SENIOR PROGRAM OFFICER (EDUCATION & SKILLS)

JOB SUMMARY: The Senior Program Officer (SPO) is responsible for financial, programmatic, operational, and administrative support to the Education Team. The SPO plays a pivotal role in ensuring the Education and Skills Team (E&S Team) is organized, has set operational and implementation plans, is tracking deliverables and is reporting accountable results to stay on track with donor obligations and support the team to achieve its strategic goal outlined in the team’s annual operating plan. She/he will work directly with all the Education & Skills Team members and will collaborate with other units, departments, country offices and staff. The SPO will mentor and supervise unit interns and provide guidance on the performance of their roles and responsibilities in coordination with the respective cluster supervisor. This person will have overall knowledge and understanding of education and adolescent empowerment programming and priorities. As a member of the Education & Skills Team, this position will participate in intellectual discussions in the education sector, advance CARE’s rights-based approaches, and promote understanding of the underlying causes of poverty that contribute to low levels of educational attainment. RESPONSIBILITIES: Program Management The SPO Provide cross functional coordination and management of centrally managed awards including US Government and privately funded projects. This includes: Facilitate programmatic support to country offices to assess needs and provide support as needed Provide program support to ensure efficient processes for project start up and closeout Conducting detailed reviews of project workplans to ensure alignment with donor requirements. Develop monitoring trackers to track project implementation progress. Liaising with Technical and MEL Advisors to ensure timely reviews of project reports and workplan. Review, revise, and format project reports and workplans to ensure alignment with donor requirements. Collaborate with Grants and Finance Managers to review project financial reports. Liaise with country offices to ensure project operations and implementation are in alignment with donor requirements. Operations The SPO provides support for key operational areas of E&S Team and the unit’s strategic plan and AOP. The position promotes team efficiency in the application of new systems and provides guidance on relevant applicable CARE policies and rules to help ensure that these are adhered to by the team. The SPO supports the E&S Team to anchor operational procedures including: Liaising with the procurement department to ensure all E&S Team and project focused procurements adhere to CARE policies and donor requirements. Lead procurement efforts for the E&S Team and provide support and advise to country offices on procurement processes. Liaising with the appropriate teams to develop and manage consultant contractual agreements and payment processes. Ensure the team’s operating procedures are current and accessible such as: On-boarding, inventory management, project management tools, etc. Provide cross-functional collaboration to ensure new staff are adequately on-boarded. The SPO, working with the Team Director, facilitates team scheduling and oversees the team calendar. Grants Management The SPO will ensure compliance with donor and organizational contractual and reporting requirements. Facilitate the submission and review of country office proposals and concept notes. Provide compliance reviews to country offices to ensure alignment with donor requirements. Develop and facilitate the execution of grant agreements for private funding between CARE and country offices. Lead the timely submission of donor reports to CARE relationship managers. Work with the Grants and Finance Managers to track project financials. Lead grant management for the team’s internally managed awards. Communications and Knowledge Management The SPO actively supports program and grant management communications and knowledge sharing among CARE staff globally. Supports the identification and documentation of evidence-based examples of effective programming; Actively participates in the design and delivery of workshops and conferences related to education and adolescent-gendered programming; Led the organization and management of the team’s internal SharePoint site to ensure simplified access to documents and resources to facilitate resource development and cross-learning across the team. The SPO will ensure all final documents programmatic documents are stored on SharePoint. Collaborate with the internal team to facilitate and ensure successful execution of team retreats, and internal and external convenings. Contribute towards reviewing and revising internal and external reports, presentations, and E&S-related documents and support the consolidation/synthesis of technical reports. Manages translation services, the team calendar, scheduling, and coordination of virtual meetings. Resource Mobilization The SPO plays a role in the mobilization of resources to contribute to the achievement of the Team’s strategic outcomes. Ensure alignment between design documents, frameworks, proposals, and scopes of work and support the team to comply with donor requirements Provide support to review internal concept notes for privately funded awards to Country Offices Provide support to the internal team to conduct research on resources valuable to developing proposals and concept notes Ensure all opportunities pursued by the E&S Team are recorded and tracked appropriately via a Resource development application on the Team’s SharePoint and Power Bi Education Unit Membership The SPO will manage, coordinate, and lead the supervision of interns for the Education Team. They will help cluster supervisors set tasks for the interns and manage workflow across the team. They will provide mentorship and coaching to the interns as needed. As part of the team and Program Unit (PSI), the SPO assists the team and unit as and when necessary in education and program related tasks. This includes supporting education initiatives that encompass girls and adolescent development and the implementation of program quality standards; lending support to the development and roll out of the Education Strategy; and playing a proactive role in the integration and harmonization of the Education Team’s work. QUALIFICATIONS: Bachelor's Degree in International Development, Education, Business Administration or a related field 1-3 years experience within a development or humanitarian context, focusing on grants management, financial/accounting, and/or budgeting. 1-2 years of administrative experience with an international development organization. Evidence of ability to work in an adaptable and collaborative manner across different work functions and dynamic, international, and intercultural teams within a complex organizational structure. Experience working with large donor-funded projects. Excellent planning, organizing, and problem-solving skills Familiarity with developing and monitoring program budgets and tracking systems Excellent interpersonal/team-building skills Attention to detail and follow-through on tasks Strong knowledge of Microsoft applications, including Word, Excel, and Outlook Strong knowledge of Adaptive Planning and PeopleSoft Excellent communication skills in both written and spoken English; ability to communicate knowledge, ideas, and issues in an appropriate manner to diverse audiences. Strong analytical skills. Project management skills, including planning and budgeting. Workshop coordination and facilitation skills.