Director - Program Operations

Director Program Operations

Position: DIRECTOR- PROGRAM OPERATIONS

Reports to: Chief of Party

Direct Report - 2 State Program Manager

Dotted Reporting – 2 Technical Project Coordinator, 8 Regional Manager

Budgetary Responsibilities - Responsible for Managing Program Operation Budget.

Location: Patna, Bihar

Job Summary

- Overall responsibility for all aspects of operational strategy development, implementation and ensuring high program quality standards by providing strong leadership and management.

- To work closely with the Technical Director for rolling out the intervention plan, for operationalizing data-driven management and achieving project outcomes and impact.

- Lead, guide and support development of innovative operating model and diffusion model for scale up of successful Program solutions to the entire state through the state machinery.

- Ensure effective contribution and position of the organization in the Scale-up Support Group.

- Leverage support of state machinery and development partners at various levels in order to ensure ownership and commitment towards scaling-up of solutions

- Ensure that all project implementation resources are used effectively and transparently in meeting project objectives in 8 focus and 30 scale up districts in close coordination with Program Support Unit.

- Ensure Sound control, Full compliance, best practice and effective and efficient management of all financial resources.

Key Responsibilities

People Leadership and Management

- To lead the operation team in delivering high quality program across the state of Bihar in partnership with Government, civil society and development agencies

- To mentor and coach direct reports and help develop their career paths with suitable organizational succession plans.

- Identify areas of development in operational teams and implement capacity building activities.

- To effectively motivate team members for promoting their urge to constantly innovate new strategies and approaches for implementation of Program solutions with increasing efficiency and effectiveness;

- To promote the learning agility and learning appetite among team members and to constantly nurture an environment of self-reflection in order to improve the quality of deliverables and to innovate new approaches – specifically for developing scale-up models

Program Management, Implementation

- Ensure that project deliverables are achieved within stipulated timelines as per the annual work plans of the organization.

- Developing operating model and diffusion model for scale up of successful Program solutions to the entire state through the state machinery.

- Rolling out the scale up strategy by managing implementation of approved activities and related operational processes

- Promote cross learning and knowledge sharing among the operational teams to increase overall efficiency.

- Periodically reviews program progress and interim results to ensure alignment with the overall strategic vision and organizational GED framework.

- Ensure understanding, ownership and competence of the operation team to use data driven management; and, effective implementation of data-driven management to promote use of data for decision making by state functionaries in focus districts as well as scale-up districts.

Operations Leadership

- Work closely with Program support and Finance and Support Services Units to ensure judicious use of project resources in compliance with organizational policies

- Manage large grants and contracts of program partner organizations in close coordination with program support unit and Finance and Support Services Units.

- To make relevant changes in project operational procedures, partnership management, contract management in sync with evolving program strategies

Stakeholder and Partnership Management

- Work closely with donor senior management team to ensure operational synergy at state and district level and support CoP in strategic partnership with donor to maximize the impact of the program in Bihar.

- Have excellent communication and good working relationship with Government functionaries, other key players at the state level such as UNICEF, WHO, NIPI, NGOs, Civil Societies and provide advocacy support to CoP

- Establish effective operational relationship and coordination with other Program partners for generating synergies.

- Contribute effectively in the Scale-up Support Group in order to promote scale-up of Program solutions through prescribed operating and diffusion model

- To work effectively with the Government functionaries at different-level and provide effective support in order to promote scale-up of Program solutions in the entire state
Planning, Financial and Resource Management

- Monthly review of budgets with finance team to ensure full compliance of project implementation with respect to donor grants and conditions.

- To oversee and ensure compliance of all financial and support processes of the program, aligned to the organizational policies and guidelines in close coordination with Finance and Support Services Units.

- Support CoP in development of annual work plans, budgets and financial reports.

- To rectify, or bring about requisite changes in the processes in light of audit observations and ensure appropriate response to the recommendations in close coordination with Finance and Support Services Units.

Other

- To represent Program as required by the Chief of Party

- To carry out any other relevant duties as required by the Chief of Party.

Qualification & Experience

i. Masters Degree in Management.

ii. Over 10 years of progressively responsible professional experience in program management, including at least 5 years experience in senior management.

iii. Demonstrated expertise in strategic program planning and implementation

iv Corporate experience with rich exposure to large scale operations management would be a preference.

Skills &Competencies

i. Demonstrated ability to manage a large scale programs

ii. Demonstrated ability to lead, manage and mentor a large and diverse team

iii. Proven ability to identify problem areas, analyze, plan, innovate and execute ideas, as well as impart knowledge and skills

iv. Demonstrated ability to establish collaborative relationship with formal and informal stakeholder groups to achieve program impact

v. Demonstrates efficient decision making and problem solving skills

vi. Excellent negotiation skills

vii. Excellent interpersonal, communication and presentation skills

viii. Demonstrated learning agility, pro-activeness and openness to embrace new technologies at work

ix. Ability to function effectively as a team member and respect diversity in a team

x. Fluency in English and Hindi is essential

Mail to magdha@strategichr.co.in