Program Manager At Invisible Children

Location: Washington, DC

Reports To: Chief Program Officer

Position Summary: The Program Manager will be responsible for supporting Invisible Children’s thought leadership and services in conflict mitigation and post-conflict transition, incorporating evidence-based approaches, and building on our experience in areas affected by conflict, instability and/or political and economic transitions. The Program Manager will work closely with the program teams to support and ensure effective project coordination and technical support, budget, and proposal design, monitoring and evaluation, quality assurance, and accountability in close collaboration with the operations, finance, and administration teams; provide technical support and guidance to staff and partners in country offices; assist with development of proposals and technical assessment reports.

ESSENTIAL FUNCTIONS AND RESPONSIBILITIES:

Program Management (60%)

• Work with Program Managers to regularly contribute to project work plans, GANTT charts, and other documents relevant for effective project management.
• Provide assistance for assigned programs, ensuring all produce high quality, technically sound results consistent with the executed contract and approved program work plan and budget.
• Conduct short-term technical assistance assignments, including authoring descriptive, analytical, and methodological reports.
• Facilitate communication by answering partners’ inquiries and coordinating specific program activities and may conduct research to achieve program goals.
• Collect, compile, and analyze information relevant to the program.
• Provide administrative support to programs as needed by writing, reviewing, and translating reports on a quarterly basis.
• Support in the preparation of all donors quarterly and annual progress reports.
• In collaboration with relevant program staff, project leadership, and HQ technical advisors, support revisions and adaptations to programmatic manuals, training modules and other similar program materials.
• Where relevant, directly manage key programs and projects, ensuring the successful implementation of those initiatives.**

Business Development (40%)

• Collaborate as a key member with teams in upstream capture processes to lay the groundwork for strategic, contextualized proposal documents.
• Participate as a lead member on teams in designing discussions, documenting the proceedings to inform proposal development.
• Write and develop original proposal content on assignment from proposal design leads, researching the topic to aid strategy and technical development, as necessary.
• Lead the synthesis of material from the range of assigned technical writers to develop proposals with uniform style and voice; at all times analyzing the text against narrative requirements to determine what additional resources are necessary to deliver an excellent proposal.
• Submit multiple drafts for team reviews, incorporating comments from reviewers in liaison with proposal design leads and technical writers.

Applied Skills, Knowledge & Abilities:

• Cultural sensitivity, patience, and flexibility.
• Demonstrated personal accountability and driven to serve others.
• Ability to problem solve and recommend corrective action as needed.
• Strong organizational and attention to detail needed to adhere to project deadlines.
• Sensitivity to cultural diversity and understanding of the political, contextual, and ethical issues in assigned areas.
• Articulate, professional, and able to communicate in a clear, positive fashion with clients and staff.
• Must be able to read, write, and speak fluent English.
• Fluency in spoken and written French is desirable.

Problem Solving & Impact:

• Work on problems of moderate scope that require a review of various factors.
• Exercise judgment within defined procedures and practices to determine appropriate action.

Education:

• Minimum of a bachelor’s degree in Development Studies, International Relations or related field required.

Experience:

• Requires 6-8 years of technical experience working with programs related to community-based peacebuilding, conflict mitigation, early warning systems; DDR; social protection interventions for women and children.
• Minimum 4 years supporting USG-funded programs (USAID, State Department, OFDA); DfID, World Bank, U.N. required.
• Advanced knowledge of fundamental principles, terminology, and methodology of proposal development and proposal management conventions.
• Advanced organizational skills and track record for effectively managing proposal teams of

diverse levels of seniority and experience.

• Experience with complex projects in Central Africa or similar environments required.
• Proven experience coordinating with humanitarian actors in emergency contexts is a plus.
• Prior work experience in a non-governmental organization (NGO), government agency preferred.

Travel Requirements: 10% – 25%