Senior Manager, Strategic Systems & Operations position at ICAP

Position Summary

Reporting to the Senior Director of Strategies & Partnerships (S&P) and working closely with the Director of Award Management, the Senior Manager, Strategic Systems & Operations Manager (the Senior Manager) is responsible for providing technical and operational leadership for key systems, processes, and initiatives that support efficient and effective business operations both within the S&P unit and across ICAP’s global strategic operations, with a focus on knowledge management and strategic considerations. Foundational goals of the position are to leverage S&P’s position as a nexus of functional areas across ICAP to support systems development and management in the organization’s increasingly complex operating environment; and to lead process-oriented strategic initiatives that strengthen ICAP’s ability to maintain high quality standards and state-of-the-art approaches in implementing business systems. This includes tools, processes, and platforms that support the grant lifecycle (including proposal, negotiation, award execution, ongoing assurance of sponsor and university compliance and risk mitigation, as well as project closeout activities) as well as increase overall operational excellence in producing high-quality deliverables that are responsive, efficiently executed, and anchored in best practices. The position takes a highly collaborative and adaptive approach to ensuring business systems, internal processes, tools, and documentation are coordinated across ICAP units and country teams, grounded in evidence, aligned with emerging and evolving unit and organizational priorities, and adjusted as necessary to remain relevant and effective.

Responsibilities

ICAP Global Strategic Systems Leadership (60%)

Lead all aspects of conceptualization, requirements gathering, testing, migration, and rollout, as well as ongoing system administration, data management, existing feature optimization, functionality expansion, guidance documentation, vendor/developer management, user support and overall capacity building for three existing major web-based platforms used by various subsets of ICAP’s global staff of over 2,000 for carrying out critical, cross-functional activities, specifically:

• ICAP Online: Award, proposal, project, and knowledge management system and collaborative workspace (built on MS SharePoint and Azure, launched in 2017)
• ICAP PIVOT: Project financial management and monitoring system, including an award/proposal budgeting module and expense tracking/reporting module (built on AWS/Angular/Python and PowerBI, launched in 2020)
• Work closely with the Director of Award Management and Senior Project Management & Training Specialist as a thought partner and co-leader in developing and advancing strategic costing approaches and performance standards for ICAP project, award, and proposal budgeting, both within the award management sub-unit and across the organization, in response to evolving donor requirements and/or internal organizational priorities.
• I-CONNECT: Resource and knowledge-sharing intranet platform (built on Atlassian Confluence, launched in 2018)
• Work closely with Strategic Communications sub-unit, Columbia University IT, and other key stakeholders to conceptualize, implement, and manage new functionality focused on expanded knowledge sharing and dynamic, collaborative interaction across geographic and functional areas within ICAP.

Internal S&P Unit Systems & Processes Leadership (20%)

• Support unit director and sub-unit leads in strategizing, coordinating, implementing unit-wide processes, procedures, and systems such as:
• Development of comprehensive reference documentation, management of unrestricted unit budget and expenses tracking
• People management platform administration (15five)
• Unit meeting, shared calendar, internal logistics management support
• Lead a sub-unit team initially consisting of a full-time Officer and part-time Program Assistant, including performance review, objective setting, as well as short- and long-term consultants and vendor partners.

Cross-Unit and ICAP-Wide Strategic Systems Leadership & Support (15%)

With a focus on effectively and efficiently responding to emerging priorities, operational gaps, and necessary course corrections as they arise, the Senior Manager works closely with ICAP senior staff and leadership to:

• Provide thought partnership and support for the ICAP2030 strategic planning initiative
• Contribute to ongoing development and implementation of organization-wide knowledge management initiatives
• Represent the perspectives, needs, and interests of the S&P Unit in cross-functional working groups and stakeholder advisory/input forums, including regionalization and ERP initiatives
• Facilitate and advise on identification, analysis, and conceptualization of organizational systems/platforms/technology/tools, and play a lead role in development and implementation of chosen solutions, engaging and collaborating with ICAP, CU, and external stakeholders to ensure success.

Perform other related duties as directed (5%)

Minimum Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree or equivalent in education and experience, plus five years of related experience
• 5+ years of administrative/operational project management experience with increasing responsibility, preferably in an NGO or educational institution environment