The Purpose of the Role

Working closely with the Contract Readiness Director, the Contract Readiness Project Manager, will have day-to-day responsibility for the smooth and effective running of the Contract Readiness workstream, to ensure the successful and effective management and coordination of related activities.

Key Working Relationships

Contract Readiness Director, Contract Readiness Working Group (CWG), Contract Readiness Senior Vice President Group, Planning and Strategic Operations Team, Senior Vice President AMU.

KEY ACCOUNTABILITIES

Contracts Readiness (100%)

• Build on the current project approach to implement project management best practice.
• Maintain the contracts readiness action tracker, provide analysis and maintain supporting documentation.
• Monitor and report on progress to the Contracts Readiness Director and CWG.
• Run the risk, action, issue and decision (RAID) log, defining and implementing risk and issue mitigation.
• Lead the communication plan and write content for communications and reports.
• Support the Contracts Readiness Director in the development of business cases for specific actions.
• Facilitate workshops and meetings.
• Lead on driving forward specific contract readiness actions as agreed with the Contracts Readiness Director.
• Work with the Contracts Readiness Director to identify challenges and develop solutions to efficiently implement contracts readiness in close collaboration with relevant partners, with a focus on the case for change and measurable benefits.
• Management of the CWG and Contract Readiness Senior Vice President Group.
• Support the Contract Director in building connections with other strategic projects and strengthening understanding of dependencies/areas of mutual support.
• Monitor and provide reports on the budget and expenditure.
• Embed learning in the contract readiness process, ensuring lessons are captured, tracked and acted upon.
• Act as thought partner for the Contracts Readiness Director and wider contract readiness collaborators.

PERSON SPECIFICATION

Skills, Knowledge and Qualifications:

• Strong knowledge and understanding of project management.
• Excellent stakeholder management skills, including shown experience influencing at senior management level.
• Ability to prioritize and flexible work demeanor.
• Problem solver with a can-do approach.
• Able to work independently with minimal direction.
• Collaborative team player.
• Proficiency in English, both spoken and written.
• Solid understanding of Microsoft Office 365, including Excel, SharePoint and Teams.

Experience:

• Experience working as a project manager.
• Experience working on contracts in a relevant international development or humanitarian field.
• Demonstrated experience of facilitation.

The Purpose of the Role

IRC is looking for a Contract Readiness Director to lead its contracts readiness initiative over the next year. The purpose of the role is to implement the Contract Readiness Roadmap, working with relevant department across the organization to ensure appropriate design and ownership of solutions. The position acts as a focal point within the organization for contract-related issues.

Key Working Relationships

The role will work closely with stakeholders across the organization, in particular AMU; Finance; Office of General Counsel (OGC); Operations; Crisis Response Recovery and Development (CRRD); and Resettlement Asylum and Integration (RAI). It will coordinate the Contract Readiness Working Group, Contracts Readiness Senior Vice President (SVP) Group, AMU Senior Leaders Group and Leadership Board as necessary. The positions holder will work on a day-to-day basis with the Contracts Readiness Project Manager.

KEY ACCOUNTABILITIES

Contracts Readiness (100%)

• Reviewing and updating the Contract Readiness Roadmap, as required with new actions and objectives as the organization evolves.
• Operationalizing the actions that have been identified in the roadmap, identifying timelines, departments / individuals responsible, resources required.
• Working with departments to ensure ownership of actions and appropriate dissemination of contracts readiness outputs.
• Working with SVP AMU and other senior leaders to prioritize between different activities where needed to ensure we facilitate our program teams’ ability to deliver impact for our clients.
• Leading Contracts Working Group meetings.
• Monitoring and reporting on progress against the Contract Readiness Roadmap to the Contracts Working Group, SVP Group and the Leadership Board.
• Convening decision-makers around critical challenges to ensure rapid resolution of open question and facilitate trade-offs between different perspectives where required.
• Working with other teams and departments to cost out changes that are needed, help build business case for further investment in contract readiness.
• Working with colleagues across the organization to ensure contract readiness outputs are embedded into existing processes, where possible.
• Acting as a focal point for contract-related inquiries from around the organization.
• To provide briefings to different organizational stakeholders to build awareness in the organization with regard to risks and challenges of contract implementation.
• Recruitment and line management of the Contract Readiness Project Manager.

PERSON SPECIFICATION

Skills, Knowledge and Qualifications:

• Extensive knowledge with regard to commercial contracts in international development or humanitarian fields.
• Knowledge in the area of organisational change management.
• Excellent written and oral communication skills, including experience in speaking on relevant issues with internal and external audiences.
• Demonstrated ability to effectively maintain relationships (e.g., with internal actors, peers, donors).
• Demonstrated ability to lead complex tasks and manage competing priorities.
• Solid organizational and creative problem-solving skills: ability to be flexible and work well in a fast-paced multi-tasking team environment
• Understanding of project financial management
• Understanding of business development processes
• Effective people management skills: ability to lead staff and promote productivity in a pleasant work environment.
• Fluency in English, both spoken and written.

Experience:

• Extensive experience managing commercial contracts in a relevant international development or humanitarian field.
• Experience working with either UK Foreign Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO) or US Agency for International Development (USAID). Other large international donor experience would also be considered.