Deputy Chief of Party - Operations

Background

The Supporting the Policy Enabling Environment for Development (USAID SPEED) activity is a five-year (March 22, 2021 to March 20, 2026) project designed to improve Mozambique’s business enabling environment and enhance the role of the private sector in agriculture, trade facilitation, energy, biodiversity conservation, and health; it will also strengthen economic governance and public financial management, while enhancing the role of civil society, thereby improving the country’s ability to plan, manage, and finance its own development.

Objectives and Scope

The DCOP - Operations will support the efficient, compliant and effective operations of the SPEED Project and will supervise the Operations (including Procurement & Grants), Administration and Communications teams. The DCOP-Ops will oversee field-based spending, including the anticipated $7.2 million Grants Under Contract fund and the current $4 million Partner Fund, both aimed at supporting project partners through procurement and grants to deliver results against SPEED’s objectives.

The DCOP-Ops will coordinate closely with the DCOP-Technical on all technical activities, and provide coaching support to PMs to help develop practical workplan activities, draft scopes of work (SOWs), provide support for the implementation of short-term technical assistance (STTA) assignments, technical purchase orders, subcontracts, grants, training and study, tours, and other core management tasks as needed. The DCOP-Ops will also provide ongoing quality assurance/quality control for SPEED technical reports and communications products, ensuring clarity of messages, program contributions, and impacts that result from program activities. The DCOP-Ops will be a member of the SPEED Senior Management Team.

The SOW includes:

1. In coordination with the COP and DCOP-Technical, provides overall strategic management and oversight of finance, grants, procurement, and record management, including the recruiting and managing of financial and administrative staff.

2. In coordination with the DCOP-Technical, co-lead the annual workplan development process, ensuring all technical activities will be implementable under the SPEED contract.

3. Support the COP and DCOP-Technical to direct a “one team” approach to monitoring, evaluation and learning with a specific focus on supporting the MEL and communications teams to measure and communicate about the impact of SPEED activities and the SPEED approach. This may include supporting the monetization of benefits analysis and developing communications to “tell the story” of the project’s higher-level impacts, such as improved accountability, transparency, and private sector engagement in policy reform.

4. Serve as the Chief of Party’s advisor on all contractual and financial matters with USAID and subcontractors.

5. Monitor all financial systems to ensure compliance with DAI and USAID procedures.

6. Work with the COP and DCOP-Technical to review and analyze budget estimates for allowability, allocability, reasonableness, and consistency. Contribute to project budget pipeline analysis, providing input into the quarterly budget review process and USAID SPEED budget realignments.

7. Coordinate field activities for technical procurements and grants, including:

   1. Work closely to provide coaching support to Portfolio Managers to ensure quality technical inputs to procurement and grants process, including defining SOW and qualifications needed, establishing rosters of highly qualified firms or organizations, coordinating the compliance requirements for selected firms, serving as focal point for communication with firms regarding schedule, implementation planning, deliverables and payments;
   2. Work closely with PMs, Grants Managers and Director of Finance and Administration to support decision making regarding correct procurement or grant type and process, and coordinate HO consultation as needed to ensure compliant mechanisms are used to accomplish technical activities;
   3. Finalize approval packages for HO review and submission to USAID, or for direct field submission to USAID;

8. Coordinate field activities for engagement of short-term technical assistance (STTA), including:

9. Support PMs to implement established workflows for SOW development, review and approval. Ensure that processes are followed, identify and troubleshoot bottlenecks, and assist senior management on prioritization and workload management for SOW development and approval;

10. Work closely with PMs to support early identification of STTA candidates, serve as focal point for communication with candidates, and coordinate with home office to complete documents necessary for approvals (EBD, rate negotiation, assignment scheduling);

11. Finalize approval packages for HO review and submission to USAID, or for direct field submission to USAID;

12. Review STTA implementation and ensure quality of deliverables (language, structure and formatting) and adherence to SOW (LOE, deliverables, schedule). The DCOP-Ops will support PMs and SPEED senior management to ensure the overall technical quality of deliverables, both written reports and

presentations made in public consultations, to Government stakeholders, and to USAID;

1. Work closely with M&E manager to ensure that publications are approved by USAID, uploaded to TAMIS and DEC as needed, and recorded in M&E reporting.

2. Direct project communications, including:

   1. Work closely with PMs and Communications Lead to identify key topics for success stories, blogs, social media posts, videos, etc;
   2. Review and edit in English all success stories, blogs, report summaries, etc. to ensure technical work is communicated in a succinct and impactful manner;
   3. Work closely with consultants whose SOWs include communications deliverables to ensure that the relevant content is provided, and review and edit in English;
   4. Provide quality control and editing of consultant reports, ensuring that the reports are well structured and fulfill the requirements of the SOW. Work with PMs and consultants to address any issues and finalize documents.

3. Coordinate closely with the DAI home office team (Africa Region, Contracts, Technical Sectors) on administrative and operational aspects of the project and to ensure appropriate technical and management support is provided across the program.

Qualifications:

• Bachelor’s degree in a relevant field required; advanced degree preferred.
• 10+ years of relevant professional experience, including field project management.
• Exceptional organizational skills, capacity to adapt & pivot, and ability to prioritize multiple concurrent tasks.
• Exceptional communications, coaching, optimization, and personnel management skills.
• Ability to coordinate effectively with staff at all levels of an organization and of various cultural backgrounds.
• Excellent writing and editing skills; familiarity with multi-media communications platforms is desired (video explainers, Medium, visually compelling software such as Prezi, Canva, Piktochart, etc.).
• Ability to take initiative, problem solve, implement (and improve as needed) systems for design, management and monitoring of activities.
• Experience working with DAI management systems is strongly preferred.
• Experience working with market systems, value chain, business enabling environment and/or policy support projects strongly preferred.
• Fluency in English (reading and writing) is required; Portuguese language skills desired.

Location of Work:

The DCOP-Ops will work from the project headquarters based in Maputo, Mozambique, with periodic field visits as needed.

Management:

The DCOP-Ops will report to the USAID SPEED Chief of Party in Maputo.

How to apply

Please apply using this link: https://phf.tbe.taleo.net/phf04/ats/careers/requisition.jsp?org=DAINC&cws=1&rid=7314