Technical Director /Deputy Chief of Party II

Catholic Relief Services a Development Organization is seeking qualified, experienced, and highly motivated Technical Director /Deputy Chief of Party II who will provide overall management of and have responsibility for the technical quality of a President’s Malaria Initiative (PMI)-funded project, which seeks to improve access to timely, quality, and well-documented malaria testing and treatment by providing community health workers with training and supervision to provide quality, effective care. In your role as Technical Director /Deputy Chief of Party, you will report directly to the Chief of Party and act on his/her behalf, as needed, including global representation to the donor. You will be responsible for technical oversight of the design, planning, and implementation of activities to ensure application of industry standards and best practices and achievement of project objectives. Your management and technical knowledge will ensure the delivery of high-quality malaria programming and advance the position of CRS as a leading agency in the malaria field.

Your work will ensure that the project apply best practices in accountability and constantly work towards improving the impact of its benefits to those we serve.

The position is based in Yaoundé/Cameroon and is contingent upon approved funding by the donor

Primary Responsibilities:

• Manage key aspects of the development, implementation, and consolidation of the malaria project, including regularly updating annual work plans to meet the project’s objectives. Serve as a point of contact to PMI as well as public, private and non-government stakeholders, when needed.
• Manage key functions of the project to meet donor expectations in terms of timely and quality results and budget. Contribute to ensuring coordination between program and operations leads. Contribute to ensuring the CRS program quality standards are adhered to per Monitoring Evaluation, Accountability and Learning (MEAL) policy and procedures and PMI’s related guidance.
• Effectively manage talent and supervise. Manage technical team dynamics and staff well-being. Provide coaching and mentoring. Strategically tailor individual development plans and complete performance assessments for direct reports. Contribute to the development of technical staffing plans and the recruitment process of senior technical staff.
• Manage and mitigate risk through monitoring national and regional issues that may impact staff and programming. Ensure all staff understand and adhere to CRS staff safety and security policies and plans and ensure the updating of such plans.
• Promote, uphold and model a commitment to the efficient use of agency and donor resources. Help ensure compliance with PMI grants, including financial tracking and oversight of partner budgets, finance, administration and reporting to PMI.
• Maintain relationships with key staff of consortium partner organizations and government counterparts. Contribute to coordination of the roles and activities of staff from other consortium member organizations in implementation in line with CRS partnership principles.
• Create and maintain proper conditions for learning. Establish a safe environment for sharing of ideas, solutions, and difficulties and the capacity to detect, analyze and respond quickly to deficiencies. Identify performance gaps and training opportunities for CRS and partner staff and recommend trainings and technical assistance.

Qualifications and Experience:

• Master’s degree in public health, epidemiology, international development, international relations, or a relevant technical area.
• 7 or more years’ relevant management and technical experience and at least 5 years in the design and implementation of malaria control activities in developing countries.
• 5 or more years’ experience in managing donor funds, including multi-partner grants. Strong knowledge and experience in budget management. Recognized technical experience and qualifications in malaria, as demonstrated by peer reviewed publications, conference presentations, etc.
• Demonstrated experience of successful management, including management of functions of complex, high-value, multi-activity projects, with complicated logistics (such as seasonal malaria chemoprevention campaigns).
• Staff management experience and abilities that are conducive to a learning environment. Experience coaching and mentoring senior level staff.
• Experience working with partners, participatory action planning and community engagement.
• Strong strategic, analytical, systems thinking, and problem-solving skills, with capacity to see the big picture and ability to make sound judgment and decisions.
• Experience engaging a wide variety of partners, including government, national and international organizations, and strengthening partnerships. Knowledge of CRS partnership strategy a plus.
• Experience in MS Office package (Excel, Word, PowerPoint, Visio), Web Conferencing Applications, and information and budget management systems.
• Recent experience working in PMI, Global Fund, or other international donor in malaria programming strongly preferred.
• Experience working in community and hospital-based health system strengthening programs.

Required Languages

• High level written and oral proficiency in French and English required.
• Additional local languages a plus.

Personal Skills

• Strong relations management abilities. Ability to relate to people at all levels internally and externally. Strategic in how you approach each relationship.
• Team leadership abilities with diverse/multi-disciplinary teams. Coaching skills.
• Proactive, resourceful, solutions-oriented, and results-oriented.
• Observation, active listening, and analysis skills with ability to make sound judgment

Required Travel: Must be willing and able to travel up to 30% (mostly within Cameroon)

Disclaimer: This job description is not an exhaustive list of the skills, effort, duties, and responsibilities associated with the position.