Senior Manager, Trade and Enterprise

Position: Senior Manager, Trade and Enterprise

IESC is a U.S. based not-for-profit that creates and expands economic opportunities, helping to lift those we support out of poverty. We believe that helping enterprises grow is the most sustainable way for communities to have access to jobs and for families and people to have opportunities for better lives. We have helped businesses across many sectors, including agriculture, create or save more than 1.5 million jobs in 137 countries across the world. Our major funders today are the US Agency for International Development (USAID) and the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA).

IESC is recruiting a Senior Manager Trade and Enterprise to support programs in this practice area. The Senior Manager has administrative, technical, and management responsibilities in support of IESC’s implementation of at least two projects. The assigned project is a USDA-funded project in Paraguay focused on improving trade facilitation processes for agricultural goods. Other project(s) will include efforts on international market-linkages and trade association capacity strengthening. The Senior Manager will also engage in specific new business activities under the guidance of the IESC practice lead responsible for that effort and working closely with the IESC new business team. This position is based in the Washington, DC home office of IESC, reports to the Associate Vice President of the Trade and Enterprise Practice Area and is supported by a Program Associate. The Senior Manager is a full-time (40 hours per week) position. It is anticipated that the Senior Manager will travel internationally between 10 to 25 percent per year.

Program Management

• The Senior Manager, Trade and Enterprise will be responsible for the home office management of projects assigned to the position, including the following:
• Supporting field office leadership to deliver technical solutions within a framework of compliance and solid financial management.
• Managing and supporting professional development of home office associate(s) assigned to respective projects.
• Ensuring project deliverables are met and on schedule and that project activities are compliant with client agreements, government regulations and IESC policies and procedures.
• Contributing to development of project technical deliverables including work plans and annual reports.
• Responding to client requests and questions and ensuring timely drafts and submissions of consents, approvals and/or waivers.
• Managing the financial relationship between the field and the home office including approval and review of cash requests, field expense reports, and budget review, as well as coordinate pipeline and accrual submissions.
• Managing, monitoring, and reporting on budget expenditures and forecasting.
• Contributing to the finalization and submission of project work plans, performance monitoring plans (PMPs) and quarterly, annual, and other reports.
• Coordinating the employment of full-time field and home office staff and fielding short-term and long-term technical assistance and volunteer projects.
• Managing the relationship with all subrecipients or subcontractors on a project (or the prime if IESC is a subrecipient).
• Promoting project success by collecting, writing, and distributing success stories, case studies, photos, and outreach at events.
• Attending informative events related to the subject matter or region of a project to network and learn information that could be valuable to project activities.
• Supporting knowledge management within the practice including the capture and articulation of success stories, best practice and lessons learned.

New Business

The Senior Manager, Trade and Enterprise will be responsible for the following:

• Contributing to IESC’s new business strategy to grow the trade and enterprise portfolio.
• Identifying and adopting project tools and products and integrating them into new business technical proposals.
• Writing and/or completing specific sections of a proposal following the release of a procurement. The particular proposal section, whether in the cost proposal or technical proposal, will vary from proposal to proposal.
• Conducting occasional new business capture trips prior to the release of anticipated procurements to gather information for the technical proposal, identify/meet potential local partners and potential local staff, gather cost information.
• Engaging in proactive new business development where appliable, such as developing concept notes and white papers that build on current IESC projects.
• Researching, writing, verifying, and distributing IESC organizational qualifications and past performance reference material.

Qualifications

• B.A. or B.S. required; a related advanced degree is a plus.
• Experience with USAID, USDA Food for Progress and/or other donor projects required.
• Experience with USAID Contracts is a plus.
• Minimum of seven years of experience in international development.
• Experience managing support for international development projects from the home office of a nonprofit or contractor, including a minimum of two years supervising associate(s).
• Experience in new business development in international development.
• Proven budgeting and budget tracking experience.
• Ability to prioritize among multiple competing requests.
• Self-starter, detail-oriented, thorough, and well organized.
• Excellent written and oral communication skills.
• Well-developed interpersonal skills.
• Fluency in English and Spanish are required, additional languages a plus.

Applicants must have U.S. citizenship or an authorization to work in the U.S. IESC is an Equal Opportunity Employer