Senior Programs Manager, Food Security

Crown Agents USA, Inc. (CA-USA) is seeking a

Senior Programs Manager

for the Food Security Practice Area in our Washington, DC office.

Our Business

Crown Agents is an international development company employing over 600 personnel worldwide with a presence in more than 40 countries, subsidiaries in 11 countries, and permanent staff working on the ground in 22 corporate offices in Africa, Asia Latin America, Japan, the United Kingdom, and the United States. Crown Agents provides direct assistance, management consulting, and human and institutional development for public and private sector clients in customs and trade facilitation, public financial management, procurement, logistics, and health systems strengthening.

Crown Agents USA (CA-USA), the U.S. incorporated subsidiary of Crown Agents, provides direct technical assistance, capacity development, and procurement services to stimulate economic growth, establish good governance, and improve health outcomes across the developing world. Since its incorporation in the United States in 1998, CA-USA has provided technical assistance services and support to U.S. Government agencies and international organizations such as the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC), the U.S. Trade and Development Agency (USTDA), Department of State (DOS), and the Gates Foundation.

Role & Responsibilities

The Senior Programs Manager is responsible for ensuring the successful implementation and management of the Food Security practice area, including strategic planning, project management, personnel, budgeting, and client management. S/he will contribute to the CA-USA Food Security practice area strategy implementation goals by participating in thought leadership while building and maintaining relationships within the global Crown Agents' community. S/he will lead CA-USA's Food Security business development efforts through: identifying proposal opportunities; providing technical guidance to bid facilitation teams; maintaining relationships with the donor and prime organizations; and participating on bid teams, resulting in an increased book of business for the U.S. division of Crown Agents.

Specific Responsibilities

• Provide strategic support in the identification of Food Security proposal opportunities;
• Design and implement Food Security practice area strategies;
• Supervise and mentor Food Security project team members, conducting regular performance reviews and analyzing team performance, identifying training and development gaps;
• Provide technical Food Security inputs during the bid and proposal process on issues related to effective Food Security practices;
• Review, edit, and finalize technical sections of proposals and budgets, providing leadership and clear technical direction throughout the proposal process;
• Establish and maintain appropriate Food Security systems, policies and procedures; ensuring Food Security staff receive necessary training;
• Promote collaboration between home office and field based office project team, communicating regularly and leading regular update meetings;
• Hold overall responsibility for implementing the team staffing plan, including defining roles and responsibilities, reviewing job descriptions and recruiting personnel in coordination with the Recruiting Department;
• Responsible for clarifying roles, mapping practices and procedures, analyzing methodologies, suggesting adjustments, and training staff as required;
• Maintain full and up to date knowledge of project issues including regularly monitoring progress toward milestones and critical tasks, and ensuring level of authority is followed;
• In facilitation with the Contracts Department, ensure contract compliance is followed in line with donor regulations and company policy including monitoring of subcontractors, consultants and partners;
• Provide technical expertise in implementation of Food Security contracts using proven best practice, Food Security project management techniques;
• Provide technical support and quality assurance in the development and oversight of strategic work plans for Food Security projects;
• Overall responsibility for creation and presentation of monthly programmatic reviews to directorate staff;
• In coordination with senior leadership, identify risks and trends, implement appropriate solutions and manage outcomes;
• Responsible for ensuring that Food Security projects are performing within budget and opportunities to maximize revenue are identified;
• Provide overall direction and quality assurance oversight of M&E staff members, ensuring that project transactions, forecasts, budget, cash flow and invoicing are properly accounted for, and accurately identifying any variances;
• Act as central point of contact with Food Security clients including issue resolution, negotiations, and general contract communication;
• Ensure that all technical Food Security directions are conformed to, including all necessary written approvals are obtained and financial, personnel and operational reports are compiled and submitted in line with client and donor requirements;
• Provide mentorship of best Food Security practice methodologies;
• Act as development and career progression advocate for Food Security team members, promote collaboration and transfer of ideas and information between home office and field based teams, and instill CA-USA values by example;
• Contribute to the CA-USA Food Security strategy implementation by participating in thought leadership and building/maintaining relationships within the global community for new Food Security bid opportunities, enhance existing strategic partnerships and expand current projects;

Other duties as assigned.

Qualifications

• Master's Degree or equivalent in Economics, Agriculture, Business Administration, International Development, or a related field required; additional experience can relieve the Master's requirement dependent upon client requirements.
• Ten years of project management experience, out of which seven or more years related Food Security program management is required.
• Strong knowledge and history of effectively contributing technical inputs for Food Security programs.
• Demonstrated knowledge of and experience with best practices in food security, livelihoods, and/or economic development.
• Excellent written and oral communication skills.
• Demonstrated intermediate or above skills in MS Office Suite applications required.
• Fluency in English is required; bilingual or multilingual ability is preferred.
• Legal ability to work in the United States is required.
• International travel up to 30% required.
• Proven experience in supervision, mentoring, and building staff capacity required.
• Prior experience ensuring quality and timely financial management and budget management of Food Security projects.
• Experience managing related USG funded international development projects required.
• History of effective collaboration with USG donor representatives; knowledge of partnering with the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) preferred.
• Prior experience designing Food Security projects in broad subject matter areas such as access, utilization, stability and availability, required.
• Related work history carrying out technical writing and managing the bid production process required.
• Must demonstrate personal attributes such as loyalty and integrity in addition to being successful in challenging environments and difficult situations, which is inherent in this position.

HOW TO APPLY:

Application Process

To apply to this position, please email your CV to careers@crownagents.com, including your name, along with "14-118 Senior Programs Manager, FS", in the subject line. Visit our website atwww.crownagentsusa.com for more information about our company. No phone calls, faxes or walk-ins please. Crown Agents USA is an Equal Opportunity Employer and affords equal opportunity to all qualified applicants for all positions without regard to race, color, religion, gender, national origin, age, marital status, veteran status, disability or any other status protected under local, state or federal laws.

Candidate must be able to demonstrate legal right to work in the United States.

Crown Agents USA will provide reasonable accommodations to applicants with qualified disabilities in accordance with the ADA. If you require a reasonable accommodation for our application process, please contact our Recruiting department directly. Requests will be kept confidential and shared strictly on a need-to-know basis only.