Senior Program Manager

Job Description

The Senior Program Manager provides full-scale program management support to multiple projects within the TMG portfolio. The position involves direct client and partner relationships; high quality project management, including financial management and contract compliance; provision of technical assistance to multiple projects; and market analysis for new business opportunities. The Senior Program Manager will manage high-profile projects for TMG, providing management support and coordination to multiple projects being implemented as needed and provide quality assurance and oversight of deliverables to clients. The position will also work collaboratively with partners, colleagues and client teams, consultants, field staff, and support units throughout TMG.

Responsibilities

PROGRAM MANAGEMENT:

• Conducts duties and responsibilities with full understanding of clients’ requirements and the relevant policies and regulations.
• Conduct regular communications with the client’s POCs for field projects to provide updates on the status of project implementation and to respond to questions and comments from the client.
• Generate internal timelines for the field office to ensure they produce all deliverables according to contractual timeline and in a quality manner. Also, ensure sufficient time for all technical reviews in between drafts.
• Provide quality oversight and assurance for all deliverables produced–conducting technical reviews and providing guidance on layout, format, flow, and content, as necessary.
• Participate in brainstorming and planning sessions with the field team and supporting technical challenges as required.
• Directs and oversees appropriate division of labor on project management teams according to complexity of projects and competencies of assigned staff.
• Works collaboratively with project team and clients, conducting periodic visits to assess the status of project activities and to contribute to administrative, technical or evaluation work in the field.
• Manage the project resources (budget, staffing, asset, etc.) to ensure that the project resources are managed in accordance with contract terms and conditions
• Lead recruitment and hiring; oversee staff training and development to ensure professionalism and skill enhancement, oversee contract performance monitoring and documentation.

• Take any necessary actions to correct performance problems to assure quality control and serve as primary liaison to the client POC responsible for the management of the contract.
• Ensure that quality short-term advisors are provided in a timely manner to support ongoing field implementation.
• Maintain essential contract/project records, as well as other detailed project files.
• Foster a work environment based on quality teamwork, mutual accountability, and high-quality performance.

• Elevates contractual or client concerns to Project Director or Unit VP.
• Coordinates with appropriate team members and departments to ensure integration and coordination of efforts for meeting project milestones and deliverables.

TECHNICAL:

· Coordination of and participation in technical assistance; drafting reports, policy guidance, and other documents and resources; and training design, development, delivery, and evaluation – as well as supporting staff engaged in such activities.

• Consistently helps set new technical standards in work products, reviews and provides comment on project technical work. Provide sound technical input to reports, proposals, and other documents.
• Draft and finalize periodic reports and records on program activities, progress, status or other special reports for management or funding agency.
• Routinely apply knowledge of primary discipline and development assistance to problem solving, new business development, strategy, and programming decisions.
• Provide technical surge support to the field team where needed and as requested.
• Provide technical and editorial reviews of all deliverables, including all reports required under the contract.
• Provide resource support including research and analysis, as well as recruitment of short-term technical assistance.
• Facilitate the expansion of the company’s knowledge management system.

NEW BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT:

• Actively participate in external events, networking with clients and counterparts.
• Perform roles such as technical approach or section writing, bid management, or provide key input into cost proposals for new business opportunities.
• Assist the Project Director and team in planning and developing strategies for refining, targeting, or expanding current business development opportunities.
• Assist the Project Director in scoping contracts, writing proposals, refining, and packing technical deliverables, and managing subcontracts, vendors, etc.
• Broaden professional network of development practitioners, recruitment sources, partners, competitors, counterparts, and client representatives.

SUPERVISORY AND LEADERSHIP:

• Supervise, develop, and evaluate assigned staff. Ensure staff receive regular constructive performance feedback, prompt resolution of problems, and time and opportunity to grow and develop in key competency areas.
• Delegate tasks to appropriate team members using knowledge of team member’s skillset and abilities.
• Attract, recruit, and recommend hiring of new staff members.
• Train and mentor program managers, associate-level staff on the company’s management tools and systems.

GENERAL:

• Demonstrate responsive customer service and maintain close working relationships with a variety of internal and external stakeholders or customers.
• International travel may be required (up to 10%)
• Undertake any other duties which may from time to time be required.

Minimum Requirements:

• Master’s degree and a minimum of five to seven years of relevant experience in USG-funded program management, OR Bachelor’s degree plus seven to nine years of relevant experience in USG-funded program management.
• Previous experience managing USG contracts required
• High proficiency with MS Excel, Word, PowerPoint, Project required. Knowledge of Project management tools and systems desired.
• Experience with project management, administration, reporting, monitoring, procurement, and financial operations on USG contracts
• Must be legally authorized to work in the U.S., at the time of application, without sponsorship.

Preferred Requirements:

· Foreign languages skills

· Country experience for project/s assigned

· Accounting experience

About the Organization

The Mitchell Group, Inc. (TMG) is a global solutions leader providing meaningful impact and sustainable solutions to development efforts affecting the lives of ordinary people. We are a minority and veteran-owned small business with over 37 years of international development program experience. TMG has performed highly successful, long-term contracts for US government clients such as USAID and National Institutes of Health (NIH) in supporting their various projects in multiple countries around the world. Many of those projects have been in Africa, where TMG has worked in 38 of its countries and currently has offices in Ghana, Burkina Faso, Niger, Guinea, Liberia, Mali, DRC, Malawi, and Ethiopia. Through these projects, TMG has gained broad, multi-sector experience in managing more than 100 US government contracts. We work with a large group of highly qualified experts whose specialized skills provide expertise to perform services in various technical areas. TMG has also assisted USAID in successfully performing major contracts implementing its international development programs in such functional areas as Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning, Education and Training, Health Services, Countering Violent Extremism, Disaster Management, Agriculture and Food Security, and Outreach and Communications. TMG have also been a leading contractor in assisting the US National Institute of Allergies and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) and Leidos Biomed and other domestic and international organizations to support biomedical research efforts to find cures for such human scourges as Malaria, AIDS and Ebola.

TMG offers superior management capabilities managing Mission-wide PLSO, Monitoring, Evaluation, and Learning (MEL), Collaboration, Learning and Adapting (CLA,) and Support Services Platforms in Ethiopia, Tanzania, Uganda, Ghana, Nigeria, Liberia, and the Sahel (Niger and Burkina Faso), and Malawi as a subcontractor to Banyan Global, Mali, Guinea, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). TMG is a leader in working in conflict settings and delivering quality services that address the challenges of Missions. TMG has a rich history of working in large, complex, and conflict-sensitive countries prone to complex crises and insecurity, particularly in the Sahel and Lake Chad Basin regions. Much of our MEL work relates to programming at the “triple nexus” of humanitarian assistance, development, and countering violent extremism.