Project Director, USAID Strengthening Transformative and Equitable Partnerships (STEP)

Making Cents International is recruiting for a Project Director to lead the USAID Strengthening Transformative and Equitable Partnerships (STEP). The Activity will focus on 1) Engaging and strengthening partnerships by identifying, supporting, and bringing together local and regional organizations and individual actors within local systems; 2) Advisory and implementation support by providing guidance to USAID Missions and Operating Units (OUs) on implementing awards with new, nontraditional, and local partners; and 3) Enhancing monitoring and evaluation by leading efforts to advance monitoring, evaluation, and learning (MEL) practices to foster equitable partnerships across USAID Missions and OUs.
 

This position is contingent upon winning a contract award.

Responsibilities
The Project Director/Chief of Party will provide overall leadership, management, and technical direction of the Activity. In this role, they will:

• Manage all activities, subcontractors, and staff, ensuring cohesion, efficiency, and quality control across tasks
• Ensure that all full-time and short-term personnel provide timely, relevant, high-quality services
• Serve as the primary liaison with USAID, local government entities, project partners, and other relevant stakeholders
• Ensure all contractual requirements are met
• Advise and support USAID Missions and OUs on implementation of awards to new, nontraditional, underutilized, and local partners
• Identify, support, and convene local and regional organizations
• Advance MEL practices to foster equitable partnerships and capacity strengthening

Minimum Qualifications

• Master’s degree in international development or a related field
• Minimum 10 years’ experience strengthening the capacity of USAID staff, local and regional organizations, and/or advancing locally led development
• Familiarity with USAID rules, policies, procedures, regulations, and evaluation report writing styles
• Technical expertise and experience in local capacity strengthening and monitoring, evaluation, and learning
• Field experience working with humanitarian response programming is highly desirable
• Ability to work with various counterparts, implementing partners, and host country government stakeholders
• Excellent interpersonal skills and teamwork
• Superior written and oral communication skills
• Fluency in English (written and spoken); working proficiency in one or more of the following languages is highly desirable: French, Spanish, Swahili, or Arabic