West Africa Program Director

About TechnoServe:

At TechnoServe, we believe that everyone deserves the opportunity to build a better life. For over 50 years, we have given smallholder farmers and entrepreneurs the skills, connections, and confidence to lift themselves out of poverty. We leverage the power of markets and the private sector to create sustainable economic growth to benefit people and the planet. Our unique mix of business solutions, deep knowledge of local contexts, and data-driven insights is helping to fight poverty across Africa, Asia, and Latin America.

TechnoServe staff are local–95% are from the countries in which they work. We put a high premium on collaboration and entrepreneurship. We hold ourselves and each other to the highest standards of integrity and transparency. And we focus on delivering lasting impact for our mission.

Summary:

This three year, multimillion dollar program is designed to be a catalyst for transformative change within a key economic sector in West African countries. The Program Director will be at the forefront of this initiative, driving increases in productivity, strengthening agricultural cooperatives, and empowering rural communities. A cornerstone of this role is building and maintaining strong strategic alliances with private sector leaders, government agencies, and local implementing partners. We are seeking a leader who thrives in a dynamic setting, employs an adaptive management approach, and skillfully uses data to inform strategic decisions and foster a culture of continuous improvement.

Primary Functions & Responsibilities:

•  Lead overall implementation and management of the program, from inception to close-out, ensuring that the program achieves established goals, objectives and targets.
•  Provide strategic guidance, leadership, management and general technical oversight of the program.
•  Continuously develop operational efficiencies and drive innovations in delivery.
•  Oversee development and submission of project deliverables on time and within budget.
•  Recruit, lead, manage, and supervise delivery teams comprising long- and short-term team members and consortium partners.
•  Serve as the primary liaison with program stakeholders.
•  Act as a spokesperson for the program and present its work regionally/globally.

Basic Qualifications:

•  A master's degree or equivalent in business, economics, agricultural economics, with eight years of experience, or other relevant field (or a bachelor's degree with twelve years of experience).
•  At least eight years of relevant professional experience in international development.
•  Experience leading and managing large teams with a high level of leadership, interpersonal, technical, and analytical experience, as Team Leader, Chief of Party or other Program Director level role.

Required Languages: Excellent oral, written, and interpersonal skills, including fluency in French and English languages.

Travel: Travel up to 30%

Preferred Qualifications:

• Experience leading and managing large teams with a high level of leadership, interpersonal, technical, and analytical experience, as Team Leader, Chief of Party, or other Program Director level role.
• Prior work experience or collaboration with private sector companies and businesses.
•  Experience working in economic development in the West Africa region is preferred.
•  Demonstrated ability to interact effectively and collaboratively with a broad range of public and private sector counterparts and other key stakeholders.
•  Experience successfully implementing gender-integrated programs is a plus.

Knowledge, Skills and Abilities:

•  Strong communications and interpersonal skills with evidence of ability to lead diverse teams and achieve results
•  Demonstrated ability to coordinate and engage with a wide range of organizations (Private sector, government, NGOs)
•  Ability to effectively motivate and manage teams in a multi-cultural environment
•  Ability to work under tight deadlines while managing multiple tasks and activities
•  Ability to develop well written, cohesive analyses and reports
•  Ability to clearly communicate a high level strategy to internal and external stakeholders, while driving execution of a work plan and achievement of short-term milestones.
•  Ability to use adaptive management principles to make strategic, data-driven decisions in the face of uncertainty and complexity.

Supervisory Responsibilities: The Program Director will supervise a team implementing and monitoring field operations.

NOTE: This position is pending awarding of funding, and donor approval. 

We encourage all qualified individuals who share TechnoServe's vision of improving the lives of others through proven business solutions to apply.

With our commitment to diversity, we are proud to be an equal opportunity employer and affirmative action employer and do not discriminate on the basis of gender, race, color, ethnicity, religion, sexual orientation, gender identity, age, HIV/AIDS status, protected veteran status, disability and all other protected classes.

We are also proud of our commitment to protecting staff, partners, and beneficiaries from abuse and exploitation and thoroughly vet all final candidates through rigorous background and reference checks.

If you have a disability that affects your ability to use our online system to apply for a position at TechnoServe please contact the Human Resources at  or call

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