Senior Programme Manager

Malaria Consortium is recruiting for a Senior Programme  Manager to join our team in Abuja Nigeria

Job purpose

To work with the country office team, manage project activities and resources, provide leadership and stewardship to the project team and maintain collaborative links with the project’s key stakeholders at national and sub-national levels.

Scope of work

The senior project manager will provide overall leadership to the project team and be responsible for implementing project activities in the State.  S/he will be responsible for the provision of project management of the project at the national level. The position will be based in the country office, with regular travel within implementing states.

Key working relationships

S/he would be reporting to the Programme Director, but relating with the Principal Recipients for the grant, other SRs, major stakeholders and partners and subcommittees, states and LGAs where the project is operational. S/he would line manage the key project staff in the country and state offices.

Key accountabilities

Project management (60%)

• Work with the project team and other relevant personnel in the country office to lead activities for smooth project start up and planning
• Work with the relevant personnel to prepare all necessary project start up and planning tools on time
• To build and performance manage an effective and technically unsurpassed GF project team
• Line manages with the country project team and the State project managers
• Be responsible for coordinating overall project implementation and see that activities are carried out on a time and within budget and targets for each milestone as set by GF are met
• Liaise regularly with the Country Director and Country Technical Coordinator to provide timely and comprehensive updates and reports as required
• Work with the project team to develop and implement annual work plans
• Work closely with the Country Technical Coordinator to prepare the project monitoring and evaluation framework. Work with the project team to implement it
• Work with the country finance team to track progress of project and activity budgets
• Work with relevant country office staff to ensure they are aware of the project needs and support is provided adequately to the project team
• Be responsible for project budget management including the preparation of annual budget and forecasts, implementation as planned, tracking and reforecasting
• Be responsible for preparing project progress and quarterly narrative reports on time
• Work with the country finance and Country Technical Coordinator to prepare quarterly financial reports
• Work with the relevant country personnel and the Country Technical Coordinator to prepare an exit strategy and to implement it, to see the smooth end of the programme
• Work with the Country Technical Coordinator, Demand Creation Officer and project partners to see that a project communications strategy is developed which includes the production of case studies, reviews of lessons learnt and general documentation for internal and external dissemination
• Be responsible for quarterly lessons identification and learning documentation and dissemination
• Lead the development of any additional country project documentation that may be requested by the Country Director or Regional Programme Coordinator
• Be responsible for building functional partner relationships among the project’s stakeholders
• Oversee project partner’s inputs and subcontractors’ activities to deliver harmonized, aligned and effective outputs
• To manage the risks of the project including financial, reputation and security in a challenging environment especially to the project teams in the north eastern geopolitical zone of the country
• Lead on the performance management of the project staff
• Be responsible for managing and leading the devolution of activities to state SMEP teams

Technical contributions (10%)

• Work with the project teams and the Country Technical Coordinator to determine technical support needs to implement the project effectively and with high quality. Liaise with the Country Technical Coordinator to obtain the technical support
• Contribute to the development and production of dissemination documents to allow wider sharing of Malaria Consortium’s experiences, lessons and successes

Technical performance management and quality assurance (20%)

• Take the lead in monitoring and evaluating project performance
• Keep abreast with evidence and best practices that are related to the project

Representation (10%)

• Work with the Country Director and Country Technical Coordinator to participate in national level meetings and workshops to represent Malaria Consortium at programmatic and coordination events
• Liaise regularly with GF and PRs focal persons on CHIPS keeping the relevant Country Team in loop of communication
• Work with the Country Director and Country Technical Coordinator to keep key national stakeholders abreast with the project
• To exert influence and to advocate for Malaria Consortium’s key technical positions and promote best practice in malaria and CHIPS interventions

Person specification

Qualifications and experience:

Essential

• Postgraduate Master’s degree in Public Health, Health Policy, Epidemiology or another relevant specialty is a minimum requirement
• Extensive experience of working at national level in developing countries
• Excellent project planning, management and monitoring & evaluation skills
• Experience managing programme / project budgets
• Excellent written and spoken English

Desirable

• Proven leadership skills and team leading
• Experience in advocacy and policy influencing

Work-based skills and competencies:

Essential

• Demonstrable passion for Malaria Consortium’s mission; a strategic manager with integrity and a desire to work in a dynamic environment
• Proof of strong interpersonal and negotiating skills
• Excellent report writing and presentation skills are also needed.
• Clear communication skills for managing partnerships and relationships with senior stakeholders at all levels

 Due to the nature of this role we will be reviewing applications on an ongoing basis and the role might be filled and closed before the closing date. Early applications are encouraged.

To apply for this position you will need to have the right to work in Nigeria