OTI Senior Transition Advisor – Worldwide (GS-15)

The OTI Senior Transition Advisor is an intermittent Personal Services Contract (PSC) position at the GS-15 equivalent level and located Worldwide. Offers for this position are due no later than June 30, 2022 at 1:00pm Eastern Time. For full information about this position, as well as instructions on how to apply, please read the entire solicitation at www.OTIjobs.net.

INTRODUCTION:

The Senior Transition Advisor is a member of USAID’s Bureau for Conflict Prevention and Stabilization (CPS)/OTI Field Programs Division (FPD), and is considered an expert in the field of political transition programming overseas with strong program management, budgetary and operational skills. The Senior Transition Advisor is an intermittent and senior-level position in support of OTI’s numerous field programs, including ad hoc support for assessments, country start-ups, program implementation and close-outs. You are involved in the strategic design of OTI country programs, the development of management products based on lessons learned, and will support the training and mentoring of field and DC-based staff. The complex demands of this position requires overseas travel with short notice, and the ability to respond to immediate and challenging managerial, operational, and security issues. You must be prepared to work and collaborate with senior officials from other international organizations, bilateral donors, and non-governmental organizations important to OTI’s programs and objectives, with an in-depth knowledge of international relations.

DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES:

• Conceptualize and design country program strategies and objectives in close coordination with OTI staff, USAID and U.S. Department of State personnel, and other governmental and non-governmental actors, based on political objectives and advocate on behalf of new programmatic approaches;
• Manage OTI programs broadly within the framework of United States Government (USG) policy in order to both problem solve and develop new ideas, theories or techniques which optimize the impact and effectiveness of transition programs;
• Conduct, in collaboration with relevant OTI regional team, assessments for possible new country programs, and visits to field sites in areas where OTI has projects;
• Fill critical program implementation staffing needs in the field and in Washington, DC including the provision of ad hoc support to new OTI Country Program start-ups and on-call technical assistance;
• Discuss and assist OTI Regional Teams in determining program and project agreements with governmental and non-governmental counterparts;
• Ensure that plans and activities of OTI Implementing Partners are well coordinated with USAID Mission, the U.S. Embassy, and international organizations and that roles and objectives are clearly defined;
• Lead, manage, and implement an assigned country program, including assessing project sites and selecting a contractor/and or grantees to execute OTI’s country program;
• Conduct field visits to areas where OTI has projects and advise and guide OTI Country Representatives on political transition and strategy issues. Analyze and propose specific improvements/actions at both the program and project levels and report on all coordination activities and command structures, detailing the effectiveness of each site’s operations as well as identifying problems/issues and making recommendations;
• Lead or participate on Technical Evaluation Committees (TECs) for the selection of OTI implementing partners and U.S. Personal Services Contractors;
• Provide support for the design and execution of programs that follow OTI’s quick-impact programming model. Support to Embassies and USAID Missions may also include attendance and/or facilitation of program management processes for follow-on programming including but not limited to rolling assessments, strategy review sessions, program performance reviews and management reviews;
• Provide technical assistance for OTI program staff and implementing partner staff on a variety of issues (e.g. budget, OTI activity database reporting and use, activity cycles, general implementation systems setup, etc.) to enable them to manage OTI country programs throughout the activity life cycle;
• Serve as OTI’s liaison official with other CPS offices, other USAID divisions and State Department officials, articulate OTI’s position on program and policy direction;
• Identify Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs), international donors, USG agencies and other appropriate organizations interested in OTI programs and activities and establish, develop, and maintain sound professional relationships with them;
• Represent and articulate OTI’s mission and global programs to U.S. Ambassadors, Mission Directors, high level visitors, senior officials from international organizations, bilateral donors, national and foreign government officials;
• Participate in conferences, meetings, or presentations involving issues of strategic relevance to political transition programming in order to provide sustained knowledge to the OTI Senior Leadership Team or current events and programs;
• Identify issues and potential problems with appropriate recommendations that affect program implementation and policy direction and present them to USAID, U.S. Embassy officials, and the OTI grantee;
• Monitor and evaluate the country program, individual projects, and contractor and grantee performance;
• Supervise staff as delegated by the supervisor (e.g. Country Representatives, Regional Team Leaders, Program Managers, etc.). Provide orientation, training, and mentoring for staff supervised; assign work, explain how duties are to be performed to meet expectations and communicate how the successful performance of those duties will be measured; evaluate staff performance; recognize good performance; communicate where performance needs to be improved; resolve complaints; and approve leave requests and timesheets as well as training, travel, and program operations requests;
• When required, act as OTI Director, Deputy Director, Regional Team Leader, or Country Representative; and,
• Serve on temporary details within OTI, other USAID bureaus/offices, or other USG agencies under this scope of work for a period not to exceed six months. Duties performed while on detail must be directly related to the scope of work. Contracting Officer (CO) approval is required for the temporary detail. Any extension past the six months requires CO approval.

MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS:

At a minimum, the offeror must have:

(1) A Master’s Degree with nine (9) years of work experience;

OR

A Bachelor’s Degree with eleven (11) years of work experience;

OR

An Associate’s Degree with twelve (12) years of work experience;

OR

A High School diploma/equivalent with thirteen (13) years of work experience;

AND

(2) Nine (9) years of project management experience with a U.S. Government foreign affairs agency, domestic or international assistance organization, or non-governmental organization in community development, economic development, mediation/arbitration, conflict resolution, democracy and governance, international law, political analysis, and/or human rights activities;

(3) Six (6) years of overseas field experience (in person or virtual). A virtual temporary duty (TDY) is defined as work that would have been conducted in an overseas location if not for the COVID pandemic;

(4) Six (6) years of supervisory experience.

Please direct questions about this position or the offer process to the OTI Recruitment Team at [email protected].