Senior Director, Economic Empowerment

Responsibilities

• Formulate strategic and operational plans for each major project component (pilot implementation, signature program package development, learning and evidence, and thought leadership and partnership building).
• Provide technical leadership to country teams to design and deliver economic empowerment interventions to assist large numbers of low-income and vulnerable youth to acquire competitive skills and to get a job or build a business.
• Assist country teams to build effective linkages between training providers, private sector employers, and the government to create demand-driven and sustainable solutions.
• Lead the development of signature program packages, testing effective combinations of training and placement interventions, diverse delivery mechanisms, and public and private sector engagement tactics that integrate innovative solutions to accelerate outcomes (AI, ICT, social enterprise, etc.) to inform strategic and operational refinements.
• Capture and document well-tested program tools, guidance, and innovations to guide strategic and operational refinements and to support replication and scale.
• Oversee the development of quality systems to collect timely, accurate monitoring and evaluation data.
• Monitor and report on programmatic and financial milestones at the country and global level.
• Ensure donors, internal and external stakeholders are adequately informed of progress, of deviations from plans, and of risks.
• Collaborate with country office leadership to identify where management and technical reinforcement is needed, to oversee the timely achievement of milestones by project field staff and local partners, and to undertake vigilant tracking of project- and beneficiary-level risks.
• Lead the planning, coordination, and execution of workforce development strategies aligned with organizational goals, program priorities, and long-term impact objectives, translating strategic workforce plans into actionable implementation frameworks, including timelines, performance indicators, and resource requirements.
• Work with fundraising team, across functions and departments to align program design and future program evolution to strategic agency priorities.
• Serve as the primary representative of the projects and as a economic empowerment and workforce development expert in internal and external forums.
• Work with in-house and external researchers to develop and execute a research agenda that will validate the impact of our work, add to the global knowledge base, and inform the next generation of program designs.
• Provide technical guidance and thought leadership on economic empowerment and workforce development approaches to internal teams and external stakeholders.
• Work with business line lead and technical advisors to build partnerships that bring new capabilities and financial resources.
• Collaborate with account managers of existing grants to support donor relationships and donor stewardship.
• Lead assigned new business development efforts for the food security and livelihoods team, including but not limited to capture planning, positioning, information gathering, partnership brokering, program design facilitation and decision-making; and, technical writing.
• For interdisciplinary programs, coordinate with other SCUS departments – as well as external partners – to develop a coherent, high-impact integrated approach.
• Support CO team members in analyzing information and formulating effective technical strategies, integrating best practices and, where appropriate, innovations.
• Conduct training and orientation for program design team members to ensure that all relevant information is on hand to inform a solid design process.
• Travel to the field to participate in design workshops, assessments, team writing assignments, and other proposal processes.
• Participate in proposal after-action reviews, ensuring that lessons learned are incorporated into subsequent efforts.
• Develop and sustain relationships with donors (with a particular emphasis on USG, UN and private donors/foundations), partners and academic institutions.
• Train, develop, coach, lead, and supervise staff, clearly communicating organization, division…