Senior Portfolio Support Manager, East Africa

Company: JSI

Location: Boston

Closing Date: 07/11/2024

Salary: £250 Per Annum

Hours: Full Time

Type: Permanent

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Job Requirements / Description

DESCRIPTION

Organization overview:
JSI is a global nonprofit dedicated to improving people’s lives around the world through greater health, education, and socioeconomic equity for individuals and communities, and to providing an environment where people of passion can pursue this cause. We are more than 3,000 public health care and education experts driven by a passion to improve health and education services for all. Our fundamental goal is to ensure that all individuals can live their best and healthiest life, regardless of age or circumstances.

Summary:
The Senior Portfolio Support Manager (SPSM) serves as a day-to-day tactical partner for the Country Director(s) and other project leaders, brokering and sourcing technical and other support, and helping to establish linkages for successful implementation across an assigned large and/or complex country portfolio(s). The SPSM is responsible for coordinating and providing program management support to an assigned portfolio of Country Director(s) and country project leadership to ensure the success of JSI's country program. The SPSM works in close collaboration with Country Director(s) and project Chiefs of Party/Project Directors, centrally funded mechanism country support staff, as well as the technical, finance/operations, communications, hr, knowledge management, new business development and monitoring, evaluation and learning teams to ensure a coordinate support approach.

The Senior Portfolio Support Manager is part of the Country Support Team that will draw from JSI’s global expertise and central services to ensure that our leadership and project teams within a large and/or complex country portfolio receive the necessary support and resources for implementing programs successfully. The SPSM will also support country program planning, implementation, management, and new business development. This position will report to the International Division, Regional Director, East Africa, can be based in any one of JSI’s global offices, and may supervise Portfolio Support Officer(s) depending on the assigned portfolio.

Responsibilities:

Coordination

Facilitate linkages across the country support team, including F&O, HR, Comms, NBD, TA, MERL, KM functional teams.
In consultation with country program staff and global staff, develop a forecast of program support needs.
Mobilize resources to address country program needs including technical, financial/operations, human resources, and communications.

Country Portfolio Management

Support the Country Director and project leadership teams with annual country portfolio workplanning and advise on project workplans as requested.
Participate in the annual country workplan review process to reflect on achievement of objectives; participate in country-level meetings as needed.
Work closely with the Country Director to coordinate start-up/closeout processes in collaboration with F&O, Communications, HR and technical teams.
Serve as a tactical thought partner and resource to the Country Director and project leadership in support of programming.
Coordinate with the Country Director and project leadership to ensure key country guidelines, statutes, regulations that affect JSI's implementation and presence are up to date and on file.
Work with country focal points and technical staff to ensure that scopes of work and deliverables for short- and long-term technical assistance are clearly defined and that appropriate staff and consultants are mobilized to support country implementation through the technical team leads.
Support compliance with national donor(s) and JSI program quality standards in collaboration with global technical experts.
Facilitate the uptake of program management standard operating procedures, tools, templates, and resources at the country level in alignment with JSI International Program standards.
Coordinate routine program portfolio reviews in collaboration with country teams and country support teams, including country team participation in International Programs review mechanisms at global level.

Stakeholder Relationship Management

Support the Director of International Programs and Country Director(s) in coordinating and managing JSI’s key global, regional, and country organizational partners/stakeholders for new business development and strategic partnership purposes.
Manage, track, and update JEMs with key partner relationship information and engagement.

Reporting

With the Country Director(s) and Project leaders, along with Communications, ensure donor reports meet JSI standards for quality, compliance, and timely submission, not limited to quarterly, semiannual and annual progress reports, study reports, etc.

Knowledge Management

Update JSI internal systems (project database, JEMS, Google Drive, etc.) to ensure accuracy of information related to country program and project information.
In collaboration with communications, review and contribute to country program updates for internal and external audiences, projects and JSI websites.
Support information sharing across International Programs to facilitate learning and innovation.
Organizing/coordinating forums, events, webinars, meetings, etc in collaboration with project, technical, communications, and other JSI teams.

New Business Development (BD)

Coordinate with appropriate BD Regional Point of Contact to support effective collaboration and communication between country staff and BD team for advanced planning, intel sharing, partner identification, etc., including supporting the Country Director(s) with Go/No Go decisions.
Support specific new business opportunities including playing a variety of key proposal roles such as technical lead, staffing and management lead, and proposal writer; participate in capture efforts; draft proposal sections; support identification of partners and key personnel as required.
Provide input to development of country BD strategy and help to monitor its implementation.

People Management

Lead and manage Portfolio Support Officer(s) in full accordance with JSI policies, procedures. Manage staff and team performance at a global level and individual staff level, providing timely performance feedback and mentoring.

Qualifications:

Required

Master’s degree in public health, education, management, public policy, business, or related field. A combination of education and experience may be considered in lieu of a Master’s degree.
8+ years progressive experience working in the design, implementation, management and/or monitoring and evaluation of international development projects with specific experience in the region.
2+ years of recent INGO experience specifically in global health or educational sector with an understanding of the sector and its trends.
3+ years of demonstrated leadership and people management skills, including management of distributed and cross-functional teams.
Demonstrated success in program planning and management, including familiarity with common planning frameworks and monitoring tools.
Experience successfully managing relationships with a wide variety of stakeholders in multi-cultural environments and in diverse locations internationally, including governments and the donor community.
Experience working with USAID rules and regulations.
Ability and willingness to travel internationally, as required.

Competencies

Excellent communication skills - written, verbal, and interpersonal with cultural competency to communicate with and authentically engage audiences globally; and demonstrated ability to build and manage professional relationships effectively with technical experts, other partners and donor agencies.
Demonstrated ability to analyze, assess and organize information with high attention to detail.
Strong initiative and self-motivation required, with a commitment to teamwork and effectiveness within a nonhierarchical, participatory management environment.
Initiative, professionalism, and flexibility within an environment of frequent interruptions, changing or conflicting priorities, and varying workloads. Ability to thrive in a fast-paced environment and operate with a high sense of urgency.
Professional proficiency in multiple languages preferred.
Strong understanding of and commitment to diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging.

Please apply via our Careers Portal:

Job Type: Full-time

Pay: $87,909.00 - $141,456.00 per year

Benefits: