Program Manager at the North East Regional Initiative (NERI) Nigeria

The North East Regional Initiative (NERI) Nigeria – An International Development Organization is seeking applications from suitably qualified candidates to fill the position below:

Job Title: Program Manager

Location: Plateau

Position Summary

The Program Manager (PM) will be responsible for the contracting, implementation, and close-out of a portfolio of activities. The PM will work with in close collaboration with the Senior Management Team (including USAID/OTI) and community stakeholders to identify, prioritize, and design activities that will respond to community development priorities in order to further the objectives of the NLCB program.
The PM, working with a small multidisciplinary team, will be charged with oversight of project activities to ensure that all tasks are completed within timeframe and budget parameters defined during project design.
The Program Manager will be tasked with the programmatic and administrative closeout of all activities, including final reporting, disbursement of funding (in concert with finance staff), and disposition of any project inventory. The Program Manager will serve as the main point of contact for state-level actors and community stakeholders to ensure that all activities fit within a strategic and coherent portfolio.
The Program Manager will be expected to report daily to and receive guidance from the Senior Management Team. The Program Manager will be expected to liaise with various levels of stakeholders, including government officials, civil society organizations, and community actors; the PM must be able to maintain good relations with all associated parties. In addition, the Program Manager will be expected to collaborate horizontally with other Program Managers to share lessons learned and jointly design program strategy.
This position is based in Jos with frequent travel within the program LGAs and to Abuja.

Reporting & Supervision:

The Program Manager will report to the Deputy Chief of Party – Programs. All PMs should expect direct interactions with members of Senior Management Unit and with the client, USAID/OTI.
PMs may supervise and lead multidisciplinary activity management teams, comprised of Program Officers and/or Assistants, Grants Officers, Procurement Officers or Assistants, M&E Officers or Assistant, and Logistics Officers or Assistant. While these team members also report technically to their line managers in Abuja, under the Deputy Chief of Party – Programs, the PM is expected to lead the team and ensure that they work together to design, implement, monitoring and learn from activities.

Primary Responsibilities and Deliverables
Primary responsibilities include but are not limited to the following:

Responsible general oversight of a portfolio of projects. The geography of targeted communities as well as type of programming is expected to change frequently over the course of the program.
In concert with senior management, advice on programmatic design of new projects, including identification of potential local partners and beneficiaries, monitor implementation to ensure timely completion and adherence to budget and administrative and programmatic closeout throughout the portfolio of activities.
Take a leadership role in the program’s learning process by feeding information in a timely manner on political and security developments in the PM’s target area(s).
Develop activity-level Theory of Change (TOC), thinking strategically about the contribution of each activity to the overall program objective.
Work alongside Government of Nigeria (GoN) officials, community stakeholders and civil society actors to ensure coherent and strategic programming as part of a unified project endeavor.
Serve as the focal point of the objectives and purpose.
With team members, establish community-level project oversight committees to ensure community buy-in of activities.
Help set up transparent management and oversight mechanisms and work to incorporate as wide a range of project beneficiaries, GoN and other important stakeholders as possible.
Responsible for the proper use of the program database for project and program development and management, including updating information on projects and activities per week.
Comply with all Creative and USAID procedures and policies with regards to ethics and compliance, grants management, HR, finance, operations and security.
Perform other tasks, as assigned.

Required Skills & Qualifications

University degree in a related field is required.
At least five (5) years of general work experience is required.
Experience in working with communities to implement grassroots development projects preferred.
Prior experience (three years or more) in grants management with internationally-funded projects is highly desirable.
Proficiency at using Microsoft office: MS Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook etc. is required.
Ability to work under short deadlines and efficiently handle multiple tasks.
Attention to detail and the ability to function well in a team.
Experience of working in a conflict environment is a plus.
Fluency in oral and written English is required.
Fluency in one or more of the languages spoken in North West and North Central Nigeria is preferable.