Project Director, USAID/Advancing Digital Democracy

Washington, DC

Employer:

Description

Project Director, USAID/Advancing Digital Democracy

AboutPalladium:

Palladium is aglobal company working to design, develop and deliver positive impact on thelives and livelihoods of people around the globe; broaden access to health,water, power, and infrastructure; build enduring, sustainable, andtransformative institutions and market systems to address global challenges;and conserve the natural world. We operate in over 90 countries and have aworkforce of 4,000 talented, motivated, and diverse staff of all religions,races, languages, and gender identities.

This Opportunity:

The Digital Solutions and TransformationPortfolio within the Data Informatics and Analytical Solutions (DIAS) Communityof Practice is seeking a Project Director to lead an upcoming global project tosupport USAID's Advancing Digital Democracy activity.

The Program aims tosupport the development of digital innovation that respects human rights inpartner countries. It will provide comprehensive assistance to stakeholders,including governments, civil society and the private sector, to achieve thisgoal. The DIAS Practice is a dynamicand innovative group with talented and passionate members, working together tostrengthen and harness digital and data ecosystems to accelerate developmentinvestments and outcomes and create positive impact.

The Project Director will provide strategic,managerial and technical leadership to the project. The Project Director will helpadvance USAID's digital democracy agenda, leading a team of equally passionatedigital development and democracy professionals and program managers toimplement a wide range of activities that promote open, secure, and inclusivedigital democracies in which data-driven technologies advance, rather thanundermine, democratic values and respect for human rights. The Project Director will haveexperience developing and implementing organization wide strategies, withstrong interpersonal skills to develop and manage complex relationships acrossvarious stakeholders in various sectors. Finally, the Project Director will have demonstrated projectmanagement experience to ensure delivery of wide variety of technicalactivities in service of advancing USAID's Digital Strategy.

This is afull-time, key personnel senior position based in Washington, DC and iscontingent upon award

You and YourCareer:

If you are aproblem-solver, collaborator, and doer, and you have expertise in strategicplanning, leading global projects with USAID, or relevant digital democracy andhuman rights experience, we are interested in hearing from you.We are alearning organization and provide growth opportunities from the start. Wepride ourselves on giving you the freedom, resources, and guidance to chart afulfilling career!

Reporting andSupervision:

The ProjectDirector will report to the Palladium Home Office Program Manager and will workclosely with USAID/Washington D.C. and USAID Missions.

Primary Duties andResponsibilities:

Direct the project's strategic vision, design, and implementation with the aim of advancing open, secure, and inclusive digital democracies in which data-driven technologies advance, rather than undermine, democratic values and respect for human rights.
Serve as the main point of contact for the activity and with the responsibility of liaising directly with the activity COR on all technical issues.
Oversee the design and strategy of new project buy-ins and workplans, ensure timely submissions to and approval by the client, ensure that agreed activities and targets are fully accomplished, meet expected technical and management quality standards, and are delivered on schedule and on budget.
Develop, manage, and maintain strategic partnerships with USAID, other U.S. government agencies and projects, host-country governments and counterparts, international donors, multilateral organizations, and civil society and private sector partners in developing countries.
Identify opportunities and negotiate partnership programs to leverage synergistic donor, governmental, and organizational resources.
Manage and mentor a team of senior technical and program management staff and facilitate strong communication and coordination with and between all team members.
Ensure effective internal systems for adaptive program delivery; results tracking and reporting; staff recruitment, mobilization, and retention; and contracting and financial management to rapidly, efficiently respond to dynamic program needs.
Facilitate proactive technical and programmatic monitoring, evaluation, learning, and adaptation across all levels of the project to mitigate risks to the program and refine program focus to apply lessons learned, respond to emerging needs, and take advantage of new opportunities.
Develop and oversee a system for the identification, packaging and dissemination of good practices and lessons learned from project implementation.

Key Competencies Required:

Bachelor's degree (master's degree preferred) in business administration, information systems, political science or international development and fifteen (15) years of experience adaptively managing USAID activities, including contracts and buy-ins, and proven experience building and managing dynamic, flexible teams.
Strong financial management experience including the ability to develop, track and monitor budgets and overall financial health of the project.
Strong interpersonal skills with a high level of emotional intelligence for effective communication and interaction within the project and to promote and position the project in the broader digital transformation arena.
Sound management skills to guide all project human, technical, and financial resources.
Strong communications, writing, and oral presentation skills in English. Professional fluency in additional languages preferred (e.g. French, Spanish, Portuguese)
Willingness to travel up to 30% of time

Professional Expertise:

Experience leading USAID activities that catalyse democracy, governance, or economic growth outcomes world-wide; prior experience as Chief of Party, Project Director, Deputy Director, Team Leader, etc., on project(s) of similar scope, scale, and complexity preferred.
Experience cultivating and managing relationships across multiple technical sectors, digital development, policy and strategy, democracy, digital rights, digital inclusion, and/or digital transformation.
Demonstrated experience in building partnerships to achieve mutual goals and objectives, including with U.S. government agencies, host-country governments and counterparts, international donors, multilateral organizations, and civil society and private sector partners in developing countries.

Equity, Diversity & Inclusion - Palladium is committed toembedding equity, diversity, and inclusion into everything we do. We welcomeapplications from all sections of society and actively encourage diversity todrive innovation, creativity, success and good practice. We positively welcomeand seek to ensure we achieve diversity in our workforce; and that all jobapplicants and employees receive equal and fair treatment regardless of theirbackground or personal characteristics. These include: (but are not limited to)socio-economic background, age, race, gender identity and expression, religion,ethnicity, sexual orientation, disability, nationality, veteran, marital orIndigenous status.

Should you require any adjustments or accommodations to be made due to adisability or you are a neurodivergent individual or for any othercircumstance, please email our team at accessibility@thepalladiumgroup.com and wewill be in touch to discuss.

Safeguarding - We define Safeguarding as "the preventativeaction taken by Palladium to protect our people, clients and the communities wework with from harm". We are committed to ensuring that all children and adultswho come into contact with Palladium are treated with respect and are free fromabuse. All successful candidates will besubject to an enhanced selection process including safeguarding-focusedinterviews and a rigorous due diligence process.

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