Palladium

Deputy Chief of Party, USAID/Kenya and East Africa, Scaling Inclusive Food Systems Activity 

About Palladium: 

Palladium is a global company working to design, develop and deliver positive impact on the lives and livelihoods of people around the globe; broaden access to health, water, power, and infrastructure; build enduring, sustainable, and transformative institutions and market systems to address global challenges; and conserve the natural world. We operate in over 90 countries and have a workforce of 4,000 talented, motivated, and diverse staff of all religions, races, languages, and gender identities. 

This Opportunity: 

The purpose of this Activity is to promote inclusive agricultural-led growth, with a focus on climate-smart approaches that leverage private sector resources and catalyze investment in the agricultural sector; strengthen the resilience of people and systems; and improve nutrition, especially among women and children. 

Primary Duties and Responsibilities: 

The Deputy Chief of Party (DCOP) shall provide support to the COP with strategic leadership and oversight of the Activity. They shall have depth and breadth of technical expertise and experience, a solid professional reputation, interpersonal skills, and professional relationships to fulfill the requirements of the activity description, and close working relationships with key stakeholders in Kenya. The DCOP must have experience managing large, complex activities and demonstrated experience working with and through the private sector. Primary duties and responsibilities include: 

• Serve as a member of the senior leadership team of the program and support the Chief of Party in oversight of project staff and activities 
• Co-lead and oversee programmatic functions, i.e., development of work plans, budgets, quarterly/annual reports, and ensure effective implementation of program strategy 
• Maintain effective and open communication throughout the project with Chief of Party, USAID, Project Director, technical leads, project operations teams, and other relevant stakeholders 
• Work with the Chief of Party and other project staff to continuously refine implementation processes by integrating lessons learned and best practices 
• In collaboration with the local staff in-country, identify program opportunities and potential local partners as needed 
• In collaboration with the M&E team, ensure relevant staff use, maintain and regularly upload data to the project M&E system 
• With the MEL & CLA Specialist, identify project analysis and data needs to build and share evidence with the Kenyan government, donors, USAID, and other stakeholders 
• Ensure interventions reflect high technical quality and are in line with the project's scope of work. 
• Serve as Acting Chief of Party as needed 

Key Competencies Required: 

• At least 10 years’ experience managing large and complex activities, preferably in the Kenya or the region and preferably experience with market-led agricultural, resilience and/or natural resource programming. 
• Must demonstrate commitment to market-led, private sector engagement approaches. 
• Excellent managerial and operational experience, preferably in managing large donor projects involving coordination with multiple implementing partners or institutions in Kenya or the region, and sub-recipient / complex partnering relationships, preferably in Kenya. 
• Minimum 3 years’ experience managing USG and/or other major donor-funded projects with a focus on knowledge and expertise in financial rules, regulations, and oversight at a senior level. 
• Minimum 5 years’ experience in developing activity work-plans, budgets, managing implementation, staff, and short-term technical assistance. 
• Excellent written and oral communication in English. 

Company Overview:

Equity, Diversity & Inclusion - Palladium is committed to embedding equity, diversity, and inclusion into everything we do. We welcome applications from all sections of society and actively encourage diversity to drive innovation, creativity, success and good practice. We positively welcome and seek to ensure we achieve diversity in our workforce; and that all job applicants and employees receive equal and fair treatment regardless of their background or personal characteristics. These include: (but are not limited to) socio-economic background, age, race, gender identity and expression, religion, ethnicity, sexual orientation, disability, nationality, veteran, marital or Indigenous status.

Should you require any adjustments or accommodations to be made due to a disability or you are a neurodivergent individual or for any other circumstance, please email our team at accessibility@thepalladiumgroup.com and we will be in touch to discuss.

Safeguarding - We define Safeguarding as “the preventative action taken by Palladium to protect our people, clients and the communities we work with from harm”. We are committed to ensuring that all children and adults who come into contact with Palladium are treated with respect and are free from abuse. All successful candidates will be subject to an enhanced selection process including safeguarding-focused interviews and a rigorous due diligence process.