Chief of Party, USAID/Ukraine, New Workforce Development 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 Proposal Opportunity:

This new activity will serve as USAID/Ukraine’s flagship workforce project from 2024 to 2029. The new activity will support the upskilling and retraining of Ukraine’s labor force to adapt to the demographic and workforce shocks caused by war.  The activity will help adapt employers and employees to structural changes in the labor market. This is a 5-year project.

The Chief of Party will be ultimately responsible for the efficient and effective oversight of all elements of the activity. Their primary responsibilities are to provide overall leadership, management, and general technical direction of the activity, ensuring an integrated vision among different components and actors, and a focus on achieving the desired results. This individual must identify issues and risks related to implementation in a timely manner and suggest appropriate adjustments. This individual must act as the key liaison with USAID/Ukraine and all other counterparts, implementing partners and stakeholders involved with the activity. The position requires significant coordination skills, technical knowledge, an ability to cope with multiple interests and challenges, and skills to ensure coherence and consistency in the face of urgent deadlines in a dynamic environment. 

*This is an anticipated project, and all positions are contingent upon award from USAID. *  

Primary Duties and Responsibilities:

Provide overall strategic, technical, programmatic, financial, and management guidance and support for project activities;
Develop an effective integrated approach of program components, partners, employers, education and training institutions, and other stakeholders;
Serve as principal liaison with USAID staff, other implementing partners, host country government actors and other private and public sector stakeholders to exchange information and develop professional relationships;
Oversee effective use of resources, on-time delivery of activity reports and deliverables, and overall compliance with USAID regulations and Palladium policies and procedures;
Identify issues and risks related to program implementation in a timely manner and suggest appropriate program adjustments;
Oversee effective utilization of systems for human resources management; monitoring, evaluation, learning and adapting; financial management; procurement; and security;
Provide guidance to technical team in strategic partnership development; and
Communicate and implement an integrated vision among different components and actors

Key Competencies Required:

Bachelor’s degree in economics, business administration, international development, education, or related field required;
Demonstrated experience managing large, dynamic, and complex projects with a focus on education and skilling; workforce development; and/or supporting employers and employees to adapt to structural changes in the labor market;
Experience implementing programs in the Europe &Eurasia region;
Experience managing USAID programs of a similar size;
Proven ability to develop and communicate a common vision among diverse partners;
Demonstrated ability to lead multi-disciplinary teams;
Evidence of strong communication skills, both interpersonal and written;
Proven track record liaising with employers, employees, and education and training institutions; and
Excellent oral and written communication skills in English.

Professional Expertise/Competencies Preferred:

Microsoft office suite proficiency and the ability to operate spreadsheet and word-processing programs at a highly proficient level;
Relevant master’s degree;
Experience in Ukraine;
Excellent oral and written communication skills in Ukrainian; and
Ukrainian Nationals are encouraged to apply.

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 accommodation 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.