Program and Operations Support Advisor & Team Lead at Panagora Group

The Team Lead will support USAID/South Africa and RHO to fill critical program and operations staffing needs and coordinate strategic planning and management across the HIV service delivery and COVID-19 response activities. S/he will lead the development and coordination of strategies with USAID/South Africa and RHO leadership to determine where program and operations resources are needed and then recruit, deploy, and manage technical experts to fill those gaps. The Team Lead will be responsible for coordinating TSS’s support to RHO countries, defining SOWs, innovative solutions, and technical experts to respond to identified challenges or gaps.

Position Responsibilities

The Team Lead will carry out the following activities:

• Develop and implement a strategy to assess and prioritize critical program and operations staffing needs at USAID’s RHO Health Office(s).
• Coordinate regular strategic planning sessions for Panagora and/or USAID focused on the effective management of HIV service delivery in the context of COVID-19, including implementing partners’ adoption of guidance and maintenance of implementation fidelity.
• Implement Panagora TSS’s technical assistance approach for RHO Health Offices (based on needs and requests) to achieve RHO strategic priorities. This will be done by project managing long- and short-term staff as well as subcontractors located in the region and the US.
• Liaise with various stakeholders at all levels of local government, donors and implementing partners in the southern Africa region.
• Facilitate and support Panagora’s adaptation of effective approaches and activities for the RHO, leveraging our expertise in technical service delivery, strategic information, virtual learning, and program management.
• Oversee recruitment to expand Panagora’s bench of global technical, program, and operations professionals with expertise across the Health Office portfolio, including the use of innovative and effective online/virtual and in-person (where appropriate) recruitment activities and events.
• Coordinate technical experts’ onboarding/offboarding and ongoing engagement and management, including leveraging their skills and expertise in other areas of work across TSS.
• Serve as the point of contact and supervisor for short- and long-term secondees to USAID; this includes coordination and management, approval of timesheets and other administrative functions, completing annual performance reviews, and other duties as assigned.
• Liaise with Panagora’s existing bench of technical experts to ensure they can be engaged quickly in response to USAID needs.
• Assist in defining project scope and priorities, involving all relevant stakeholders, and oversee the utilization (and if needed, development) of appropriate management and communication systems to provide rapid and effective support.
• Collaborate with all TSS tasks and team leads to leverage solutions and approaches implemented across the various tasks to rapidly implement those solutions in RHO countries.
• Work closely with the Deputy Chief of Party, human resource, operations, and finance teams to implement and scale-up TSS activities in RHO supported countries.
• Support and contribute to TSS’s contractual obligations, which include but are not limited to, annual and quarterly work plans, quarterly and annual reports, annual performance monitoring and weekly reporting of activities and progress to critical stakeholders.
• Other activities as assigned.

Requirements

• Master’s Degree or MBA in program/project management, organizational development, public health, social science, or a related field
• 10-15 years progressive responsible management experience
• Experience with USAID/USG, local southern African government stakeholders and implementing partners
• Demonstrated experience in developing excellent stakeholder relationships
• Demonstrated experience working with long-term staff, consultants, and a multidisciplinary and multicultural team
• Demonstrated experience managing complex field-based projects
• Excellent interpersonal skills and ability to work with individuals from diverse professional backgrounds
• Experience with procurement, contracts, human resources
• Excellent communications, report writing, and presentation skills in the English language
• Analytical thinker and high attention to detail
• Experience working in two or more of the following countries: Angola, Botswana, Eswatini, Lesotho, Namibia, and South Africa
• Proficient in Portuguese a plus