Chemonics seeks a director to lead our Water, Energy, and Sustainable Cities practice. We provide environmental, legal, financial, and economic consulting and capacity building services to donors, international financial institutions, and governments in support of sustainable delivery of water, electricity, and urban services. We particularly focus on planning, finance, management, operations and maintenance, customer services, and regulation. The Water, Energy, and Sustainable Cities practice, = contributes to new business development and technical work across the company. The practice director is a senior management position overseeing Chemonics’ contributions to the development agenda, and support business units to increase proposal competitiveness and project teams to improve project performance. The director will define the practice’s strategy and work plan and build corporate relationships with clients, partners, and industry experts; facilitate employee learning to deepen technical knowledge and expertise; and contribute to industry discourse on addressing development challenges. The director will ensure that the practice’s information and guidance helps business units, proposal teams, and project teams make decisions that further Chemonics’ business goals and development impact. The ideal candidate will possess enthusiasm for international development and water, energy, and urban services and strong interpersonal and networking skills to help us build the practice. The ideal candidate will have strong technical expertise and networks in the energy sector and a proven track record of successful business development, with working knowledge of water service delivery and urban development and excellent leadership and management skills. We are looking for individuals who have a passion for making a difference in the lives of people around the world.
Responsibilities include:
• Track, analyze, and share development trends and priorities within the water, energy, and sustainable cities technical area
• Disseminate client initiatives, strategies, and approaches for consideration and integration into proposals and projects
• Advance body of knowledge and quality standards in water, energy, and sustainable cities.
• Formulate approaches to guide Chemonics’ work, new business efforts, and technical assignments
• Advise clients and the company on technical trends and programming priorities
• Oversee the capture, packaging, and dissemination of successful approaches from Chemonics’ projects and industry programs and activities
• Contribute to industry forums, such as technical working groups, conferences, learning events, and blogs
• Lead development of technical abstracts, articles, primers, tools, and blogs in water, energy, and sustainable cities
• Develop effective and collaborative working relationships with key clients and partners, including USAID technical staff, strategic partners, and stakeholders, and continually promote outstanding client service and technical leadership, including the introduction and sharing of new and innovative interventions
• Develop strategies, new directions, and techniques to grow the company’s work in water, energy, and sustainable cities; utilize networks with clients, consultants, and counterparts to advance successful new business opportunities
• Support regional business units to pursue country-based programs, providing input for proposal strategies and content; sharing knowledge of competition, potential partners, and -external technical resources; supporting identification and recruitment of short- and long-term consultants; as needed, undertaking leadership roles in proposal development, providing vision and contributing to program design
• Oversee assigned indefinite quantity contracts and Washington, D.C.-based projects
• Provide input on technical deliverables, undertaking technical assignments, reviewing scopes of work, and helping overseas staff apply good technical practices
• Periodically survey users of practice guidance to ensure information provided has helped to further Chemonics’ development impact
• Promote staff development through supervision, coaching, mentoring, and facilitating professional growth opportunities both for assigned staff and for staff across the company
• Foster and demonstrate a workplace inclusive of creating opportunity, serving others, building trust, innovation, and exceeding expectations
Qualifications:
-Bachelor’s degree required; Advanced degree preferred, or equivalent combination of education and work experience in economics, finance, urban planning, sustainable development, management, or a related field
-Minimum eight years of technically relevant experience in renewable energy, including at least five years in the field of international development.
-Additional experience in water and urban services (including infrastructure) preferred.
-Demonstrated expertise in, renewable energy, power, financing for utilities and urban services provision, utility and infrastructure privatization, public-private partnerships, and regulation.
-Demonstrated knowledge of trends in water, energy, and sustainable cities sectors, USAID and other donor initiatives and programs, and a breadth of industry organizations, including large and small businesses
-Demonstrated ability to communicate clearly and concisely both orally and in writing, including public presentations and contribution to publications
-Existing relationships within relevant offices at USAID strongly preferred; at a minimum, a strong existing network within the water, energy, and sustainable cities industry required
-Demonstrated ability to build and manage working relationships with clients, partners, and technical experts. We are looking for an individual with passion for international development and water, energy, and sustainable cities, and strong interpersonal and networking skills to help us build this practice.
-Willingness to travel and work abroad a minimum of four to eight weeks per year; experience working on technical programs in developing countries preferred
-Demonstrated ability to manage and supervise department staff, multiple project teams, remote staff, and other initiatives
-Strong knowledge of Microsoft Office applications
-Ability to work both independently and as part of a team
-Proficiency in Arabic, French, or Spanish preferred
EmoticonEmoticon