Deputy Chief of Party, Operations, Tusome Kenya

RTI's International Education Division is supporting education development around the world by strengthening education policy, management and practice in order to achieve measurable improvement in teaching and learning. From our well-established reputation in education system strengthening, to innovative work in early grade assessment and learning, RTI is improving education quality, relevance and efficiency through implementation of projects funded by USAID, DFID, DFAT and other donors and clients.
RTI is recruiting a Deputy Chief of Party (DCOP) Operations for an education project in Kenya. The USAID-funded Kenya Tusome Early Grade Reading Activity is a basic education initiative to improve the reading skills of approximately 5.4 million Kenyan children in each of Kenya’s 22,600 public primary schools and 1000 low cost private schools, called APET institutions. This is a full-time position with residency in Kenya.
The Deputy Chief of Party Operations will provide operational management in coordination with the Chief of Party (COP) and other members of the project leadership team. S/he will ensure quality and timely operational support for program activities, and lead reporting activities for the project. The DCOP Operations will be responsible for finance and administration, and in particular, budgeting, financial management, human resources, IT, communications, grants management and supporting the technical activities to effectively be implemented, with limited involvement in M&E processes. The DCOP will be responsible for supporting the Chief of Party in all technical, operational and management aspects of the project, serving as second in command in the Chief of Party’s absence.

Essential Duties and Responsibilities

• Working closely with technical leads, Finance Managers, IT officer, HR Manager, Communications Officer, Grants Fund Manager, Administrative Specialists and Coordinators to ensure effective and efficient implementation of project activity against the contract. Oversee the intersection of contract, budget, and technical work, engaging appropriate RTI contract and finance staff as needed.
• Lead the development of annual work plans, performance milestone plans, and associated budgeting.
• Support the USAID review and approval process, with close collaboration with the COP.
• Ensure the timely and quality reporting of all program technical and financial deliverables in accordance with USAID guidelines. Works closely with the Monitoring & Evaluation team and technical areas to ensure that deliverables are submitted to USAD in a timely manner.
• Ensure that the project activities are meeting client and stakeholder expectations and that project results are proactively disseminated, interfacing with USAID as needed.
• Ensure that contractual and internal approval requirements (e.g., waivers, approval memos) are met, and prepare justifications supporting these actions in coordination with project leadership and business support groups.
• Monitor budget analyses/reports and project cost reports/invoices against contract requirements, implementation progress and general cost reasonability; alert management team to necessary contractual or management actions based on that review (e.g., LOE or line item reallocation, need to improve T&M contract performance, etc.).
• Assist in the identification, recruitment, and management of consultants and subcontractors; perform the actions necessary to initiate appropriate contractual mechanisms.
• Additional specific tasks and duties to be assigned as necessary to fulfill deliverables. Qualifications
• Master’s degree in education, business, finance, accounting or relevant discipline and 12 years of relevant work experience (or equivalent education and experience) including proven background and experience on international donor-funded projects in program or financial management capacity.
• Proven leadership, organizational, and human resource management skills successfully managing and coordinating large and disparate work groups.
• Minimum of four years of USAID financial, contractual or grants management required including provision of incountry training and support to field-based project staff.
• Strong oral/written communication skills and ability to communicate and interact effectively with all levels of internal and external stakeholders.
• Excellent planning, organization and problem solving skills.
• Culturally astute, respectful and tolerant
• Experience working in Kenya or East Africa is highly desirable.
• Logistics experience, such as large-scale textbook procurement and distribution, in a developing country is highly desired.
• Fluency in English is required. Equal Opportunity Employer
  We are proud to be an equal opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability status, protected veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by law.

HOW TO APPLY:

To Apply:

If you would like to be considered, please submit your resume to the following link: www.rti.org/job17065. Compensation and allowance packages are commensurate with experience and post location. Candidates are encouraged to apply as soon as possible. Only short listed applicants will be contacted.