Director, USG Project Management (M1) - open to remote global candidates

Staff whose work requires or potentially could require any in-person interaction with Save the Children colleagues, partners, or beneficiaries must be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 unless otherwise required by law. Save the Children complies with federal, state, and local laws with regard to accommodations related to this policy.

Summary

As the Director, USG Project Management, you will oversee a specific portfolio of medium-sized USG and private donor awards, providing project management support and coordination between home office and in-country colleagues implementing Education and Child Protection awards. You will bring together technical assistance, award management, and Monitoring Evaluation, Accountability & Learning (MEAL) functions for successful project delivery. The Project Management role embodies Save the Children’s commitment to the highest quality programming: providing proactive quality assurance and problem solving; ensuring open communication and a collaborative approach across all stakeholders; and maintaining a reputation for excellence with our donors through responsive client management.

What You’ll Be Doing (Essential Duties)

Project Management and Quality Assurance (60%)

• Lead cross-functional project management and quality assurance for cross-functional teams (award management, technical assistance, MEAL) for a sub-set of medium-sized (i.e., 20 million dollars) USG and private donor awards within Save the Children US’s Department of Education and Child Protection(DECP)
• Maintain familiarity with the requirements of the agreements – both program description and standard provisions – and monitor compliance, providing guidance to the Chief of Party (CoP) (or other program lead) and program team for successful project delivery
• Coordinate the high-quality development, review, final approval, and timely submission of all technical/programmatic documents, products or other deliverables that will be submitted to donor, the prime, ministry of education, or other project stakeholders
• Work closely with the CoP (and SCI Country Office, if necessary) to monitor the progress of work plan implementation; identify and organize any resources necessary from SCUS to address implementation challenges
• Monitor performance of partners, and in coordination with the CoP, SCI Country Office and SCUS teams, develop action items for timely and effective resolution of challenges
• Escalate immediately to the Senior Director, USG Project Management any serious issues to relevant SCUS technical, MEAL, resource development, and award management supervisors; including: suspicion of fraud, slow burn rate, lack of performance on deliverables, HR issues, issues with partners or CO support processes/teams, changes in context, or donor-expressed concern
• Identify training needs, and develop and provide training to SCUS and country office staff on project management and compliance

Communications and Knowledge Management (20%)

• Lead the creation and maintenance of project communications plans, including communications with a wide range of internal and external stakeholders
• Develop/manage templates/systems for managing data, information, etc. pertaining to programs
• With the Chief of Party (or similar project leadership), maintain and facilitate regular communication with
  • Relevant donor counterparts according to project communication plans, and counterparts in partners’ headquarters offices in the US, organizing regular meetings to ensure effective working relationships and proactively address any relationship issues that may arise

• Maintain and facilitate regular communication with all internal project stakeholders per the project management plan to ensure effective internal working relationships; respond in a timely fashion to individual requests for information
  • Maintain and circulate minutes of conversations, including agreed-upon action items to stakeholders as appropriate
  • Respond to requests for information about the project from SCUS and SCI teams, e.g. communications, monitoring and evaluation information, resource development, and donor, as appropriate
  • Create and maintain a knowledge management plan for all key project documents; ensure project team provides archive of all technical products, including IEC materials, to DECP
  • Maintain a current Past Performance Review (PPR) for the programs, aligned to donor agreements and requirements, and respond to new business development (NBD) or resource development requests for PPR updates
  • Document and share out lessons learned to inform project implementation and project design

Planning and Operations (20%)

• Coordinate the development of an annual technical assistance plan (including MEAL), inclusive of SCUS Technical Advisors (TAs) and external consultants and short-term technical advisors (STTA)
  • Support the recruitment and deployment of consultants and STTA
    • Support the development and review of scopes of work; identify consultants; work with finance to arrange contracts; review draft reports or other deliverables; sign off on final reports or other deliverables, as appropriate
    • Ensure technical advisers are aware of project progress, the needs for their support, and budgeted expectations for level of effort (LoE) and TA trips
  • Make regular TA visits (as provided for in award agreement) to the project to review progress and support key activities, as appropriate and budgeted. Annual trips are ideal; there is a minimum expectation for a startup trip and one for close out.
• Support strategic / annual planning processes
• Support the search for match funding through coordinating with SCUS Resource Development colleagues
• Support project start up/close-out
  • Participate in and advise on the timely recruitment of key technical staff
  • Conduct an initial visit to support establishment of relationships with key partners – prime, subs, SCI staff, USAID, Ministry of Education (MoE), others
  • Support the development of the project management plan (PMP) and annual plans
  • Along with CoP and Award Management, Grants and Contract and Finance representatives, support preparation of the close-out plan for the project

Required Qualifications

• Minimum of a Bachelor Degree or equivalent experience, plus at least 5 years of relevant experience
• Demonstrated knowledge of relevant US Government regulations (e.g,. USAID, USDA)
• USAID project management experience
• Budget development and management experience
• Excellent problem solving and communications skills
• Demonstrated successful ability to work independently and demonstrate initiative
• Proven ability to engage in prolonged and multilayered donor and stakeholder negotiation
• Proven ability to monitor and move forward multiple priorities at the same time
• Excellent organizational and time management skills
• Professional proficiency in MS Office suite
• Professional proficiency in spoken and written English
• Willingness and ability to travel, including internationally, up to 25%
• Demonstrated ability to communicate and collaborate effectively with individuals and teams at all levels, both internally and externally
• Demonstrated commitment to fostering and maintaining and environment of diversity, inclusion, and belonging.

Preferred Qualifications

• Proficiency in French, Spanish, and/or Arabic
• New business development experience
• USAID project management experience in both the US and country-office levels

Compensation

Save the Children is offering the following salary ranges for this position, dependent on candidate location:

• Geo 1 - NY Metro, DC, and other locations with labor costs significantly above national average: Target Salary for this position is $90,950 – $101,650 base salary
• Geo 2 - Locations around the US National Labor Cost Average: Target Salary for this position is $82,450 – $92,150 base salary
• Geo 3 - Locations significantly below the US National Labor Cost Average: Target Salary for this position is $73,950 – $82,650 base salary

Actual base salary may vary based upon, but not limited to, relevant experience, base salary of internal peers, business sector, and geographic location. Employee may be eligible for an incentive program. Save the Children also offers paid vacation, accrued at least 12 days a year, depending on paygrade and length of service, paid safety and wellness leave of at least 1 day per month worked for a full time employee which is pro rata reduced for employees working less than a full time schedule, and at least 10 paid holidays a year. Employees may be eligible for additional bonus compensation. Save the Children US also offers outstanding benefits that include health, dental, vision and life insurances, short-term and long-term disability coverage, an Employee Assistance Program, a retirement savings plan with employer contribution, family leave, paid parental/adoption leave of 60 days, commuter benefits, paid caregiver leave days, 1 paid volunteer day a year, paid critical child illness leave days, dress for your day, and much more.

Why you should join the Save the Children Team…

Save the Children US offers outstanding benefits that include health, dental, vision and life insurances, short-term and long-term disability coverage, an Employee Assistance Program, 403(b), generous vacation, personal sick leave, family leave, parental/adoption leave, commuter benefits, dress for your day, and much more.

Click here to learn more about how Save the Children US will invest in YOU!

About Save the Children

No matter your role when you join Save the Children, each and every day you will challenge yourself to devote your skills, talent and expertise to changing the world for kids. It’s an ambitious goal, and a meaningful one no matter how you see yourself professionally: an accountant, a writer, a data analyst, a teacher, a driver, a designer, or any one of the hundreds of dozens of roles we’re looking to fill every day.

You see, Save the Children believes every child deserves a future. In the United States and around the world, we give children a healthy start in life, the opportunity to learn and protection from harm. We do whatever it takes for children – every day and in times of crisis – transforming their lives and the future we share.

Our work for children and their families requires that we commit—at every opportunity—to work together to identify and dismantle persistent systemic and structural racism, inequality, and any other forms of discrimination in this country and beyond. As an anti-racist organization, Save the Children will not tolerate discrimination in any form—in our employment practices, amongst our staff, in our leadership or toward the people we serve. We stand in solidarity with all people to fight for equal rights, justice, inclusion, and belonging.

We provide equal employment opportunities (EEO) to all employees and qualified applicants for employment without regard to race, color, religion, gender, gender identity or expression, ancestry, sexual orientation, national origin, age, handicap, disability, marital status, or status as a veteran. Save the Children complies with all applicable laws.

Save the Children is committed to conducting its programs and operations in a manner that is safe for the children it serves and helping protect the children with whom we are in contact. All Save the Children representatives are explicitly prohibited from engaging in any activity that may result in any kind of child abuse. In addition, it is Save the Children’s policy to create and proactively maintain an environment that aims to prevent and deter any actions and omissions, whether deliberate or inadvertent, that place children at the risk of any kind of child abuse. All our representatives are expected to conduct themselves in a manner consistent with this commitment and obligation.

Save the Children is committed to minimizing safety and security risks for our valued employees, ensuring all are given training, support and information to reduce their risk exposure while maximizing the impact of our programs for children and families. Our shared duty, both agency and individual, is to seek and maintain safe working conditions for all.