Director of Project Excellence At Water Mission International

Who is Water Mission?

Water Mission is a rapidly growing Christian engineering nonprofit working to end the global water crisis by building safe water, sanitation, and hygiene solutions in developing nations and disaster areas. Guided by love, excellence, and integrity, we are driven to share clean, safe water and God’s love with all. To date, we have served more than 7 million people in 57 countries. Working at Water Mission is as much a calling as it is a career, and we are searching for people with the courage, passion, and drive to help us change the world. Read more about our Statement of Faith and Christian Mission.

What is the opportunity?

Under the direction of the Executive Vice President of Programs, the Director of Project Excellence is responsible for developing, documenting, training, and distributing global project management standards and processes to ensure all ministry projects are executed in accordance with Water Mission’s values. The Director is also responsible for the direct supervision and management of Program Managers and to ensure department alignment with Water Mission’s values. The Director will hold P&L responsibilities for their department. The Director is the principal contact for cross divisional communication and alignment with Sr. Leadership. This role will require coordination with global programs, finance, and IT on a regular basis. This role will require travel to developing countries to build relationships, train/equip potential leaders, and lay the groundwork for on-going development of best-in-class project management strategies.

A successful Director of Project Excellence will:

• Maintain a strong Christian witness to colleagues, vendors, donors, charitable beneficiaries, and general public.
• Develop, direct, monitor, and maintain project management standards and processes for all global projects. This will primarily include water and sanitation projects in developing countries and disaster response but will also include Partnerships & Communications projects, IT projects, engineering consulting and MERL related engagements.
• Assist in establishing SOPs for existing and proposed country programs and work with other regional directors to share ideas and standardize project implementation.
• Oversee and support program and project management tasks including scope of work, project budget, project schedule, and periodic project status reports.
• Directly supervise program managers, and work with global programs to ensure that program objectives are being met, that programs/projects are being delivered with excellence, and that the team members are following the standard project management processes, business processes, and tools established by the ministry.
• Perform supervisory duties including, but not limited to, overseeing staff training and development, prioritizing project requests, managing workloads and deadlines, setting goals, meeting schedules and milestones, conducting performance reviews, and assisting in the recruiting and hiring of direct reports.
• Conduct monitoring visits to assess country program capacity, leadership, adherence to standards/values, and overall organization. Identify where capacity building is required and work with appropriate internal and external teams to build necessary capacity.
• Review and prepare written budget proposals, program proposals, and cost estimates.
• Regularly update program operating budgets and prepare cost forecasts for overall ministry financial planning.
• Evaluate program performance against budget, goals, and measures as established in the strategic plan and by other standard performance measures used by the ministry.
• Prepare and deliver presentations to Water Mission staff, Board of Directors, partners, volunteers, and donors as needed.
• Schedule, plan, and participate in international and domestic travel as required.
• Evaluate people and organizations for potential ministry partnerships.

What is required?

• Personal and growing relationship with Jesus Christ
• Alignment with Water Mission’s Statement of Faith and core values of Love, Excellence, and Integrity
• Alignment with the principles of servant leadership as embraced by Water Mission.
• 5-10 years of experience in project management and leadership positions overseeing staff and annual budgets in excess of 500k USD.
• Ability and desire to mentor and disciple staff in the Christian faith.
• Bachelor’s degree required in Engineering, Business, International Development, Project Management, or another related field. Master’s degree a plus, but not required.
• Additional licenses or certifications such as PMP a plus, but not required.
• Nonprofit experience preferred, but not required.
• Ability to work and communicate with board members, volunteers, and all levels of staff.
• Ability to lead teams toward common goals and overcome diverse obstacles.
• Ability to work independently and collaboratively with diverse groups of people.
• Ability to work through complex issues and employ reasoning skills to solve problems.
• Ability to thrive under pressure with a proven track record of meeting deadlines and accomplishing goals.
• Ability to thrive in a highly fluid environment that can be very unstructured in times of emergency.
• Must have the temperament and energy to be a leader in an entrepreneurial environment.
• Advanced computer skills (Word, Excel, Outlook, Teams, SharePoint, PowerPoint, ERPs, and project management software).
• Excellent verbal and written communications skills.
• Foreign language proficiency (verbal and/or written) in Spanish and/or French, strongly preferred.
• Excellent analytical and supervisory skills.
• Demonstrated ability to manage large, complex projects with different operational unit coordination.
• Excellent interpersonal, relationship, and mentoring skills.
• Ability and willingness to work flexible hours including nights and weekends, when necessary.
• Legal authorization to work in the United States without sponsorship.
• Ability and willingness to travel a minimum of two (2) trips per year. Most international trips are 1-3 weeks in length and require this person to ride in long car rides on rough terrain, stand for extended periods of time in hot weather, and at times stay in uncomfortable housing and sleeping situations.