Project Manager

Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH is an international cooperation enterprise for sustainable development with worldwide operations. GIZ promotes complex reforms and change processes, often working under difficult conditions. Its corporate objective is to improve people’s living conditions on a sustainable basis. GIZ International Services (InS) is the company’s business department offering services to international clients such as the European Commission.

We are currently looking for a Project Manager (m/f/d) for strengthening our Brussels unit, covering the implementation of supra-regional technical assistance projects. We are looking for a project manager who will be actively involved in developing the acquisition strategy and successful implementation of ongoing EU-funded projects.

The position is available for starting with December 2024. The workplace will be Belgium (Brussels), GIZ offers a Belgian employment contract (full time). Business travel to Germany and partner countries might be required.

Your tasks:

Project acquisition:

• Screening and assessment of business opportunities published by the European Union and other donors.
• Early intelligence and fact-finding missions to recipient countries.
• Early identification and establishment of contacts with potential consortium partners as well as leading negotiations, with the aim to make partners available at short notice both for tender preparation and when the tender is awarded.
• Developing and maintaining relationships with clients and potential customers within the European Institutions and other donors.
• Preparation of letters of interest, conceptional and methodological coordination of technical offers in line with tender specifications.
• Calculating competitive financial proposals in cooperation with the Financial Manager.
• Identification of and negotiation with experts, in cooperation with the HR recruitment team.

Project implementation:

• Overall responsibility for the project implementation (administrative and contractual matters, technical backstopping).
• Monitoring of the advancement of the projects including the financial, technical reporting as well as additional networking accompanying professional state-of-the-art project implementation.
• Continuous consultation with clients, project partners and consortium partners.
• Contact clients, partners and experts, dealing with their questions and problems (troubleshooting) as well as working out solutions.
• In collaboration with the responsible Financial Manager, monitoring of invoicing deadlines and follow-up on invoices issued.
• Undertaking coordination visits to partner countries, communication with the contracting authorities and supporting the project team on site.
• Monitoring and evaluation of ongoing projects, including the oversight of project reports to the client.
• Supervising Key Experts’ work; Identification of short-term experts and supervision of their missions.

All tasks shall be carried out under supervision of the Portfolio Manager and in close collaboration with the wider team of Project Managers.

Your profile:

• At least a master’s degree in a relevant field, such as International Relations, Political Sciences, Sociology, Economics, Development Studies, or similar;
• At least 5 years of professional work experience in a related field and in a comparable position/with a similar scope of work;
• At least 3 years proven experience with EU technical assistance projects, including in business development / tender preparation and in EU project management and backstopping;
• Proven experience in contract negotiations with international cooperation partners;
• Previous experience managing projects in the areas of Climate, Environment and Energy will be considered an asset;
• Previous experiences in the management of tenders with logistical components like event management will be considered as an asset.

Other knowledge, additional skills:

• Full IT proficiency (current MS Office, including 365 cloud applications);
• Excellent knowledge (speaking and writing) of English;
• Knowledge of French or Spanish will be considered a strong asset;
• Flexible profile, able to work autonomously under high time pressure and workload;
• Intercultural skills, problem-solving minded and with a service-oriented attitude;
• Excellent communication and negotiation skills, and keen on working in a team.

Notes:

• The position requires a work permit for Belgium, as the location of the work will be Brussels. Only applicants eligible to work in Belgium  (already with work permit) will be evaluated.
• Applicants are asked to submit their updated CV together with a one-page cover, mentioning in the subject of the email “Project manager” and full name. The cover letter shall clearly outline the motivation and availability of the applicant. Your application and CV must not indicate your date of birth and must not include a photograph.
• Applications from persons with disabilities are most welcome.

Please send your application before 23.11.2024 to InS.Brussels.recruitment@giz.de

About us:

We create prospects for people and with people. As GIZ has an international mandate, we offer a multicultural working environment. We are committed service providers and dedicated professionals, even under difficult circumstances. We take pride in enabling our employees to develop their professional and personal skills. There are plenty of reasons to join our motivated team – ranging from the diverse challenges you will face on a daily basis in one of our 130 partner countries, to the broad scope you will have for shaping your work.

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