Senior Regional Manager-Chief of Staff & Product Lead at Mercy Corps

General Position

The Senior Regional Manager: Chief of Staff & Product Lead plays a key executive-level role on the Jobtech Alliance program. Operating as part of the ‘Office of the Program Directors’ across Mercy Corps and BFA Global, ensuring that tactics align to strategy, that priorities remain priorities, and that the organization has the product and systems to ensure effective delivery at speed and scale. The Jobtech Alliance seeks to utilize technology to deliver best-in-class ecosystem services and start-up acceleration, and this role ensures that we are set-up with the internal- and external-facing products to make this a reality.

Key Responsibilities

STRATEGY, PEOPLE, CULTURE & ACCOUNTABILITY (30%)

• Play a key role within executive function in strategy development across the board
• Lead coordination of quarterly OKR design, management and review, and the accountability metronome
• Ensure regular communication of decisions, cross-departmental coordination, and close engagement with department leads
• Design performance management systems and oversee execution
• Champion organizational culture and team satisfaction
• Support team structure and hiring decisions
• Support systems development for the Jobtech Alliance in integration with Mercy Corps procurement/finance systems to maximise efficiency and speed

PRODUCT LEAD / ORGANIZATIONAL AND ECOSYSTEM INTELLIGENCE SYSTEM (30%)

• Lead the development and maintenance of a sector-leading Jobtech Alliance’s Ecosystem Intelligence system. The product should (1) Drive quality of engagement with the ecosystem (2) Automate and improve internal processes and cross-lane collaboration; and (3) Function as an intelligence and decision-making engine for overall management and individual team members
• Collaborate with departments, including Venture Support team hosted at BFA, to identify specs
• Lead ongoing website updates to improve ecosystem engagement and outcomes
• Identify preferred technical maintenance model and manage contractors

SPECIAL PROJECTS (40%)

• Lead on other major priorities for the ‘Office of the Program Directors’, including market expansion, new opportunities, or support to specific teams that require it. Two current special projects underway include:
  • Lead the Ecosystem Function for at least 6 months, to ensure (i) Seamless integration of Ecosystem Intelligence stack (ii) Clarified roles and responsibilities between team members (iii) A clear plan for Phase 2.
• Organizational Learning: Until Research & Learning Director is onboarded, manage calendar of monthly Learning Flywheel sessions, including working with team members to identify themes, and to ensure that sessions are effectively prepared by contacts. Ensure wiring between the organization, ongoing harvesting of insights, and a learning culture.

Supervisory Responsibility

Ecosystem Lead, Communications Manager

Accountability

Reports Directly To: Program Director, Jobtech Alliance

• Works Directly With: Start-ups, External partners, Venture Partners, BFA Global, Finance/Contracts Manager, Mercy Corps country teams, Domain and Function Leads.  .

Accountability to Participants and Stakeholders

• Mercy Corps team members are expected to support all efforts toward accountability, specifically to our program participants, community partners, other stakeholders, and to international standards guiding international relief and development work. We are committed to actively engaging communities as equal partners in the design, monitoring and evaluation of our field projects.

Minimum Qualification & Transferable Skills

• A minimum of 10 years experience that combines work organizational management, and product
• A track record of building product and systems, diving into the depth of not just technological problems but team dynamics
• Experience as a Chief of Staff, supporting executive responsibilities across an organization
• A culture king/queen, who is passionate about people and driving organizational and team performance through culture
• Outstanding analytical capacity, with capacity to bring clarity for others and make quick decisions.
• Excellent EQ and communication skills, with capacity to work collaboratively with partners.
• Experience working in or with startups is a strong plus.