Chief of Party - East Timor Biodiversity Activity

Palladium Group

Dili, East Timor

Position Summary:

The Chief of Party (COP) will provide overall leadership, management oversight, and technical direction for the project, ensuring an integrated vision across components and stakeholders, with a focus on achieving the results defined in the award. This individual must identify issues and risks related to implementation in a timely manner and suggest appropriate adjustments. This individual must act as the key liaison with USAID and all other counterparts, implementing partners and stakeholders involved with the program. The COP will have a firm understanding of the programmatic aspects of the project in the context of evolving political, legal, and economic contexts, and contribute to a continuous adaptive management approach. The position requires significant coordination skills, broad general and technical knowledge, an ability to cope with multiple interests and challenges, experience in developing countries, and skills to ensure coherence and consistency in the face of urgent deadlines.

Primary Duties and Responsibilities:

Provide overall leadership, management, administrative, strategic and technical direction, and serve as the primary authority for all decision-making to ensure all program activities, staff, and partners achieve targeted results and that all required objectives, outcomes, targets, deliverables, and reporting are met.
Serve as the primary point of contact with USAID/East Timor, the Government of East Timor, and all other stakeholders.
Provide thought leadership in biodiversity conservation, climate change mitigation and adaptation, institutional capacity building, private sector engagement and finance and investment in sustainable resource management of marine resources, conservation of natural capital and ecosystem services.
Provide strong leadership, executive decision-making, and clear direction to project team on the development and implementation of strategies, staffing, budgets, internal operations, project targets and milestones, communications, and reporting.
Develop and maintain productive working relationships with broad range of high-level host country government agencies and international agencies, serving as the primary liaison with all stakeholders and proactively troubleshooting challenges as they arise, with support from other project staff as appropriate.
Provide activity/intervention design and implementation oversight of work delivered by current and future implementing partners and other subawardees.
Facilitate project learning and adaptive management, ensuring documentation and dissemination of findings, impact, innovations, and lessons learned, and utilize a collaborative and adaptive learning approach.
Provide close oversight of progress towards program results, maintaining continuous communication with technical leads to identify and troubleshoot challenges and make clear decisions on appropriate solutions.
Ensure that the project is implemented in accordance with the rules, regulations, and financial, operational, and reporting requirements of USAID and Palladium.

Required Qualifications:

A University degree in environmental science, coastal and/or marine conservation, natural resource management, climate change, environmental law, environmental policy or environmental economics, finance and/or other relevant area; Master’s degree in relevant area preferred.
At least 10 years of experience managing projects that are similar in size and scope with skills in strategic planning, management, supervision, and budgeting.
Knowledge of USAID contract management, policies, procedures, regulations and reporting requirements.
Strong technical expertise through experience managing field-based biodiversity conservation and or climate change or ecosystem management and restoration.
Experience working with the Government of the East Timor is preferred.
Familiarity with private sector engagement and applying market-based approaches to achieving conservation and climate outcomes.
Experience in proactive coordination of and productive collaboration with implementing partners and relevant stakeholders including government agencies, private sector companies, NGOs, universities and research institutions, civil society and international donor agencies.
Experience managing teams of professionals, and with the administrative, procurement, hiring, and recruitment, financial and logistical aspects of project implementation.
Experience working in the Asia Pacific region preferred. Experience in East Timor a plus.
Experience working with indigenous communities preferred.
Excellent oral and written communication skills in English.