Senior In-House Consultant (Solutions and Innovations)

Who We Are Catholic Relief Services is the international humanitarian and development agency of the Catholic Bishops of the United States, with programs and services that reach over 140 million people across the globe. Dedicated to a vision that all people reach their full God-given human potential in just and peaceful societies that respect the dignity of every person and the integrity of creation, CRS programs are based on need without regard to race, religion or nationality.

What You Will Do

The Strategy Department is a unit of the Chief of Staff/Strategy, Technology and Communications Division based at CRS headquarters in Baltimore, USA, and is under the leadership of the Chief of Staff/Executive Vice President. The internal consulting function for advancing strategy and effectiveness is within the Strategy Department, and the Business Process Solutions and Innovations (BPSI) is a ke y workstream team within internal consulting.

Consulting with CRS will mean that you will be focusing on issues for one of the largest aid organizations in the world; working on systems, processes and issues for international development and aid work across 110 countries and across a wide range of sectors, bringing your knowledge and skills in private sector business process and management methodologies to improve service and aid provision to hundreds of millions of people in a work environment that is both challenging and changing.

In your role as a Senior Consultant, you will provide services both as a Consultant on client facing projects and as an Expert Advisor building knowledge and capacity within the BPSI team.

As Consultant

• In this client – facing role, you’ll play a key part in driving process improvement, delivering successful business results, and developing broad base strategies for a diverse set of clients.

• You will be responsible for identifying and developing new client opportunities to advise clients on transformational change and building organizational capabilities, bringing a deep functional knowledge expertise and understanding of private sector new and best practices to every client situation while ensuring the highest quality client work.

• For some projects, you will serve as an engagement manager, working with existing and potential clients to identify improvement and innovation leverage points and convert these opportunities into BPSI projects to achieve client and agency strategic priorities.

• You will be part of or at times manage a team of 3~5 consultants in the day-to-day execution of client projects while also guiding and developing individual team members.

• You will work directly with clients – often on site – and you’ll take ownership of assigned aspects of the project, and it’s end products. You will at times lead analysis design and implementation of business performance approaches, helping to develop tailor-made solutions and working closely with clients to ensure positive impact and sustainable results. Client project work typically includes gathering and analyzing information formulating and testing hypotheses and developing recommendations for presentation to client management. You will also support the implementing of those recommendations with client team members.

  As Expert Advisor

• You will be an important source of intellectual insight on a client project for any business problems in a way that the team can then execute to drive impact and client value.

• In a collaborative team setting you’ll work closely with others but also autonomously with little direction, using your strong analytical, quantitative and conceptual thinking skills and interpersonal and communication skills to ensure successful client projects and team performance. Advising and collaborating with individual project leaders, you will support the teams in day-to-day problem-solving, team management and client management work.

• You will be a strong developer of people, willing to deeply invest in the BPSI team’s professional and career development, as well as create a strong sense of a broader improvement and innovation team across the agency. You will leverage every project and opportunity to develop a culture of continuous improvement, innovation, agility and responsiveness across CRS.

• You will seek to develop and challenge yourself with your team to develop new skills and competencies to stay apace with best practices and innovation within the broader private sector and then transpose those into forms that can be understood and deployed in the International Development/Aid Sector.

  What You Will Bring

• 8+ years of applicable work experience after university with at least 5+ years work experience in private sector professional management or service consultancy (preferably within established/large firms). Previous experience working with non-profits and/or foreign governments developing countries preferred.

• Graduate degree in economics, business, public administration or similar fields required.

• Experience working with Lean Six Sigma, Agile/Disciplined Agile, Lean, Kaizen, BPM and/or similar methodologies required. High level certification in any of these methods preferred.

• Direct experience leading cross functional teams with in-depth knowledge/defined involvement in helping frame, design and execute solutions for challenging business situations.

• Ability to develop multiple analytical and methods approaches for a wide range of client problems in a systematic and structured manner with ability to translate client ideas, process and issues into clear frameworks and visuals. Strong process mapping and visualization experience and skills preferred.

• Team orientation and collaborative approach; strong listening skills and the ability to manage through influence.

• Exceptional intellectual and analytical curiosity, a creative visionary who can imagine innovation.

• Ability to work collaboratively in a team environment and to work effectively with people at all levels in an organization.

• Ability to communicate complex ideas effectively – both verbally and in writing.

• Primary Location: Telecommuting/Remote with the United States with possible frequent onsite travel for projects. Travel: Travel determined based on projects; likely between 15-30%.

Catholic Relief Services carries out the commitment of the Bishops of the United States to assist the poor and vulnerable overseas. Our Catholic identity is at the heart of our mission and operations. We welcome as a part of our staff and as partners people of all faiths and secular traditions who share our values and our commitment to serving those in need.