Country Lead

Job Description:

Mott MacDonald is a £1.2 billion management, engineering and development consultancy with 16,000 staff and a global reach spanning six continents. Our network of 180 principal offices in 140 countries gives us local market insight backed by world class expertise to deliver excellence for every client.
We are an equal opportunity employer and value diversity at our company. We do not discriminate and take positive steps to create an inclusive culture.

The Green Cities, Infrastructure and Energy Programme (GCIEP) is a demand-driven programme that drives sustainable green cities and climate-resilient infrastructure in lower-income countries. GCIEP is the core, demand-driven component of the UK's Green Cities, Infrastructure and Energy Centre of Expertise (GCIE CoE). The programme supports the Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) to deliver the UK Government’s International Development Strategy through accelerating investment in, and delivery of, growth-enabling infrastructure and urban development that is responsible, reliable, inclusive, low-carbon and climate-resilient.

GCIEP is a high-ambition programme that targets transformational change in the enabling environment of its country partners that will deliver both immediate benefits and long-term development dividends for decades to come. The programme’s Theory of Change (ToC) targets the critical areas of support that will unlock these opportunities for countries – meeting these needs via Country Strategies that are tailored to the national and development context, and via innovative approaches that are drawn from UK expertise such as the whole systems approach to infrastructure design and resilience, and integrated urban planning and development. Key to the DNA of GCIEP is understanding how climate, gender, inclusion, investment and political economy analysis intersect and can be integral to its design and delivery. This gives the UK a clear and meaningful comparative advantage in this important and growing area of development practice.

This is a call for an expression of interest only for the role of Country Lead, Nigeria

Candidate Specification:

Qualification 

• Role specific although an advanced degree in a relevant discipline is preferred.

 Experience and knowledge

• We are looking for a candidate with minimum 15+ years of experience with relevant work experience in International Development projects. Previous work experience with FCDO (or DFID) is an advantage. In-country experience required.

Key Responsibilities

The consultants will be responsible and accountable for the detailed design and implementation of the country programme, including: 

Strategic Leadership 

• Responsible for leading the delivery of the GCIEP Country Strategy and interventions, and ensuring a strategic and cohesive response to the identified objectives of the GCIEP programme, and FCDO expectations in-country. This includes ensuring any adjustments to work plans, intervention extensions, or new interventions maintain that coherent and strategic line of direction.  
• Responsible for maintaining strategic relevance in the country by understanding the priorities of key stakeholders and identifying opportunities for adaptive programming that deliver on these potential opportunities and shifts.  
• Responsible for leading on strategic communications with embassies, private sector, Delivery Partners, and other stakeholders that have the potential to further the aims and ambitions of the programme.  

Delivery Management &QA  

• Accountable for timely and quality delivery of the interventions. 
• Responsible for ensuring implementation progress against agreed scope of work and milestones by holding Intervention Leads to account, and intervening to provide corrective measures where quality, pace, or performance is slipping. 
• Accountable for the resolution of technical and financial issues that arise – ensuring that issues are escalated effectively to the appropriate people, and that resolutions are well communicated and embedded.  
• Accountable for the overall quality of all work delivered by the team. The quality assurance of deliverables may be through direct QA, or delegated QA, including through the QMS system. The Country Lead is accountable for ensuring an appropriate QA process for each deliverable.  
• Where relevant, supporting the detailed design of new interventions.  

Team Management  

• Overall leadership of the GCIEP country team which consists of technical experts (international and local), programme managers, and support team (local).  
• Responsible for identifying and escalating performance issues across the team to the DOC Central team.  
• Responsible for the Line Management (including performance management) of the Country Manager and Intervention Leads.  
• Oversight of the Country Office operations and point of escalation for issues identified by the Country Manager.  

Reporting 

• Responsible for overall reporting on progress, plans, and issues, to FCDO Country Post via fortnightly / monthly meetings 
• Responsible for country inputs into GCIEP quarterly and annual reporting  
• Responsible for delivery against the country programme GEDSI, Climate, Nature and Environment (CN&E) ambitions and ICF targets 
• Responsible for delivery against the country-nested logframes and intervention-specific ToCs  

Communications & Learning 

• Work with FCDO post to strengthen the visibility of GCIEP interventions in-country and within FCDO and key local / regional stakeholders  
• Responsible for feedback into programme learnings, communications and reporting 
• Primary point of contact for FCDO Post  

Key skills:

• Extensive experience managing and leading consulting teams in developing countries, and ideally in the specific Deep Offer country.
• Geographic expertise and good understanding of the practical complexities of implementing programmes in the relevant GCIEP country.
• Previous relevant experience of leading similar programmes for FCDO or other donors.
• Extensive green cities and/or infrastructure expertise, including in one of the following sectors: Energy, Urban, Transport, Infrastructure Services.
• Excellent interpersonal skills and ability to establish effective working relations with different stakeholders.
• Strong in-country networks and credibility with senior stakeholders.
• Experience in leading the delivery of high-quality work and developing high quality reports.
• Experience of adapting professional workplans in a fast moving and changeable environment.
• Experience of overseeing international development-funded country office operations.

Job Profile

• Country Leads are the senior professionals that lead GCIEP delivery in their Deep Offer Country.
• They will be based in-country with a deep understanding of the local context, geography and stakeholders.
• They are the ‘face of GCIEP’ in that country – representing the programme to senior FCDO, international, government and other local stakeholders.
• They develop and protect the reputation of the programme and the Alliance partners, and lead the effective and high quality delivery of the programme.
• They have overall leadership responsibility in-country – delivering the Programme and overseeing the effective running of the country operations with support from the Country Manager role.
• They are likely to have a Country Manager reporting to them, as well as one or two Intervention Leads.
• They may also act as an Intervention Lead to oversee the implementation of one of the GCIEP interventions.

Flexible working
At Mott MacDonald, we support our staff to create work-life balance which works for them and welcome candidates looking for career flexibility. We are open to discussing flexible working at interview stage.

Our benefits package is designed to enhance your experience:

• 90 calendar days paid maternity leave
• Competitive annual leave
• An annual professional institution subscription
• Annual company performance bonus scheme – Subject to company performance