Director, Operation & Compliance, CATALYZE Market Systems for Growth (MS4G) at Palladium MS4G

Palladium MS4G

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Position: Director, Operation & Compliance, CATALYZE Market Systems for Growth (MS4G)

Job Time: Full-Time

Job Type: Contract

Place of Work: Addis Ababa, Addis Abeba - Ethiopia

Posted date: 1 month ago

Deadline: Submition date is over

About Palladium:

Palladium is a global leader in the design, development, and delivery of Positive Impact - the intentional creation of enduring social and economic value. We work with foundations, investors, governments, corporations, communities, and civil society to formulate strategies and implement solutions that generate lasting social, environmental, and financial benefits. For the past 50 years, we have been making Positive Impact possible. With a team of more than 2,500 employees operating in 90 plus countries and a global network of more than 35,000 technical experts, Palladium has improved -and is committed to continuing to improve - economies, societies, and most importantly, people’s lives. Palladium is a child-safe organization, and screens applicants for suitability to work with children. We also provide equal employment to all participants and employees without regard to race, color, religion, gender, age, disability, sexual orientation, veteran or marital status.

This Opportunity:

Launched in 2020, the USAID CATALYZE Market Systems for Growth (MS4G) Activity is designed to support private ecosystem actors in building robust and resilient markets to enhance the delivery of products and services for WASH and food security, to benefit the Ethiopian people. MS4G achieves this by investing in improving micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs), cooperatives, and smallholders’ access to finance, facilitating their capacity to upgrade and grow; increasing sales by MSMEs and smallholder farmers in target sectors; improving smallholders’ access to fertilizer to enhance productivity and income; and strengthening private sector ecosystem support institutions. The project supports activities in Addis Ababa and the regional cities of Ethiopia. 

Location:

The position is based in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, or Washington D.C.

You and Your Career:

If you are a problem-solver, collaborator, and doer, and you have expertise in designing and managing MEL strategies and have experience in gathering, organizing, and analysing large amounts of quantitative and qualitative data across multiple countries and sectors/intervention areas, we are interested in hearing from you.

We are a learning organization and provide growth opportunities from the start. We pride ourselves on giving you the freedom, resources, and guidance to chart a fulfilling career!

Primary Duties and Responsibilities:

The CATALYZE MS4G Director, Operations & Compliance will report to the CATALYZE MS4G Country Director. She/he will be responsible for overseeing all aspects of financial management and contractual performance, including financial systems implementation, budgeting, expenditure tracking, financial reporting and accounting, operations, logistics, human resources, security, asset management, procurement, and grants. The Director will establish and maintain sound financial management practices and ensure the project’s compliance with Palladium and USAID policies, rules, and regulations.

• Provides overall financial and administrative leadership and coordination to ensure an effective and efficient operating platform for the project
• Ensures compliance of financial systems with Palladium’s policies and procedures, USAID rules and regulations, contract requirements, and Government of Ethiopia laws and regulations
• Develop activity budgets with technical teams and monitor budget pipeline
• Provides timely and accurate financial reports to Palladium home office and USAID as required
• Reviews and approves recommendations for financial planning and control, providing relevant fiscal information to the senior management team
• Coordinates internal financial audits of the project and serves as the primary point of contact with external auditors
• Ensures continual review of internal and strategic controls, communications, risk assessments, and maintenance of documentation
• Works with compliance, procurement, and technical staff to develop innovative grants and performance-based subcontracting platforms that enable efficient and compliant procurement and leverage local ecosystem actors to deliver services at scale
• Provides technical assistance and capacity building, as needed, to local partners on financial compliance and reporting to ensure sound financial management and operations
• Ensures that subcontracts, grants, and local consultancy documents and procedures are completed in a timely and correct manner and comply with Palladium and USAID policies and regulations
• Ensures the project offices and assets are operated and maintained for project use, ensuring timely payments to and communications with landlords, insurance companies, utility companies, building maintenance service providers, etc.
• Provides oversight to approximately five senior staff in finance, operations, grants, procurement, compliance, and human resources

Key Competencies Required:

• Significant professional experience in administrative/operational, financial, and grants management of large complex projects in the field of international development including experience in the management of USAID-funded contracts of similar scale ($40M / 4 years)
• Track record in developing and managing large budgets
• Demonstrated ability to provide oversight to high-volume grant and subcontract procurements involving a variety of sizes, scopes, and partner types
• Knowledge/mastery of and compliance with Federal Acquisition Regulations and USAID Acquisition Regulations
• Strong financial and operational management experience with proven management skills
• Strong communication skills (written and oral) in both Amharic and English
• Experience as a direct supervisor including supervising teams in fast-moving, multi-component programs
• Previous professional experience in administrative, financial, and grants management of USAID programs in Ethiopia or similar country contexts
• Experience building the capacity of local organizations and implementing partners in financial management
• Demonstrated track record of detail orientation and commitment to quality control across all program processes is preferred
• Relevant computer software skills and familiarity with accounting software (including, at a minimum, the standard applications in MS Office); Costpoint preferred

Professional Expertise/Competencies preferred:

• Previous experience in launching and managing innovative grants and/or performance-based sub-contract platforms; experience designing and administering annual program statements (APS) designed to enable private sector engagement, partnerships, and capital mobilization is a plus
• Previous experience with USAID buy-in activity is a plus
• Understanding Palladium processes and systems is a plus

Equity, Diversity & Inclusion - Palladium is committed to embedding equity, diversity, and inclusion into everything we do. We welcome applications from all sections of society and actively encourage diversity to drive innovation, creativity, success, and good practice. We positively welcome and seek to ensure we achieve diversity in our workforce; and that all job applicants and employees receive equal and fair treatment regardless of their background or personal characteristics. These include (but are not limited to) socio-economic background, age, race, gender identity and expression, religion, ethnicity, sexual orientation, disability, nationality, veteran, marital or Indigenous status.

Should you require any adjustments or accommodations to be made due to a disability or you are a neurodivergent individual or for any other circumstance, please email our team at accessibility@thepalladiumgroup.com and we will be in touch to discuss.

Safeguarding - We define Safeguarding as “the preventative action taken by Palladium to protect our people, clients, and the communities we work with from harm”. We are committed to ensuring that all children and adults who come into contact with Palladium are treated with respect and are free from abuse. All successful candidates will be subject to an enhanced selection process including safeguarding-focused interviews and a rigorous due diligence process.