Senior Grants and Operations Manager – ACHIEVE South Africa

The Senior Grants and Operations Manager is directly responsible to and supervised by the /Project/Country Director of Pact South Africa. The Senior Grants and Operations Manager provides high-level grants and contracts management to achieve the goal of the Pact South Africa project, working with partner organizations. S/he provides overall leadership and oversight for all aspects related to the management of sub-grants and subcontracts. This requires close collaboration with the Global Office in Washington DC to ensure compliance with Pact and USAID, and other donor guidelines. The Senior Grants and Operations Manager supervises all staff within the Travel & Logistics, IT and procurement. S/he will play a critical role as a Pact South Africa Management Team (SMT) member in strategic decision-making and ensure the effective and efficient operation of these functions.

Essential Duties/Responsibilities

Sub-award Administration

• Develop subcontract and sub-grant award documents compliant with donor requirements and Pact standard templates and work closely with the Global ACHIEVE and G&C team to execute quality sub-awards.

• Administer the full cycle of sub-award management activities beginning from solicitation through selection, pre-award assessments, negotiation, monitoring/compliance visits, and closeout.

• Utilize Pact’s sub-award management system (Promise) and accounting system (Serenic NAV) for sub-award issuance and management. Ensure that all required documentation is available and stored as per Pact regulations.

• Oversee budget management of projects’ sub-award pools working with the Finance Manager. Work closely with the Finance Manager and the Program Assistant to ensure accurate and timely disbursement and liquidation of sub-award expenses.

• Ensure timely training of grantees and staff to understand and comply fully with donor standards. Develop training materials and carry out regular training with grantee partners.

• Ensure that office systems for grants and contracts administration are maintained and that regular reports are provided to Pact headquarters.

• Award and administer sub-agreement(s) and consultant agreements necessary to support local programs and projects.

• Develop and/or update Pact South Africa Sub-awards Manual in compliance with the Global office guidance.

• Support closeout of awards, including preparation of final inventories, property disposition, etc.

• Track and update all the special award conditions in all sub-agreements.

  Agreements Management

• Work with Pact Project Director, Program Directors and the Program Assistant to select grantees for award under various projects. This will include the conduct of pre-award assessments to determine the responsibility of prospective grantees using Pact’s capacity assessments.

• Provide technical assistance to staff and grantees on administrative policies and procedures for Agreement management.

• Work with the global ACHIEVE and G&C Team in DC to obtain prior approvals and waivers from donors required for the administration of specific grants.

• Ensure the approved branding and marking plan is implemented by all required stakeholders of the grant/contract

Contract and Consultancy Management

• Review all the contracts (lease, Insurance, Projects Contacts, etc.) as required by various projects with Pact South Africa
• Prepare Consultancy contracts and provide guidance for consultancy engagements within Pact South Africa
• Performs contract administration activities for selected contracts and assists in the monitoring of contractor’s performance, approval of progress payments, verification of deliveries, and similar activities.
• Utilizes price/cost analysis techniques to support the development of cost-related sections of solicitation documents and the analysis of cost and price data, labor and material cost, etc.
• Supports the extension of periods of performance and contract closeout processes.

Operations Management (General Administration, Procurement, Travel, ICT, and Security)

• Oversee the review and renewal of all insurance policies that affect Pact South Africa including facilities and liability and ensure that Pact South Africa complies with mandatory standards.
• Oversee Pact South Africa property management to ensure all inventory, maintenance, repairs, and disposition are performed according to the organization’s regulations.
• Complies with federal, state, and local legal requirements by studying existing and new legislation; enforcing adherence to requirements; advising management on needed actions.
• Ensuring compliance with financial aspects of award requirements including liability, property, and other insurance matters, and audit requirements.
• Provide support to Pact and sub-partners to comply with cost share policy by ensuring the policy is adhered to, and reporting is done to Pact and the donor.
• Supports compliance to Pact South Africa by providing information and support required to develop and implement policies, processes, and procedures necessary to achieve strategic objectives.
• Reviews analyzes and drafts contract language to ensure they comply with all applicable donor, Pact, and host government regulations
• Work with/train sub-awardees to ensure they comply with all required rules set by the Pact, Donor, and the government.
• Responsible for communicating all compliance messages to Pact staff and sub-partners.
• Ensure proper submission of taxes and process tax exemptions where required by the donor agreement.
• Advise and ensure compliance on cost charging to various projects as per the pact and donor policies.
• Ensure Tax reporting to Pact from sub-awardees and to the donor as stipulated in the prime Awards
• Ensure compliance with Asset reporting to HQ as well as to the donor as per the donor’s requirements.
• Coordinate with other Program and Finance Departments for training/mentoring of sub-grantees where necessary to administer the program’s sub-agreements with partners.
• Mentoring and training staff to ensure they have the appropriate skill levels for their positions and develop their full potential.
• All other duties as assigned by the Project/Country Director.

Minimum Requirements

• The minimum requirement is a bachelor’s degree but preferred is a MA/MSc/Masters in Business Administration degree or equivalent relevant qualification. Must have experience in Grants and Contract Management.
• At least 8 years of relevant experience in the NGO sector within South Africa in managing the award and administration of sub-grants funded by Global Fund, USAID, or international donors.
• Experience managing sub-award design and administration.
• Experience in donor funds administration.
• Understanding of local contract and procurement law
• Excellent communication skills both verbal and written English
• Strong knowledge of donor auditing requirements and demonstrated ability to exercise financial oversight of Agreements programs.
• Demonstrated solid knowledge of USAID and other donor regulations applicable to Agreements administration.
• Experience managing USAID contracts and/or cooperative agreements is essential.
• Experience in leading USAID project close-out activities.
• Valid South African driver’s license
• Eligibility to work in South Africa
• Willingness to travel extensively across different provinces.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience assessing the responsibility and grant-worthiness of organizations through financial statements, audits, and other documentation presented in a proposal or support of an award
• Proven capacity to design and deliver a range of training and technical assistance programs to build a full range of capacities for grant management
• Proficiency in a local language
• Must be a South African national or possess permanent residency.

Pact is an equal opportunity employer and does not discriminate in its selection and employment practices on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, national origin, political affiliation, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, marital status, disability, genetic information, age, citizenship status, genetic information, matriculation, family responsibilities, personal appearance, credit information, tobacco use (except in the workplace), membership in an employee organization, or other protected classifications or non-merit factors.
At Pact, we recognize your impact, offer you opportunities and support your total well-being. Our comprehensive benefit offerings may include healthcare, retirement (8.8% to 13% based on service tenure) and savings plans, paid time off, disability and life insurance programs, learning and development opportunities, wellness programs as well as other optional benefit elections .
With the continuing impacts of COVID-19 around the world, we are taking action to protect the health and well-being of our colleagues and maintain the safety of the communities where we operate. Pact seeks an environment free from COVID-19 and prefers all employees to be fully vaccinated for COVID-19. Attestation of vaccination status will be required for employment with Pact. Unvaccinated employees may be subject to additional health and safety requirements to include any federal, state and/or client restrictions.