Chief of Party, CATALYZE

Position description

Primary Roles and Responsibilities:

Overall Management

• Manage the final phase of CATALYZE, including project closure, in line with the highest standards of contract management excellence. Serve as direct liaison with USAID in Washington, D.C., on overall CATALYZE management issues
• Ensure high quality preparation of all learning and research documents produced by CATALYZE in the final years of project implementation
• Supervise Key Personnel and Activity Team Leads (Project Director equivalent) plan, problem-solve for performance issues and execute as needed to ensure operational, financial and compliance excellence in CATALYZE Activity and overall contract management
• Lead preparation of a monthly financial report to Palladium leadership, and support Activity Teams to participate in monthly, quarterly and ad hoc internal technical and financial project reviews
• Lead the process by which Palladium develops self-evaluations, presentations and invoices related to CATALYZE fixed and award fee
• Liaise as needed on behalf of CATALYZE with Palladium’s corporate Finance, Legal, Human Resources and Compliance teams as required
• Support new business development and co-creation processes of all new CATALYZE buy-ins to ensure quality/feasible design and rapid creation of all foundational documents

Technical Leadership

• Support Activity Team Leads and Project Directors problem-solve as needed to ensure technical, operational, and financial excellence in project management and CATALYZE Activity closure
• Conduct site visits, participate in close out and other events, and/or oversee technical assignments in the field for CATALYZE on topics such as blended finance, early childcare and development, early childhood education, business accelerators, gender inclusive finance, private sector engagement, Advisory Services/transaction and financial institution training, among other relevant topics
• Contribute to excellence in research, analysis, evaluation, writing and publication of CATALYZE project reports, technical studies, case studies, and program approaches, to capture lessons learned, demonstrate thought leadership and help teams put in place adaptive management. Share these lessons and learnings internally, with USAID and externally
• Support Activity Teams by ensuring quality control on project deliverables (e.g. Assessments, Performance Work Statements, Annual Work Plans, Annual Reports, Award Fee Presentations, Close Out Plans, Final Reports/Positive Impact Case Studies, Quarterly Reports, budgets, progress reports, financial reports, communications, monitoring and evaluation and learning documents, award fee presentations, etc.)
• Support Activity teams design and implement innovative grants and procurements using pay for results methodologies in close coordination with USAID and the private sector
• Organize and participate, as needed, in project/program trainings, conferences, webinars, technical workshops and meetings

Client/External Stakeholder Engagement

• Serve as principal liaison with the USAID CATALYZE COR/CO and USAID Activity teams. Support Activity Teams respond to ad hoc client requests as required
• Leverage public, private and civil society networks to support Activity Teams design and implement strategic and innovative approaches to expand project impact
• Support teams to identify, build and maintain working relationships with international and local consultants and potential employees who can provide technical expertise to Activities
• Represent the project and company as needed, participating in outside associations, conferences, and symposia

Business Development

• Support the identification, assessment, and pursuit of new opportunities to expand the blended finance portfolio and education and child-care-focused new work of CATALYZE. Contribute to writing and reviewing project designs for new technical work
• Conduct public speaking on behalf of CATALYZE as required to bring on new buy-ins

Essential Criteria:

• Heavily demonstrated global project management experience managing USAID contracts with large sub-award funds
• Excellent client management skills and ability to liaise comfortably with different constituencies. USAID client management experience preferred
• Proven written and oral communication skills, including a track record of report writing, public presentations (moderator, panelist, keynote) and published blogs or articles
• Demonstrated supervisory experience of teams of similar size and scope
• Financial acumen and the ability to interpret and analyze financial reports, develop and evaluate financial projections, and match programmatic objectives/work plans to costs/budgets
• Proven experience in project closure and project design (including developing theories of change, logic/results models or similar design tools, results modeling, pricing and other elements of designing projects for development impact)
• Demonstrated professional experience in the subjects of blended finance, development finance and/or private sector engagement
• Working experience in the countries and subject areas of remaining CATALYZE buy-ins is preferred, especially subjects of primary and pre-primary education, childcare, workforce development, gender-lend investing, social protection
• Additional technical experience in any of the following technical subjects is a plus: micro, small, medium enterprise development, private sector partnerships, transaction assistance, agricultural value chain development/finance, microfinance, digital finance, economic empowerment of marginalized groups and communities
• Sound problem-solving and decision-making skills demonstrated in challenging or fluid circumstances
• Demonstrated, high level of professionalism, respect and integrity operating within a multi-cultural, values-based organization
• Written and spoken fluency in English. Fluency in other foreign languages, such as French, Spanish or Arabic, is a plus
• Travel may be required for an estimated 15-20% of time

Application instructions

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