Senior Program Manager

Position Title: Senior Program Manager

Reports To: Senior Project Director

Position Location: Kyiv, Ukraine

Deadline: October 18, 2021 

About IREX: 

IREX is an independent nonprofit organization dedicated to building a more just, prosperous, and inclusive world by empowering youth, cultivating leaders, strengthening institutions, and extending access to quality education and information. Founded in 1968, IREX has an annual portfolio of $90 million and a staff of over 400 professionals worldwide who implement programs and provide consulting expertise in more than 100 countries. For more detailed information about IREX please visit www.irex.org.  

Summary of Position:  

IREX office in Ukraine is seeking a qualified professional to fill the position of Senior Program Manager for its project Learn to Discern. The Senior Program Manager will work under supervision of the Senior Project Director and will be responsible for the planning and implementation of program activities.  

Special focus in all activities will be related to working with secondary schools to integrate media literacy into educational process, organizing training programs and online activities for educators, oversee development of the educational products. Senior Program Manager will work closely with Ministry of Education and Science (MOES) and other stakeholders to ensure project sustainability.

The position will be based in Kyiv with frequent travel throughout the country (depending on the severity of COVID). This position is contingent upon funding.  

Specific duties include, but are not limited to, the following: 

• Provide technical and administrative leadership for program activities and ensure that objectives and targets are achieved;
• Oversee, monitor, and administer day to day management of the program activities;
• Oversee successful integration of critical information consumption skills into existing secondary schools’curricula. Provide training to educators in Ukraine. Maintain effective relations and coordination between schools in regions;
• Contribute to capacity building training curriculum for different audiences, including decision makers;
• Provide leadership for the outreach strategy and building partnership for the Learn to Discern for decision makers;
• Work closely with partners from the Ministry of Culture and Information Policy of Ukraine (MCIP) and manage joint activities of the IREX and MCIP to raise awareness of the importance of critical thinking and media literacy, lead preparation of documents needed for the joint activities;
• Work closely with the partners from Ministry of Digital Transformation (MoDT) on the activities related to the media literacy promotion, online platform development and placement of the educational materials.
• Contribute to new business development, play management role in proposed new project launching this summer.
• Oversee capacity of subgrantees to ensure timely delivery, compliance, and professionalism;
• Provide oversight on implementation of activities by program subgrantees and subcontractors as well as for procurement of services in accordance with IREX policies;
• Oversee work of the regional coordinators;
• Draft reports and updates for the Donor;
• Work closely with the finance and administrative staff in IREX Ukraine office to ensure budget discipline and compliance; 
• Track and analyze work-plan activity progress toward project objectives and/or track and analyze project indicator data;
• Provide supervision to Program Coordinator, Program Associates/Assistants, Regional Coordinators, Program Manager, and other staff assigned; 
• Lead and manage training events, workshops, conferences;
• Establish positive collaboration and interact regularly with government officials, civil society, opinion leaders, members of international community and other program stakeholders;
• Advise on and contribute to RC management; come up with solution for RC management.
• Work closely with the finance and administrative staff in IREX Ukraine office to ensure budget discipline and compliance;
• Work closely with IREX M&E staff to ensure program’s reporting of outputs;
• Attend events and meetings relevant for the program and that help strengthen IREX’s visibility;
• Represent IREX publicly and support its organizational development;
• Travel to program implementation sites to monitor implementation;  
• Other duties assigned. 

Qualifications:  

• Degree in international development, public administration, management, political science, communications and/or another relevant field is preferred;
• At least 5 years’ experience in civil-society programs;
• Background in media literacy work or study is a strong advantage;
• Experience in work with government officials and educators is a strong advantage;
• Demonstrated success in maintaining excellent collaborations with partners organizations, and ability to establish productive relationships with government officials, opinion leaders, and citizen groups at national and local levels;
• Proven leadership in supervising, designing, managing, and implementing, monitoring and evaluation of similar programs; 
• Demonstrated ability to facilitate dialogue and work constructively with a diverse range of actors and to accommodate divergent interests and agendas in a multi-cultural environment;
• Excellent communications skills, including ability to make public presentations;
• Familiarity with political, media and social issues in Ukraine;
• Excellent interpersonal and organizational skills;
• Strong command of spoken/written English and Ukrainian;
• Ukrainian citizenship or residency with work authorization is required.
• Ability to handle multiple priorities and complete tasks/projects in accordance with stated deadlines;
• Ability to frequently travel throughout Ukraine.  

To Apply:   

Please email your cover letter and resume with “SPM for L2D” in the subject line to Отправить резюме by 10am on October 18, 2021. No phone calls please. Only complete applications will be considered. Early applications are welcomed – we can contact shortlisted candidates on a rolling basis, even before the deadline.