Project Director

Panagora Group seeks a Project Director for the five-year USAID-funded Localize Global Health Security (LGHS) project. The project will work with local partners in priority USAID GHSA countries to address critical health security gaps and strengthen global health security capabilities as defined in their national health security action plans, contributing to their Global Health Security Agenda 2024 targets.

The Project Director will provide overall technical direction, leadership, and external engagement on project issues, including liaising with subcontractors, USAID missions, host country governments, international organizations, and other USAID implementing partners. They will provide technical support to focused country programs and deliver management oversight, quality control, and results in the management of project activities. The Project Director will set a positive tone for the entire project and inspire staff to apply results-based approaches for the delivery of quality services. The position is full-time based in the Washington, DC area and requiring periodic travel to high-priority project countries

This is a key personnel position and is contingent upon USAID approval.

Duties and Responsibilities:

• Provide overall project leadership, common vision, strategy development, management oversight, and technical direction for large, complex, multi-country health security activities.
• Oversee strategic work planning, budgeting, performance management, strategic communications, contractual and budgetary aspects of program management, timely preparation of annual and semi-annual implementation plans, and monitoring and evaluation.
• Ensure proper, quality implementation of the LGHS project including ensuring that activities are conducted on time and within budget.
• Serve as primary liaison to USAID, implementing partners, host country governments, project stakeholders, and counterparts in the global health security space.
• Lead overall and direct coordination of project team activities and technical achievements against performance indicators, ensure clarity of vision, roles and responsibilities, and proper technical support are provided.
• Lead collaboration and network development activities with national, regional, and global partners
• Lead strategic engagement to ensure effective country-level relationships are established with local government ministries and local partners, international organizations, and others contributing to the health security agenda.
• Provide overall leadership and supervision of senior management team, technical and administrative staff, and sub-awardees to ensure seamless coordination among activity components, country operations, and a culture of technical excellence and learning.
• Proactively identify issues and risks related to project implementation in a timely manner, engage relevant resources, and make appropriate program adjustments.
• Responsible for providing oversight of grant activities, including supervision of the program staff, ensuring appropriate grant design, ensuring that procedures are established and complied with for grant development, grant worthiness, grant implementation, management, monitoring, evaluation, and grant closing.
• Responsible for the overall oversight of all activities including subcontractors, and ensure all project technical assistance is high quality, technically sound, and appropriate.
• Responsible for contributing to the design and implementation of the M&E system at the activity and program levels and for ensuring that all programming is properly monitored and evaluated.
• Oversee design, development, and implementation of MEL and CLA activities, including development of evaluation tools, data collection and management, report generation, knowledge sharing, and training and capacity-building activities.

Requirements

• A master’s degree or higher degree in social sciences, public health, health administration, international development, economics, or another relevant field.
• Leadership experience in addressing global health security, infectious disease prevention, and/or health systems strengthening.
• At least 10 years of experience in project management, medicine, public health, or other global health security-related field, with at least 3 years of experience serving as a USAID chief of party on global health or related programs.
• Demonstrated understanding of and at least 4 years of experience with Global Health Security
• Demonstrated experience leading capacity building for local actors, providing capacity building assistance at individual and organizational levels.
• Proven track record managing multi-disciplinary development programs and teams, engaging effectively with stakeholders, fostering collaborative learning and adaptive management, and addressing gender equality, youth engagement, and social inclusion.
• Extensive project management leadership experience, including human resources, procurement, subcontracts, accounting/finance, as well as monitoring, evaluating, and learning, documenting project performance, evaluating subcontractor and grantee activities, and providing overall direction.
• Experience collaborating with host country institutions, multi-sector stakeholders, the private sector, other public sector organizations, and local partners.
• Strong leadership, versatility, flexibility, facilitation, and teamwork skills.
• Excellent communication and interpersonal skills; proficiency in the language(s) other than English preferred.