TechnoServe

About TechnoServe:

At TechnoServe, we believe that everyone deserves the opportunity to build a better life. For over 50 years, we have given smallholder farmers and entrepreneurs the skills, connections, and confidence to lift themselves out of poverty. We leverage the power of markets and the private sector to create sustainable economic growth to benefit people and the planet. Our unique mix of business solutions, deep knowledge of local contexts, and data-driven insights is helping to fight poverty across Africa, Asia, and Latin America.

TechnoServe staff are local–95% are from the countries in which they work. We put a high premium on collaboration and entrepreneurship. We hold ourselves and each other to the highest standards of integrity and transparency. And we focus on delivering lasting impact for our mission.

Job Summary:

We are seeking to hire a dynamic and motivated Program Director to lead the anticipated five-year Poultry Industry Transformation Project (2025-2029) in Cotonou, Benin.

Program Overview:

The program aims to transform the Benin poultry sector into a more competitive, sustainable, and inclusive sector that fulfills local demand for poultry meat and eggs and positions Benin as a regional poultry production and trade hub. The project will utilize a market systems development approach, working through local actors to achieve scalable impact.

Primary Functions & Responsibilities:

• Lead overall implementation and management of the program, from inception to close-out, ensuring that the program achieves established goals, objectives and targets.
• Provide strategic guidance, leadership, management, and general technical oversight of the program.
• Continuously develop operational efficiencies and drive innovations in delivery.
• Oversee the development and submission of project deliverables on time and within budget.
• Recruit, lead, manage, and supervise delivery teams comprising long- and short-term team members and consortium partners.
• Serve as the primary liaison between the donor, the Benin Government entities, all counterparts, implementing partners, and stakeholders involved in the program.
• Act as a spokesperson for the program and present its work regionally/globally.

Basic Qualifications:

• A master’s degree or equivalent in agribusiness, agricultural sciences, business administration, or international development with eight (8) years of experience, or other relevant field (or a bachelor’s degree with twelve years of experience).
• At least five (5) years of relevant professional experience in market systems development projects (preferably in Agriculture).
• Experience working in Benin or in the West Africa region is preferred.
• Experience leading and managing large teams with a high level of leadership, interpersonal, technical, and analytical experience, as Team Leader, Chief of Party or other Program Director level role.

Required Languages: Excellent oral, written, and interpersonal skills, including fluency in French and English.

Travel: Travel up to 40%

Preferred Qualifications:

• Experience leading large-scale donor-funded projects.
• Prior work experience or collaboration with private sector companies and businesses.
• Demonstrated ability to interact effectively and collaboratively with various public and private sector counterparts and key stakeholders.
• Experience in the poultry sector on monogastric or livestock production, is a plus.
• Understanding of USG, Dutch and/or various European donors' funding compliance norms
• Experience in monitoring, interpreting and communicating complex field M&E data
• Experience successfully implementing gender-integrated programs is a plus.

Knowledge, Skills and Abilities:

• Strong communications and interpersonal skills with evidence of ability to lead diverse teams and achieve results
• Demonstrated ability to coordinate and engage with a wide range of organizations (Private sector, government, NGOs)
• Ability to effectively motivate and manage teams in a multi-cultural environment
• Ability to work under tight deadlines while managing multiple tasks and activities
• Ability to develop well-written, cohesive analyses and reports
• Ability to clearly communicate a high-level strategy to internal and external stakeholders, while driving execution of a work plan and achieving short-term milestones.
• Ability to use adaptive management principles to make strategic, data-driven decisions in the face of uncertainty and complexity.

Supervisory Responsibilities: This position will manage technical and program staff.

This position is pending awarding of funding, and donor approval. Your application must be submitted in English language.

We encourage all qualified individuals who share TechnoServe's vision of improving the lives of others through proven business solutions to apply.

With our commitment to diversity, we are proud to be an equal opportunity employer and affirmative action employer and do not discriminate on the basis of gender, race, color, ethnicity, religion, sexual orientation, gender identity, age, HIV/AIDS status, protected veteran status, disability and all other protected classes.

We are also proud of our commitment to protecting staff, partners, and beneficiaries from abuse and exploitation and thoroughly vet all final candidates through rigorous background and reference checks.

If you have a disability that affects your ability to use our online system to apply for a position at TechnoServe please contact the Human Resources at recruitment@tns.org or call +1 202 785 4515.