Job Title: Advisor Manager, Mercy Corps
About Mercy Corps
Mercy Corps is a leading global organization powered by the belief that a better world is possible. In disaster, in hardship, in more than 40 countries around the world, we partner to put bold solutions into action — helping people triumph over adversity and build stronger communities from within. Now, and for the future. We welcome diverse backgrounds, perspectives, and skills so that we can be stronger and have long term impact.
The Advisory Team
Mercy Corps Energy 4 Impact advisory department has a growing team of 75 diverse energy access specialists including skills in finance and economics, business modelling, engineering and technology, market and value chain analysis; as well as in the areas of research, assessments, programme design and implementation, monitoring and evaluation, community engagement. Each specialist operates across a number of projects and carries out short- and medium-term assignments varying from a few days to a few years. The organisation has plans to grow the advisory services it delivers to SMEs, multi-sectoral programmes across Africa, MC multisectoral programs, Donors, Policy Makers.
The Position
This newly created position will establish and maintain a scalable management system capable of ensuring the smooth running of these advisory services. It entails collaborating closely with the Director of Advisory, TSU Director for Energy Access, and other senior management staff to ensure that the efficient deployment of specialist across programs. The manager will establish systems to ensure each request for technical services is assigned in a timely manner to an available specialist with the corresponding skills. This requires a nuanced understanding of the Scope of Work of the assignment and its audience, the skills required, the availability of technical resources and a good grasp of the level of effort required. The systems established will monitor the timely delivery of each assignment as well as maintain a database of each assignment.
Essential Responsibilities
INFORMATION SYSTEMS DEVELOPMENT
- Create and update a comprehensive database, inclusive of CVs, daily rate, geographical coverage, languages spoken, specific skills and sectorial knowledge
- Establish and implement a system to maintain the roster updated, inclusive of periodical calls to consultants to assess their availability
- Establish and maintain a scalable digital workflow assignment system
- Create and maintain comprehensive project documentation.
- Track task delivery, specifically to analyze the successful completion of short and long-term goals.
- Develop spreadsheets, diagrams, and process maps to document needs.
- Catalogue and store assignments by thematic specialization allowing for efficient retrieval
ADVISORY MANAGEMENT
CLIENT FACING (incl MC CO)
- Assist in the definition of project scope and objectives, involving all relevant internal stakeholders and ensuring technical feasibility.
- Collaborate to develop task delivery plans to be shared with clients as well as other staff members.
- Coordinate between internal resources and clients for the timely execution of multiple assignments.
INTERNAL
- Identify internal resources to assign to a particular task with appropriate skill and timely availability.
- Ensure resource availability and allocation.
- Manage changes to the project scope, assignment schedule using appropriate verification systems.
- Meet time management budgets and adjust delivery constraints.
- Work closely with Senior Management, including the Business Development team, to plan staff and consultant availability.
- In collaboration with Director of Advisory and/or TSU Director Energy Access, identify staff and consultant capacity building and skills improvement requirements to ensure ability to deliver advisory tasks to a high and uniform standard (e.g. delivery of presentations and meeting / workshop facilitation).
- Report and escalate to management as needed.
- Perform other related duties as assigned.
Supervisory Responsibility
None
Accountability
Reports Directly To: Director of Advisory / TSU Director Energy Access
Works Directly With: SMT, All advisory team members, programme Managers, Analysts
Accountability to Participants and Stakeholders
Mercy Corps team members are expected to support all efforts toward accountability, specifically to our program participants, community partners, other stakeholders, and to international standards guiding international relief and development work. We are committed to actively engaging communities as equal partners in the design, monitoring and evaluation of our field projects.
Minimum Qualification & Transferable Skills
Required:
- 4 years professional experience
- Excellent data management and database skills. Proven experience in setting up, managing and integrating project management software into collaborative workflows required (e.g Asana or Jira software or any other system enabling Gantt chart-type functions as well as effective team communication, workflow and shared document storage and retrieval).
- Excellent organizational skills including attention to detail and multitasking skills
- Excellent written and verbal communication skills
- Project Management, process improvement and quantitative / analytical skills
- Fluent in English, French fluency is an asset
Desired:
- Experience of working in a commercial consulting setting is highly desirable
Success Factors
The successful candidate will have highly developed interpersonal and collaborative skills, able to coordinate varied internal and external stakeholders from different cultural backgrounds, empathetic and able to exercise influence diplomatically over colleagues and stakeholders to ensure tasks are assigned in a timely manner and delivered to a high standard. S/he will be detailed-oriented, with a creative, problem-solving can-do attitude, committed to the team’s success.
Living Conditions / Environmental Conditions
The position is based in Nairobi, Kenya. The applicant must have the right to live and work in Kenya. requires up to 10% travel to support country programs, which may include travel to insecure locations where freedom of movement is limited and areas where amenities are limited.
Ongoing Learning
In support of our belief that learning organizations are more effective, efficient and relevant to the communities we serve, we empower all team members to dedicate 5% of their time to learning activities that further their personal and/or professional growth and development.
Diversity, Equity & Inclusion
Achieving our mission begins with how we build our team and work together. Through our commitment to enriching our organization with people of different origins, beliefs, backgrounds, and ways of thinking, we are better able to leverage the collective power of our teams and solve the world’s most complex challenges. We strive for a culture of trust and respect, where everyone contributes their perspectives and authentic selves, reaches their potential as individuals and teams, and collaborates to do the best work of their lives.
We recognize that diversity and inclusion is a journey, and we are committed to learning, listening and evolving to become more diverse, equitable and inclusive than we are today.
Equal Employment Opportunity
Mercy Corps is an equal opportunity employer that does not tolerate discrimination on any basis. We actively seek out diverse backgrounds, perspectives, and skills so that we can be collectively stronger and have sustained global impact.
Safeguarding & Ethics
Mercy Corps is committed to ensuring that all individuals we come into contact with through our work, whether team members, community members, program participants or others, are treated with respect and dignity. We are committed to the core principles regarding prevention of sexual exploitation and abuse laid out by the UN Secretary General and IASC and have signed on to the Interagency Misconduct Disclosure Scheme. We will not tolerate child abuse, sexual exploitation, abuse, or harassment by or of our team members. As part of our commitment to a safe and inclusive work environment, team members are expected to conduct themselves in a professional manner, respect local laws and customs, and to adhere to Mercy Corps Code of Conduct Policies and values at all times. Team members are required to complete mandatory Code of Conduct e-learning courses upon hire and on an annual basis.
We are committed to providing an environment of respect and psychological safety where equal employment opportunities are available to all. We do not engage in or tolerate discrimination on the basis of race, color, gender identity, gender expression, religion, age, sexual orientation, national or ethnic origin, disability (including HIV/AIDS status), marital status, military veteran status or any other protected group in the locations where we work.
Interested applicants should submit their applications on or before 26th August 2022.
Mercy Corps does not charge any fees at any stage of the recruitment process.
