NextBillion - An Initiative of the William Davidson Institute at the University of Michigan

Chemonics seeks a Technical Director for the anticipated New Primary Education Activity based in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. The Technical Director will report directly to the Chief of Party. The Technical Director will be responsible for managing and overseeing the technical components of the activity. We are looking for individuals who have a passion for making a difference in the lives of people around the world.

The anticipated USAID New Primary Education Activity will work in areas affected by crises in Ethiopia, while deepening interventions to promote holistic foundational learning for children in these areas. This activity will target primary school age children and include out-of-school children who may be suited to those grade levels. This may include overage children, based on the understanding that many children will enter primary school late. As this activity will focus on strategies to target the significant portion of children who do not gain foundational skills on time, within these grade levels and age ranges, the activity will target the lowest performing students and/or those children who have dropped out or who are at risk of dropout. The anticipated USAID New Primary Education Activity will support areas severely affected by conflict, drought and other natural disasters, and where learning outcomes are lowest. We are looking for individuals who have a passion for making a difference in the lives of people around the world.

Responsibilities Include:

• Provide direction, guidance, and mentorship to the technical team, collaborating with the Chief of Party (COP) to design technically appropriate activities and trainings.
• Ensure integration, synergy, and cohesion among project interventions.
• Collaborate closely with technical specialists to maximize project outputs and minimize risk as needed.
• Support work planning and ensure compliance in technical implementation across the Activity and with assigned objective areas.
• Ensure that lessons learned from project implementation are with internal and external stakeholders.
• Lead the development and review of technical deliverables and products, ensuring high quality and compliance with the activity’s development objectives, and adhering to reporting requirements provided by USAID.
• Supervise technical specialists and evaluate their performance to achieve program’s objectives.
• Provide support in improving monitoring and evaluation of technical interventions.
• Provide other general duties and leadership as requested.

Qualifications:

• Bachelor’s degree (master’s degree preferred) in education, international development, or related field
• Minimum eight years of senior management experience on donor-funded programs in conflict contexts, or in a related role
• Expertise in one or more of the following areas: education in crisis and conflict, education recovery, systems strengthening, foundational learning, accelerated learning, non-formal education, community engagement, or related fields to the scope of this Activity in an international context.
• Previous experience working in Africa required; experience working in Ethiopia strongly preferred.
• Demonstrated supervisory experience, including management of a large, diverse team operating in multiple locations.
• Proven progressively responsible managerial experience implementing and managing complex donor-funded projects.
• Demonstrated leadership, versatility, and integrity.
• Fluency in English required.
• Qualified applicants from Ethiopia highly encouraged to apply.