Overview
The Awards, Partnerships & Project Management Lead is responsible for the operational backbone of the regional ECD portfolio, encompassing full lifecycle management of regional awards, development and management of strategic partnerships, financial oversight, and project management.
Key Responsibilities
- Contribute to business development efforts to sustain and expand the portfolio.
- Lead the pre-award development process including Go/No-Go assessments, proposal design and coordination, and budget development.
- Support regional and country teams with donor engagement.
- Oversee all award management aspects across the portfolio.
- Lead post-award activities across the portfolio through IRC's Project Cycle Management (PCM) process.
- Own the portfolio's donor compliance environment.
- Coordinate with IRC country, regional, and global awards management, finance, and partnerships focal points.
- Oversee all financial management functions across the portfolio.
- Ensure internal and external budgets, spending plans, and financial reports are accurate.
- Review budget vs. actuals with the Finance Coordinator and relevant team members.
- Oversee annual budget planning processes and the review of monthly and quarterly spending reports.
- Oversee, with support from the Awards and Project Manager, the full partnership cycle.
- Serve as the primary operational point of contact for regional partners.
- Lead pre-award partnership processes.
- Lead post-award partnership processes.
- Maintain systems for tracking deliverables, milestones, and risks.
- Ensure consistent team adherence to established project management norms, systems, and tools.
- Oversee administrative and operational aspects of the regional portfolio.
- Serve as a central coordination focal point across IRC country programs, regional HQ, and global teams.
- Lead knowledge management for the portfolio.
- Organize and facilitate regular team and coordination meetings.
- Consolidate inputs for internal and donor updates.
- Directly manage the Awards and Project Manager and Finance Coordinator.
- Set clear individual and team goals.
- Support staff professional development.
- Foster a collaborative, accountable, and inclusive team culture.
- Ensure adequate team capacity and flag gaps or risks.
- Provide support, training, and guidance to country program grants, partnerships, and finance teams.
Required Experience
- At least 7 years of experience in program administration, business development, awards, partnerships and financial management, and project management at an NGO
- Knowledge and expertise in the use of project management methodologies and tools, resource management practices and change management techniques
- Demonstrated ability to successfully work in a fast-paced environment, within and across departments/functions and develop positive relationships with locally and remote based staff
- Experience working in conflict and crisis settings and knowledge of humanitarian programming
- Ability to prioritize trade-offs between on-time, on-scope or on-budget project delivery
- Demonstrated ability to manage complex project budgeting, monitoring and mitigation planning
- Knowledge of early childhood development or education is a plus
- Knowledge of the Middle East regional context, with experience working in Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, Syria or Palestine strongly preferred
