Program Director/Deputy Chief of Party

Position Summary
The Program Director / Deputy Chief of Party will be responsible for program development, learning and practical implementation of those lessons for Creative’s program in Nigeria.
The position will be based in the head office, located in Abuja, with work expected to be carried out in the North East states of Borno, Yobe and Adamawa. In the absence of the COP, the Program Director will serve as the COP.
Reporting & Supervision:
Reporting directly to the COP, the Program Director/DCOP will support the COP in developing and implementing program activities in line with the program strategy.
S/he will directly supervise the Grants team, Monitoring & Evaluation team, and Reporting Officer, and will closely coordinate with program development staff in Abuja and in the state offices.
Primary Responsibilities Under the supervision of the Chief of Party, the Program Director/DCOP will:
Oversee the activity development process, and will provide direct management of the grants unit, ensuring coordination and communication with activity development staff in the state offices and Abuja;
Along with the COP, engage OTI counterparts to guide program strategy, including setting objectives, developing theories of change, and supporting program expansion into neighboring areas if required;
Provide management oversight of the M&E and research functions on the program, ensuring coordination and mutual support between Program and M&E teams, and establishing feedback processes to ensure that activity lessons and research outcomes feed into and inform the activity design process.
Travel to state offices in Yobe, Borno and Admawa to ensure that lessons are practically applied into activity design;
Directly oversee program development and implementation of national level activities, and establish processes to connect national activities with state activities and with the broader program strategy;
Identify program opportunities and potential local partners;
Act as the Chief of Party when s/he is absent from the program; and
Perform additional tasks as assigned.
Required Skills & Qualifications
Relevant work experience, including experience with a donor, contractor or international NGO managing an office or program with some demonstrated supervisory experience;
A minimum of four (4) years of experience working on complex, high-speed and challenging field operations in transition environments;
Experience with activity design, development, and implementation, and close-out;
Experience with grant management;
Capacity to understand and analyze national, regional, and local politics; to guide the program staff in creatively designing grants that relate to the current country context;
Experience working in post-conflict and resource-limited environments is required;
Experience with activity design, development, and implementation;
Exceptional organization skills and ability to work and multi-task under pressure;
Strong interpersonal skills and ability to work with culturally and geographically diverse staff, fostering overall good dynamics within and between teams;
Fluency in written and oral English is required.
Desired Skills & Qualifications
Experience with in-kind and small grants, preferably programs that require various and simultaneous procurements of goods and services and management of providers of short-term technical assistance;
Proficiency in French is an advantage but not required; and
University degree in a relevant field highly desired, but not required.