LWR seeks a Senior Director for Program Quality and Technical Support, based in the Baltimore, MD office. He/she will provide leadership, management, strategic direction and technical assistance to ensure that LWR programs overseas are implemented with the highest quality technical design possible. He/she will lead a team of technical advisors and consultancies which support the other units within the International Programs Department (IPD), and include program areas such as resilience, gender, monitoring and evaluation, and ICT4D. He/she will also promote a culture of learning and program improvement, via publication and dissemination of technical materials and evaluation information, facilitated organizational learning processes, and strong knowledge management. He/she also provides a significant contribution to guiding the agency’s strategic direction for programs, and incubating new initiatives.
The successful candidate will have a strong background, with demonstrated experience, in international development and/or humanitarian response monitoring and evaluation and gender integration, particularly in the fields of agriculture and food security, emergency relief, recovery, and livelihoods. He/she is also expected to have a solid understanding and applicable skills in the field of resilience, as well as applications of technology in programs and agency-level systems. He/she will be an experienced manager, able to oversee a diverse team and successfully task manage a multitude of work items and priorities, complementing this work with strong communication skills. Furthermore, the successful candidate will bring significant passion, energy, leadership and vision to the role, willing to blaze new trails for LWR while embracing the values and foundational strengths which currently exist within the team and our work. Duties:
Lead and manage the Program Quality and Technical Support unit of LWR (40%)
Conduct unit-level multiple-year strategic planning and annual workplanning; participate and contribute to IPD-wide planning processes
Ensure both a client services and quality assurance approach, with appropriate balance and relevant department management buy-in
Provide direct supervision to anywhere between 3 to 7 direct reports, and numerous indirect reports (both dotted line and second supervisor), adjusting the structure of the unit as it grows with human resources.
Current team includes technical advisors in M&E, gender integration, resilience and digitized data/ICT4D, both via full-time staff and strategic partnerships.
Provide technical and administrative supervision, plus contract management, to individuals and teams of consultants as needed, for supplementary technical assistance needs.
Manage the unit budget which includes over $300,000 in unrestricted funds and $1 million in grant funds.
Manage key internal relationships and coordination:
Within IPD for coordination on cross-cutting themes, and cross-regional learning and planning
With the business development team for technical positioning, visibility and technical resources, plus direct support and capacity building for technical design in proposals
With the President’s Office for new intiatives and engagement with the Board of Directors
With External Relations for marketing and communications, both for internal technical learning, as well as for external positioning
Serve as a key advisor to the VP of IPD and AVP IPD/Operations.
Provide internal technical leadership around a multitude of relevant topics (20%)
Provide technical oversight and vision to a team of technical advisors working in program areas such as monitoring and evaluation, resilience, gender, and ICT4D. Provide technical advising support to additional program areas lead by others, such as Emergency Operations and Coffee/Cocoa.
Monitor the trends, tools, resources and learning events of the key technical areas that LWR is prioritizing, but also remain connected to relevant emerging technical areas and ensure LWR’s technical team is able to make adjustments to incorporate new themes as needed.
Provide leadership to, and manage the incubation of new initiatives, as deemed a priority by IPD leadership or LWR’s president’s office.
Direct technical support to proposals and projects (15%)
Supplement and complement technical advising team by providing direct technical support as needed, most commonly in M&E.
Conduct proposal reviews and/or participate on technical design teams
Backstop new project M&E planning, and/or baseline/mid-term/final evaluation planning and management.
Review TORs and assist field teams with external consultant recruitment and management
Facilitate learning forums; reflection meetings; data analysis; technical publication dissemination planning
Other direct support to projects as needed
External representation and positioning (15%)
Represent LWR at key technical workshops and forums with donors and peer agencies, such as in the fields of evaluation, food security, resilience and gender
Promote LWR’s work at key conferences and other fora, both for visibility as well as external sharing and learning
Manage LWR’s technical publications assistant, ensuring that technical materials developed within IPD both represent the best of LWR’s work and evidence of impact or innovative tools, as well as link closely with identified priority opportunities.
Management of special projects for IPD or the President’s office, or other new initiatives (10%)
Start up and manage new initiatives, as identified by the VP or President, such as Board dashboards, impact investing, or beneficiary calculations. Qualifications:
Deep commitment to LWR’s core values and ability to model those values in relationships with colleagues and partners
Master’s or Ph.d in anthropology, economics, ecology, international development, or a relevant social science field.
10-15 years of experience in international relief and development with at least 5 years of direct program implementation experience, in addition to technical support experience.
At least 5 years in a field-based management position for development or humanitarian relief programs.
Demonstrated experience managing gender integration efforts at both the project and also organizational level, including gender analysis, with a particular knowledge and understanding of gender as it relates to monitoring and evaluation.
Specific experience with project design, monitoring and evaluation, as it relates to proposal development, project implementation, as well as staff and partner capacity building and tool development. Strong understanding of the tools and resources found in LWR’s DMEL framework (dmel.lwr.org) and other similar materials.
Experience with the concepts and tools related to building resilience, particularly in food security, and experience applying a resilience lens in both project design as well as measurement frameworks.
Familiarity with enterprise software systems, especially for monitoring and evaluation, and experience with ICT4D applications, mobile data, and dashboard software a plus.
State of the art knowledge, with a commitment to continuing education, of the current core concepts, tools and resources, plus wider trends in LWR key program areas of agriculture and food security and emergency response (relief and recovery).
Ability to act independently, manage potentially diverse stakeholder needs and priorities, such as senior executive management and front-line project field officers, and follow-through with results.
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