The primary purpose of this job is to support the Ethiopia program team with strategic planning, monitoring, and reporting of progress of program initiatives managed by the Ethiopia Country Office. This includes developing and managing the implementation of all investment and financial processes for a portfolio of investments which may include grants, contracts, and program related investments (PRIs) involving multiple foundation global health and global development strategies. The focus of foundation’s work in Ethiopia is in women’s and children’s health issues, agricultural development and nutrition. The Program Manager will focus on impact and financial analyses at the grant and portfolio level; coordination of information gathering from grantees and other partners, and on initiative level investment strategy development. They will perform research and analysis in support of portfolio performance management, including annual process to set, monitor and report on program team scorecard goals and act a bridge between the Ethiopia Country Office and the business support functions in Seattle. The Program Manager will report to the Deputy Director of Strategy Planning and Management for Africa.
- Develop and guide the implementation of all investment and financial processes for the Ethiopia Country Office including: Investment Workflow implementation, Annual Planning, Budget management and forecasting, Scorecard updates, prioritization, risk assessment, and review coordination, etc.
- Work with program officers, grantees, and business partners during early stages of grant making and assist with grant administration and evaluation.
- Coordinate the end-to-end contract and grant processes with internal parties (contracts, grants & legal business partners) and external parties (vendors & grantees) within the investment systems. Coordinate contracts, including tracking of invoicing and deliverables, receipt of desired reports and monitoring expenses.
- Manage data for all grants and contracts in multiple databases. Provide detailed financial analysis and ensure data integrity to support team's financial decision making. Work with Program Officers to keep all pertinent information accurate and up-to-date for reporting and analysis; serve as point-person regarding budget targets and person investment portfolio management.
- Monitor grant and contract pipeline to produce accurate revised forecasts vs. budget reporting and performance against key milestones and outcomes to facilitate management decision-making.
- Support the processes involved to define results metrics for strategy, portfolio and person grants including design of resources to track progress and learning in strategy implementation.
- Consult/strategize with program stakeholders to improve impact of investment and financial processes and ensure optimal learning, decision making, and collaboration.
- Conduct budget analyses for contracts, grant proposals, and grant annual reports to ensure consistency with project goals and alignment with strategic priorities.
- Conduct ongoing research, provide background data and information and prepare thoughtful models in support of program teams.
- Care for investment workflow and data systems onboarding for new hires.
- Work with DDSPM, Africa on planning for strategy, workload balancing around strategy, general coordination. Support team projects as assigned by DDSPM.
- May be supported by a small team of 1-2 people.
- Program management of complex strategy development, implementation planning and business process redesign projects.
- Demonstrated complex project management skills and an effective portfolio of accomplishments guiding or managing multiple projects simultaneously – ability to develop work plans that coordinate inputs from large number of people, to track progress against targets and to identify barriers to progress, to plan agendas and facilitate meetings, to organize data and information
- Outstanding verbal and written communication skills, able to effectively synthesize information to reach diverse audiences, ability to interact with internal and external partners and impact senior leadership. Excellent people/team/interpersonal skills.
- Financial acumen plus budget development, financial analysis and operational administration skills. Understands basic investment rules, regulations, policies, processes and practices and can advise when they are applicable. Experience in all phases of investment-making and stakeholder engagement.
- A preference for rigor, purpose inspired measurement and cost-effective use of resources.
- Ability to act autonomously to choose methods and procedures on assignments. A demonstrated ability to effectively manage and adapt within a changing environment
- Ability to create structures and develop frameworks to increase clarity and transparency of decisions, trade-offs and impact on financial and organizational resources.
- Ability to effectively alternate between thinking strategically and executing at high quality.
- Ability to travel up to 25% domestically and internationally
- Comfortable in a wide range of cultural, geographic and operational situations, demonstrating culturally sensitive behavior with a diverse range of people.
As part of our standard hiring process for new employees, employment with the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation will be contingent upon successful completion of a background check.