SENIOR MANAGER, PROGRAM PERFORMANCE & QUALITY (PAQ)

•  Align PaQ Department strategy and objectives to Country- and Regional-Level Strategies, with clearly defined roles, responsibilities, and metrics to monitor progress and achievement
•  Facilitate the development and pursuit of thematic, cross-cutting strategic priorities, including but not limited to the finalization, maintenance, updating, and follow-through on the country-level Evidence and Learning Agenda (ELA)
•  Develop and oversee research and evaluation functions that build the evidence base beyond single programs and cut across all MCIQ’s work, establishing MCIQ as a leading voice on evidence-driven programming in our target Outcome Areas
•  Contribute to the global and regional conversation around program performance and quality, PaQ strategies, and global program quality initiatives
•  Build consensus around a common vision of what shared success in Iraq looks like, including development and tracking appropriate indicators.
•  Lead by example and through direct orientation to ensure the full PaQ Departments adoption and understanding of country- and agency-level policies and standards, and support in their continued socialization and contextualization.
•  Serve as a member of the Extended Senior Management Team (E-SMT) to provide input and leadership around country-level policies and processes, including proactive problem solving and cross-department collaboration.
•  As a member of E-SMT, ensure an ambitious, realistic Country Strategy and follow through on the associated Implementation Plan(s).
•  Lead on PaQ elements of proposal development processes, including budgeting, gender- and inclusion mainstreaming, MEL frameworks, accountability systems, and assessing overall quality and coherence of program logic models.

•  Lead in establishing systems, policies and approaches necessary to ensure and demonstrate the quality of programs
•  Lead the maintenance, technical orientation, rollout, socialization, and sustainability planning for MCIQ’s Learning Center, a newly established platform for archiving, indexing, cross-referencing, and searching lessons learned for ease of reference during program design and other critical decision gates.
•  Support program leaders to monitor compliance with Mercy Corps’ Program Management minimum standards across the portfolio, and lead on the coordination of program- or country-level trainings / reorientations as necessary 
•  Ensure the accessibility of program data, evidence, and aggregated progress toward indicator targets and overall outcomes not only to MEL/PaQ colleagues, but to broader Program Teams, Senior Management, and other relevant stakeholders to inform decision making
•  Leads and oversees the production of information and learning that is genuinely useful for the teams in informing their strategic and operational decisions; sees the value in quantitative data, but is also enthusiastic about conducting qualitative research to deepen understanding 
•  Create and maintain systems to ensure technical coherence and promote creative programming across the programs portfolio.
•  Support country inputs into / use of global program performance and quality systems, including the Minimum Standards Reporting (MSR) mechanism, TolaData, and others, and facilitate the use of results from these mechanisms to inform corrective action, training / support needs, and control quality as needed.
•  Coordinate agency-level reporting requirements (such as the Annual Participant Count, CARM Quality Assurance Processes, etc.) relevant to Iraq.
•  Facilitate collaboration between PaQ and Program colleagues and technical advisors at the regional and global levels, working together to build local team expertise as well as logframes, indicator plans, GESI frameworks, accountability systems, and the like that incorporate agency-wide learnings and are contextualized to the realities of MCIQ.
•  Support Program and PaQ colleagues overseeing research/learning consultants and evaluation processes to ensure recommendations are concrete, usable, and rooted in evidence.
•  Participate in program kick-offs to ensure effective strategic direction, clear orientation on management requirements, and learning plans; Participate in program reflections or close-outs to gather learning and share results.
•  Support the Country MEL Manager to ensure MEL minimum standards are met for each MCIQ Program, and overall compliance with Mercy Corps’ Global MEL Policy
•  Support the Country Inclusion & Accountability Manager in working towards gender transformative program design and implementation, ensuring GESI considerations are incorporated into new programs and standardized into reflection processes and decision gates throughout implementation.
•  Support the Country Inclusion & Accountability Manager to ensure that an appropriate Community Accountability Reporting Mechanism (CARM) is in place, contextualized, and functioning effectively for all programs, and that results are utilized for implementation improvements and overall learning.
•  Maintain oversight of program-specific PaQ budget lines—including activities and staffing tied to MEL, GESI, CARM, and other research, ensuring accurate projections and effective planning.

•  Create and sustain a work environment of mutual respect where team members strive to achieve excellence independently and as a team
•  Promote accountability, communicate expectations and provide constructive feedback via regular performance reviews, check-ins, and real-time reflection.
•  Provide team members with information, tools and other resources to improve performance and reach objectives.
•  Lead the recruitment, hiring, orient and supervise new team members as necessary, including gap-filling within the PaQ Department as needed.
•  Contribute to country team-building efforts; support team members to identify problem-solving options and ensure the integration of all team members into relevant decision-making processes.
•  Ensure appropriate staffing within a PaQ purview, and ensure all staff understand and are able to perform their role; engage in in-country and/or regional/global advocacy as needed to ensure human resource needs are met in the Department.
•  Incorporate staff development strategies and Performance Management Systems into team building processes; provide guidance to senior team members on how to manage their teams, provide consistent, clear feedback, and conduct performance reviews.
•  Provide supervision to the PaQ team members, ensure their work is aligned and contributing effectively to the PaQ team’s strategy, that they have access to training, systems and support and that effective workflows and coordination are set up between the different team members and components.

•  Bachelor’s degree required. Masters or equivalent in a field related to International Development, Social Sciences, or Research Methodologies preferred.
•  Minimum 5 years working experience required, preferably in program monitoring and/or implementation, providing coordination and technical oversight, or the broader development sector
•  Extensive experience with program quality, monitoring and evaluation, information management, research implementation or oversight, and other learning efforts strongly preferred.
•  Knowledge of inclusion principles and best practices related to community accountability required; experience leading gender and/or inclusion analyses an advantage.
•  Advanced knowledge of Microsoft Office and Google Suite required; Experience with data collection softwares (Ona, Kobo, CommCare, or similar) required; experience with quantitative and qualitative analysis softwares strongly preferred.
•  Experience with a range of institutional donors such as AFD, EU/ECHO, GAC, GIZ, USAID/BHA, PRM, SIDA and FCDO is an advantage.
•  Advanced fluency in written and spoken English is required, Arabic and/or Kurdish are an asset.
•  Excellent English writing skills required; previous experience in developing donor assessments, research, proposals, and program reports is strongly preferred
•  Demonstrated attention to details, ability to follow procedures, meet deadlines, prioritize activities and work independently and cooperatively with team members are required.
•  Experience working in the Middle East region and/or complex security contexts preferred; experience in Iraq is an advantage.
•  Proven ability to work cooperatively with internal and external stakeholders, and to play a leadership role in convening groups. Astute skills in relationship building and coordination.
•  Willingness and ability to travel frequently to Mercy Corps program sites and field locations, including traveling to insecure environments, is required.
•  Excellent listening, inter-personal, communication and networking skills; and the ability to work with diversified populations.
•  Skilled at delivering and facilitating training and capacity building interventions, e.g. coaching, mentorship. 

Organizational Learning

ACCOUNTABILITY TO PARTICIPANTS

How to apply

https://app.jobvite.com/j?cj=o7RstfwD&s=ReliefWeb