Deputy Country Director, Technical – CATALYZE MS4G 324 views

CATALYZE: MS4G Deputy Country Director, Technical

Company Overview:
Palladium is a global leader in the design, development, and delivery of
Positive Impact – the intentional creation of enduring social and economic
value.  We work with foundations,
investors, governments, corporations, communities, and civil society to
formulate strategies and implement solutions that generate lasting social, environmental,
and financial benefits. For the past 50 years, we have been making Positive
Impact possible. With a team of more than 2,500 employees operating in 90 plus
countries and a global network of more than 35,000 technical experts, Palladium
has improved -and is committed to continuing to improve – economies, societies
and most importantly, people’s lives. Palladium is a child-safe organization,
and screens applicants for suitability to work with children.  We also provide equal employment to all participants
and employees without regard to race, color, religion, gender, age, disability,
sexual orientation, veteran or marital status.

Project Overview:
Launched
in 2020, CATALYZE: Market Systems for Growth (MS4G) drives private enterprise
expansion to contribute towards Ethiopia’s future economic growth and
prosperity. MS4G intends to foster enterprise-driven growth, especially among
private enterprises that have high growth potential and the capacity to
catalyse job creation throughout market systems. MS4G’s goal is to address
systemic challenges, including building business development services capacity,
creating a more conducive business environment, building the financial sector
infrastructure and capability within private finance providers, and expanding
the digital economy. MS4G catalyses private sector growth by improving access
to finance and facilitating transactions through targeted interventions across
market systems (demand, supply, and enabling environment).? Expanded access to
finance will also drive change across the market system by increasing business
revenue and necessitating job creation.  The
program is expected
to operate through September 2024.
For its second year of implementation, project activities in the
agriculture and WASH sectors will take a larger priority. MS4G is required to
coordinate closely with other USAID and US Government (USG) activities. Across
all initiatives, there will be a cross-cutting focus on women and youth, as
well as a focus on ensuring that disparate ethnic groups and regions equitably
benefit from interventions.

Primary Duties and Responsibilities
The CATALYZE: MS4G Deputy Country Director, Technical will report
to the CATALYZE: MS4G Country Director. (This position is comparable to a
Deputy Chief of Party position.) S/he will provide technical direction to MS4G,
particularly supervising program activities in the regions and ensuring they
are carried out in alignment with the workplan. The Deputy will stand in for
the Country Director as needed.

• Advise Country Director on technical approach of the project.
• Serve as part of the Senior Management Team (SMT) in country,
  working under the Country Director and with the Deputy Country Director,
  Operations and Compliance, to provide project leadership to ensure project
  objectives are met in a compliant and timely manner.
• Ensures project activities conform to project requirements,
  including cost, schedule, and quality.
• Monitors subcontractors/grantees for timely delivery.
• Ensures agile program implementation in line with monitoring,
  evaluation, and learning (MEL) findings.
• Liaises with project counterparts as requested by the Country Director
  and supports the development of strategic partnerships designed to deliver
  impact at scale and transform market systems.
• Works with compliance, procurement and technical staff to develop
  innovative grants and performance-based subcontracting platforms that
  leverage local ecosystem actors to deliver services that produce impact at
  the firm, sector and market system level at scale.
• Serves as a technical liaison as part of the MS4G team, across
  private sector partners, the government, USAID, and other key stakeholders.
• Directly supervises Regional Managers, (Tigray, Amhara, SNNPR), and
  the Gender Advisor.
• Other duties as required.

Required Qualifications

• Extensive USAID project management experience preferred in fields
  related to the successful implementation of this project such as financial
  services and investment advisory expertise, private enterprise
  development, workforce development, and public and private sector
  engagement.
• Proven knowledge and understanding of Ethiopian finance, private
  enterprise, investment, business environment and trade issues; with a
  sound understanding of specific challenges and barriers facing women and
  youth entrepreneurs, business owners, and job seekers.
• Strong ability to manage and deal with diverse stakeholders.
• Evidence of strong communication skills, both interpersonal and
  written with professional fluency in English required.
• Experience supervising teams, preferably in a remote manner (i.e.,
  regional managers).
• Knowledge of USAID programming, approaches, and policy.
• Advanced computer skills including fluency with Microsoft 365
  applications (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, etc.).
•  Sound problem solving and decision-making skills.

Preferred Qualifications:

• A bachelor’s degree or post-graduate degree in Finance, Business
  Administration, Economic Policy, Enterprise Development or other related
  fields is preferred.
• Ten years or more of professional experience successfully overseeing
  large, complex projects (or components therein) and diverse teams focused
  on financial services and investment advisory expertise, private
  enterprise development, workforce development, and public and private
  sector engagement.
• Five years the international development field including experience
  in a management role for a USAID-funded contract of similar scale ($40M+ /
  5 years) highly desirable.
• Amharic written and verbal fluency are a plus.