Director of Awards

Director of Awards

ROLE PURPOSE:

The Director of Awards will provide the primary awards management inputs in the Save the Children emergency response programme working closely with Response affected countries. The role has three main aspects to it: setting up and leading the emergency awards management team supporting Poland, Romania and Lithuania; provide the Response Team Leadership with funding landscape and compliance oversight; and contribute and lead on Awards Management in emergencies best practise and ensure capacity building of awards and non-awards staff in their professional development.

The individual will be responsible for working within the existing Response structure and all other teams in the Response to develop capacity of all staff and provide on-the-job support to develop an awards management process in emergency that meets Save the Children quality standards.

KEY AREAS OF ACCOUNTABILITY:

Developing self and others; Networking

• Building a high performing emergency award management team to support good practice and high-quality delivery across the response
• Lead/Support Award Management related capacity building both within the AM team and for other relevant staff members including budget holders working on the response
• Develop strong relationships with the region, centre, members and other Award Directors in the region; escalate issues through the correct channels when required
• Anticipate Award Management staffing capacity requirement, reporting periods and roll down and ensure that adequate staffing level is maintained throughout and that hand-over are planned and documented

Communicating with impact:

• Provide strategic support to the Response Director on all aspects of award management including pipeline management through the creation and maintenance of the funding tracker
• Lead the coordination of proposals, working with PDQ, Finance and Operations to produce high quality, fully costed proposals
• Maintain effective communications with Save the Children Members, providing them with timely updates on their awards and flagging potential issue promptly
• Ensure the production of high quality and timely reports that accurately reflect the impact achieved and lessons learnt during the implementation of an award
• Build and maintain relationships with relevant networks and award management staff of similar organisations in the country, as well as local representatives of donor organisations

Compliance (systems, processes & donor):

• Ensure all funding opportunities are coordinated, appropriate go/no-go decisions taken, and proposal development plans agreed.
• Be a champion of awards management in emergencies by applying relevant waivers and tools for emergency response
• To ensure that the Award Management System (AMS) is effectively maintained and up to date for all response awards and sub-awards including authorisation and document retention
• To ensure that key staff (including partners) have a clear understanding of donor compliance requirements in a rapid but controlled fashion throughout the project management cycle and that there is a complete audit trail of the implementation and reporting for all awards
• Work with relevant program staff to ensure all implementing partners for the response operations undergo legal vetting prior to commencing work with Save the Children, are engaged with appropriate agreements and effective monitoring systems are in place so that partner delivery meets donor expectations and requirements.
• In rapid onset emergencies, work with program staff to ensure capacity assessments and induction into Save the Children policies are undertaken for all new partners, and any actions needed as a result of this are taken within an appropriate timescale

Monitoring and analysis:

• Working in collaboration with the Finance Director/response finance lead and SMT, ensure the Response Office has a clear framework for response master budget development, cost allocation, monitoring of award budgets, phasing and forecasting, ensuring alignment between the response master budget and funding tracker.
• Using strong financial analysis skills to oversee the award portfolio and pipeline
• To work in collaboration with the finance department and provide technical advice regarding strategic donor costs allocations with a view to minimise compliance issues where possible

Leadership, portfolio management & strategy:

• Define the strategic direction of the response portfolio through the development of Proposal budget and reporting guidelines in the first phase of the response
• Work with Response SMT to map the Humanitarian Fund and other source of unrestricted funding across the membership and mobilise them appropriately
• Coordinate with teams in order to build new donor relationship identified for the response
• Coordinate with teams in Ukraine, Romania and Lithuania to ensure alignment on strategic AM priorities and processes.
• To provide detailed analysis of current/ pipeline awards to senior management

Backstop Support

• Provide strategic and technical support to the member-led Romania and Lithuania response teams when required.

General:

• Comply with Save the Children policies and practice with respect to child safeguarding, code of conduct, health and safety, equal opportunities and other relevant policies and procedures.

QUALIFICATIONS AND EXPERIENCE

Essential

• Experience with award management policies, procedures and systems and Save the Children’s award management system (AMS)
• Previous experience in Awards management in a Humanitarian context
• Excellent planning, management and coordination skills, with the ability to organise a demanding workload comprised of diverse and challenging tasks and responsibilities
• Proven track record of active contribution to a senior management team, and providing strategic support across multiple sectors and/or regions
• Extensive experience with NGOs with increasing responsibilities including a proven experience of establishing and running the award management function in the field
• Knowledge of the requirements of major humanitarian institutional donors (ECHO, DEC etc) including budgeting, eligibility issues, compliance management, and reporting; experience of engaging with donors at a strategic level
• Well-developed skills in team/staff management. Proven coaching and capacity building skills
• Understanding of the financial aspects of award management, and understanding of operations and programming
• Very strong attention to detail, problem solving skills, and ability to analyse trends
• Computer literate (i.e. Word, Excel, Outlook, Internet Explorer, financial systems)
• Cultural awareness and ability to build relationships quickly with a wide variety of people
• Patient, adaptable, able to improvise, and communicate clearly and effectively under pressure
• Strong communication (written and spoken) in English, and strong interpersonal skills, with experience in managing multicultural teams
• Demonstrate leadership and management skills in a complex international setting
• Previous experience as member of Senior Management Team

Desirable

• Understanding of financial reporting from Save the Children’s accounting software (Agresso)
• Experience of Project Management, M&E Management or Funding Coordination

We offer a competitive package in the context of the sector. This Role is offered on the basis of International terms and conditions. Also, interviews will be held on ongoing basis, adverts will be closed once a person is identified.

For non- EU citizens; Visa is to be obtained.