Senior Associate/Scientist - Deputy Chief of Party, Workforce Solutions

The Empowering Pakistan: Jobs project is a USAID funded project designed to improve the competitiveness of the Pakistani economy by strengthening systems for workforce development, encourage Pakistani companies to invest in human capital, and improving access to training, jobs and business opportunities for youth and women.  The four components are (1) Industry Sector-Led Technical Training; (2) Employability, Job Placement, and Entrepreneurship for Secondary School and University Graduates; (3) Integrated Work and Learning Program for Less-Educated Youth; and (4) Youth Employability Exchange Systems. This will be a large, complex and challenging project seeking to improve access to employment, increase incomes and sales.

The project is current recruiting for a Deputy Chief of Party (DCOP Islamabad/Lahore). Given the complexity of the project, the candidate will need a proven record of private sector experience, ideally related to workforce development, extensive management experience on a national level managing a diverse team in multiple locations and understanding of key issues as well as solutions related to the workforce, especially youth and women. The DCOP will need to demonstrate capabilities of deep commitment to team work, flexibility to changing client expectations and demands, building staff skills and ensuring quality control of project deliverables.  In addition to an understanding of the private sector, the candidate will also have experience working with Government institutions at various administrative levels.

The DCOP will provide technical leadership and vision as follows: 

• Work with the Chief of Party (COP) and the Senior Leadership Team consisting of the home office management, Prime Contractor country director and others to develop a technical vision, refined objectives and technical roadmap for EP:J. DCOP will be heavily involved in development of the key management documents for EPJ including the work plan, the award monitoring plan and performance monitoring processes.
• Work with the COP and Senior Leadership Team (SLT) to put in place processes for management of technical work for this widely dispersed and complex project including sector assessments, program design, monitoring and evaluation processes and processes for engaging technically with USAID. This will involve compiling, with team members, a set of standard tools for key technical tasks such as program design, training evaluation, reporting and other areas. (Prime Contractor will oversee operations).
• Directly manage Pakistani team driving technical decision making and quality control including monitoring and evaluation coordinator, quality and learning coordinator, workforce technology manager, training institution capacity building advisor, investment jobs and employment advisor and entrepreneurship advisor.
• Build and manage the process for cooperation among regional offices for management of activities including cooperation between field office staff and technical staff based on Lahore. This will include managing regional monitoring and evaluation and quality control processes through regional teams.
• Develop scopes of work and coordinate inputs of home office experts and short term consultants in program design and monitoring and evaluation.
• With other SLT members, represent the project to external stakeholders, describing the strategy, developing alliances, and helping support communications efforts.
• With the COP, brief USAID and USG staff on issues related to technical performance, activity design and implementation, coordination with partners and other technical areas.
• With the COP, ensure activities are linked across components, and cooperate with personnel for other Empowering Pakistan Suite projects (EP:Firms, EP:Entrepreneurs, EP:Trade and others).
• Work with the Senior Administrative personnel to ensure processes in place for funding and executing activities under the subcontract.

Other duties as agreed with the Chief of Party and home office personnel.

Skills Required:

• Masters degree with minimum of 15 years of experience managing large, complex groups that are geographically dispersed.
• Demonstrated skills in managing services related to workforce development, especially youth and women, in the private sector.
• Demonstrated skills in performance management for project delivery preferably for donor funded projects.
• Ability to establish and maintain effective working relationships with key partners including USAID, local governments, private companies and NGOs and other donors.
• Ability to manage a staff of at least 6 direct reports with a total team of 20+.
• Demonstrated ability to assure that individuals and teams adhere to the highest standards of quality, relevance and timeliness.

Please apply online at:  

Job #  2009 - 3503