JOB SUMMARY: The CASCADE program ( CA talyzing S trengthened policy a C tion for he A lthy D iets and resilienc E ) aims to improve food security and contribute to the reduction of malnutrition of at least 5 million women of reproductive age and children under 5 in Benin, Nigeria, Uganda, Kenya, Ethiopia and Mozambique. Efforts across the 6 countries aim to strengthen systems and partnerships and connect nutrition policy goals to communities by transforming policies into action, knowledge into practice, and challenges into sustainable solutions. Using an advocacy-centered, contextually responsive approach that galvanizes government, business and communities, the program has two strategic objectives: โข to increase access to and consumption of healthy diets, โข to increase the resilience of households to economic and climate-related shocks CASCADE is 4.5-year program, now in its third year, funded by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Kingdom of The Netherlands. The program consortium is led by CARE Netherlands with participation from CARE USA and one major international partner, the Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition (GAIN). Country programs also partner with a range of different local partners to enhance sustainability of interventions. CASCADE subscribes to a โOne programโ approach which aims to facilitate use of common terminology, share goals and workplans through integrated implementation, monitoring and evaluation of activities, and elevate the CASCADE brand over the identities, names or assigned roles of any one partner. Job Overview The Senior Technical Manager for the CASCADE program will play a pivotal role in driving the strategic implementation and success of this transformative initiative. Reporting to the Project Director and serving as a member of the Program Management Unit, the Senior Technical Manager will oversee program delivery and quality across multiple countries, ensuring alignment with CASCADEโs objectives and values. S/he will have a close working relationship with the Operations and Partnership Manager to ensure program, budget, operations and Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning (MEL) support to countries is coordinated, efficient and responsive to country needs/contexts. This role requires a dynamic leader with expertise in program management, policy advocacy, food systems and nutrition. The Technical Programs Manager will be responsible for technical decision making and provide guidance to ensure quality of program implementation, leveraging technical expertise from all consortium partners, as appropriate and available. S/he will have experience working in multi-country programs with one or more partners to advance food security, policy and resilience outcomes. The Technical Programs Manager supervises a small team of technical experts โ nutrition, food systems, policy advocacy, and monitoring, evaluation and learning - who, in close collaboration with the Operations team, provides technical and operations support to the CASCADE country programs. While CARE and GAIN Country Program Managers will have a dotted line reporting relationship to Operations and Partnership Manager, the Technical Programs Manager will contribute to and be copied into all country-level communications to ensure program quality and performance as well as clear, efficient, and timely assistance according to various country program designs, progress, needs and capacities. RESPONSIBILITIES: Program Leadership and Management Support the Project Director in developing and executing the CASCADE program strategy and approaches, ensuring alignment with CASCADEโs global goals and donor requirements. Lead a diverse team of technical advisors globally and across countries, pulling from expertise available from and among all partners, fostering collaboration and accountability. Clarify, maintain and oversee technical support to country programs. Together with the Operations and Partnership Manager, support country Program Managers to implement, measure and share quality results/outcomes. Directly supervise the MEAL Manager, MEAL Senior TA, Advocacy Coordinator, and Nutrition Technical Advisor. Policy Advocacy and Stakeholder Engagement Lead efforts to influence policy frameworks that promote healthy diets and resilient food systems, working closely with government agencies, NGOs, and private sector partners. Ensure technical assistance to countries is strengthening linkages between community-level implementation and targeted (national or sub-national) policy processes and priorities. Represent CASCADE in external forums, building strategic partnerships to amplify program impact. In collaboration with the Knowledge Management team, ensure effective communication of program successes and lessons learned to stakeholders and donors. Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning and Technical Program Quality Ensure technical alignment between consortium partnersโ approaches, clarifying, determining and/or mandating consistent direction and technical collaboration, as needed. Leand and oversee the technical approach, quality implementation, and evaluation of program activities across target countries, and, together with the Operations and Partnership Manager, ensure timely delivery of reports, referencing valid measures and results. Supervise Monitoring, Evaluation, Accountability, and Learning (MEAL) for all country programs and the global program to achieve planned objectives, inform adaptive management and tell CASCADEโs story. Together with the Operations and Partnership Manager, ensure efficient use of resources to support program quality, track progress, adapt implementation strategies, as needed (monitoring), assess impact (evaluation) and share learning with the donor and other global stakeholders. Lead TA efforts of the Program Quality team to track progress against global and country results frameworks and work plans, identifying challenges early and implementing corrective actions together with the global programs and operations teams. Capacity Building and Team Development and Cross-functional Collaboration Mentor and strengthen capacity of direct reports and, as a team, develop tools or approaches to strengthen the capacity of local partners to deliver sustainable results. Promote a culture of innovation, inclusion, and gender equity within the program team. Support recruitment, onboarding, and performance management of key personnel, as required by the Project Director. Work closely with CAREโs and GAINโs technical units (e.g., Gender, Nutrition, Climate Resilience) to integrate best practices into CASCADE programming. Collaborate with fundraising and communications teams to secure resources and elevate the programโs visibility.