Quality Assurance Manager Job recruitment at Mercy Corps in Nairobi Kenya May 2014

Quality Assurance Manager Job recruitment at Mercy Corps in Nairobi Kenya May 2014

Mercy Corps exists to alleviate suffering, poverty and oppression by helping people build secure, productive and just communities.

Driven by local needs, our programs provide communities in the world’s toughest places with the tools and support they need to turn the crises they confront into the opportunities they deserve.

Mercy Corps is looking for committed and dynamic individual to take up the following position.

Quality Assurance Manager – Nairobi
Program / Department Summary: The Quality Assurance Manager (QAM) will play a key leadership role in the implementation of a five-year $18 million program to mitigate conflict and support peace in select Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) member states.

This USAID-funded program will build and strengthen local-level cross-border conflict management mechanisms in the Horn of Africa – Kenya, Somalia, South Sudan and Uganda.

The program will support conflict management mechanisms that incorporate local civil society groups and local governments, mentor local non-governmental organizations to be able to address community-level conflict management and provide technical assistance to the regional conflict early warning and response mechanism.

General Position Summary: The QAM will provide senior leadership of the program’s technical components. The QAM will also ensure the synthesis of technical approaches across the five countries and will assume responsibility for translating program learning into tangible adjustments to intervention strategies.

The QAM team will disseminate these findings in research briefs, white papers and reports. The QAM will directly supervise the MERL Coordinator, the Local Government Capacity Advisor, Communication Officer, Database Administrator and STA Support as needed.

Essential Job Functions:

Program Quality Oversight

Provide leadership and strategic vision to selected technical components of the PEACE III program including work plan development, conflict and stakeholder analysis, partnership selection and management and overall sector strategy.
Provide direct management oversight to the Peace III Learning and Program Quality Technical Unit.
Best practices and standardization.
Dissemination of lessons learned to internal and external stakeholders.
Encourage systematic opportunities to use data for learning and improvement and to focus on learning lessons throughout the life of the program.

Technical Unit Management

In close partnership with the COP create a work atmosphere conducive to professional growth and development of excellent personnel at all levels.
Implement and ensure all team members are effectively using the performance planning and management system, establishing performance expectations and regularly providing constructive feedback.
Promote accountability by conducting staff annual performance reviews with direct supervisees and ensuring that supervisory staff does the same.

Organizational Learning: As part of our commitment to organizational learning and in support of our understanding that learning organizations are more effective, efficient and relevant to the communities they serve – we expect all team members to commit 5% of their time to learning activities that benefit Mercy Corps as well as themselves.

Accountability to Beneficiaries: Mercy Corps team members are expected to support all efforts towards accountability specifically to our beneficiaries and to international standards guiding international relief and development work while actively engaging beneficiary communities as equal partners in the design, monitoring and evaluation of our field projects.

Supervisory Responsibility: Direct supervision of: Technical staff including MERL Coordinator, the Local Government Capacity Advisor, Communication Officer and Database Administrator.

Reports Directly To: Deputy Chief of Party

Works Directly With: Regional Cluster Leads, Mercy Corps and Pact HQ technical advisors and Country Directors.

Knowledge and Experience:

BA/S Advanced degree in peace-building and conflict management, social sciences, international and MA preferred
Development, political science, or other related field
5- 7 years of relevant professional experience managing and implementing peace-building and conflict management projects
2- 4 years of relevant field or management experience of complex and multi-sector programming. Previous experience working on USAID-funded programs preferred.
Previous experience in East Africa and in-depth knowledge of current cross-border issues and events in Kenya, Somalia, Uganda and South Sudan preferred.
Demonstrated ability to effectively manage staff working in multiple locations affected by conflict
Demonstrated ability to work effectively with communities, civil society, local government representatives and other stakeholders
Demonstrated expertise in one of the following technical areas: youth, gender and trauma healing.
Demonstrated ability to communicate effectively in English both verbally and in writing.

Success Factors:

A successful candidate will be conscientious with excellent judgment.

S/he will combine strong communication skills, creativity, initiative, participatory leadership and tactful decisiveness to assist in the development and implementation of the Peace III strategy.

Multi-tasking, prioritizing, problem solving and simultaneous attention to detail and strategic vision are essential.

S/he must have the confidence and humility to work effectively with a large variety of people who will be diverse culturally, economically and in social status as well as be sensitive to political and cultural nuance – be able to consistently apply excellent judgment to a variety of demanding and fast-changing situations while working as part of a team and coordinate with project personnel.

Interested candidates who meet the above required qualifications and experience should submit on or before May 23, 2014 at 4.00 p.m. a cover letter, detailed Curriculum Vitae (CV) listing three professional references (including a recent supervisor) to hrkenya@ke.mercycorps.org

Applicants must clearly indicate on the email subject; the position and location they are applying for, e.g “Quality Assurance Manager-Nairobi” Applications without the right subject heading will be automatically disqualified. Please do not attach any certificates.

(ONLY Qualified short-listed candidates will be contacted)

NB: Mercy Corps does not charge any fee at any stage of recruitment process.