distribute the best of the Institute and our networks to global leaders through our country advisory teams. As a centre of excellence, GCS is comprised of functional and sectoral experts who provide valuable counsel, technical support, thought partnership, strategy, and surge capacity to our embedded advisors working hand-in-hand with governments.
• GCS’s Delivery Anchor Team (DAT) specialises in the processes, tools and techniques used by political leaders to steer more effective and faster implementation of government priorities. Delivery is at the heart of TBI’s origin story and offer, beginning with Mr. Blair’s time in Downing Street when he established the first government Delivery Unit. We are driven by outcomes and have a laser-focus on making government work: ‘getting things done’ and ‘making change happen’ in complex delivery ecosystems while constantly leveraging lessons from the frontline and innovating to offer best-in-class delivery solutions to our clients.

Please note that if you are applying for the role in Nairobi you must have the right to work in Country.
As TBI and our delivery work is growing rapidly in the Americas, EMEA and Asia, we are hiring global Senior Delivery Advisors with extensive experience working with, or for, governments to join our growing team supporting political leaders and partners on making change happen through innovative delivery mechanisms.

• The role will be situated centrally, primarily providing expert support to our in-country TBI advisors, our partner governments, and other key stakeholders worldwide on strengthening their delivery systems and to deliver concrete results to their citizens.
• This is a senior expert role requiring exceptional candidates with relevant expertise, deep networks and experience working with governments, development and technical partners active in delivery. Global experience, or experience translating your expertise in diverse contexts is a must.

Key Responsibilities

Support regional & country directors and their embedded delivery teams

• Quickly become a valued and supportive go-to expert across the Institute on matters of Government Delivery
• Lead or contribute to scoping and diagnosis exercises to understand senior leader’s visions, opportunities and challenges, and the key drivers of deliver
• Support business development efforts with technical expertise and facilitate high level discussions with senior government counterparts on TBI’s scope of work and approach
• Provide expertise input, thought partnership, quality insurance and advice to Regional Directors, Country Directors and Advisors on their delivery projects throughout and at critical milestones, ensuring end-to-end impact and utilisation of TBI Delivery best practices and tools, methods and approaches
• Support project teams to assess and build the capacity of government counterparts to effectively implement their Delivery strategies

Innovation in Delivery and thought leadership

• Support the Director of Delivery in strategy development and implementation, maintaining intelligence on market needs, competition and gaps in the Delivery ecosystem
• Contribute to strengthening TBI’s Delivery offer and methods by identifying gamechangers, leveraging feedback and thinking creatively to champion the design and mainstreaming of new delivery solutions and their adaptation to different contexts
• Ensure feedback loops between the implementation of our delivery offer with areas like strategy, policy, strategic communications and private office functions
• Contribute to positioning the practice and TBI as thought-leaders in this space by being a spokesperson on key topics, including participating on panels, writing blogs and articles, and networking strategically
• Support building out of the Institute’s network of exceptional external advisors who can provide tactical surge support on critical programme milestones and input into our asset evolution

Development of strategic partnerships

• In collaboration with the Strategic Partnerships and Initiatives team, support the development and nurturing of relationships with existing or potential strategic partners to support TBI’s fundraising, business development, thought-leadership, policy influencing and programme delivery
• Ensuring that the partnerships reflect TBI’s proprietary Delivery methodology, impact on the ground, and strategic priorities
• Develop annual plan to support implementation of strategic partnerships relevant for Delivery Anchor Team
• Collaborate with internal stakeholders to strengthen TBI’s overall approach to Delivery partnerships, including having efficient approaches for partnership knowledge management

Person Specification
This is a role in a fast-paced globally situated team working out of different geographies and in complex policy areas. We are looking for candidates with proven track record of leadership and delivery in the public or private sectors, in multiple country contexts, who can demonstrate the following:

• Experience leading a Delivery Unit and/or supporting the set-up of Delivery Units in multiple countries with demonstratable success in achieving tangible outcomes for citizens
• Extensive experience in a leadership role, cutting across centre of government, delivery, and/or management consulting globally (including in Africa and developed country contexts)
• Experience with project development and project management
• Ability to work and interact at the highest levels of political decision-making structures in Governments and to support the emergence of trusted relationships
• Strong political acumen and able to rapidly develop an understanding of the needs of senior officials
• Highly developed analytical skills that can be deployed in a range of contexts
• Ability to work in the face of a range of competing views and priorities, possessing highly developed negotiation skills
• Exceptional communication, drafting and presentation skills
• An ability to work independently, think strategically and translate strategies into concrete and implementable plans; an acute attention to detail, as well as organisational and communication skills
• Proven ability and experience leading and managing people and teams
• Strong team player with excellent soft skills as well as flexibility to help where needed
• Able to motivate and influence others, including TBI country specific roles, as well as funders, government counterparts and partners
• Willingness to travel extensively, sometimes at short notice, in particular to TBI’s countries of operation
• Strong sense of ethics, discretion and perseverance required
• Experience of living and working in developing countries is strongly desirable
• Fluency in English is required. Fluency in French and Spanish is highly desirable