Deputy Chief of Party – USAID/Armenia Disaster Resilience 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 3,000 talented, motivated, and diverse staff of all religions, races, languages, and gender identities.  

Our Americas’ business team has brilliant and passionate colleagues working in Asia, Africa, Europe, the Middle East, and North and South America as well as the Caribbean, fulfilling projects and assignments for clients from institutions, corporations, governments, and foundations based in the Americas. We have offices in Washington, DC, New York City, and Raleigh-Durham, NC.

This Opportunity:

The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) plans to establish a five-year project to support the develop the country’s capacity to mitigate, prepare for, respond to, and recover from natural and human-caused disasters. The activity support capacity building across various stakeholders in Armenia's disaster response system, as well as to reduce Armenia's vulnerability to disasters through mitigation efforts, thereby improving the economic, social, health, and environmental resilience to shocks and stress. The activity may also design disaster response and recovery interventions.

The Deputy Chief of Party (DCOP) plays a key role in supporting the Chief of Party (COP) to effectively manage and implement the project activities. The DCOP’s responsibilities may include oversight of small grants programming; financial, procurement, and budgeting management; human resources, subcontractor management; and project start-up and close-out. This is a full-time position based in Yerevan, Armenia and contingent upon contract award.

Reporting & Supervision:

The DCOP will report to COP. The DCOP will supervise other operational or program staff.

Primary Duties and Responsibilities: 

Supporting the COP to oversee operational and programmatic implementation of project activities, adhering to the project work plan to achieve results.
Ensuring program administration compliance with USAID rules and regulations and coordinating with Palladium’s Home Office on all compliance issues and legal and policy guidance.  
Building a project team and motivating impactful teamwork, Leading mentoring and development of personnel alongside COP.
Managing operational aspects of in-country programming including but not limited to administration, logistics, procurement, budgeting, finance, and staff movement and security. 
Ensuring transparency of all procurement processes through fair and transparent policies and procedures, robust financial management, and monitoring of grant or sub-contract implementation. 
Providing oversight of day-to-day field operations including administration, logistics, procurement, budgeting, financial accounting, and maintaining project facilities such as office space, equipment, and project vehicles. 
Overseeing day-to-day program administration and finance including but not limited to cash flow management, timesheet recording, and program and financial reporting.  
Supervising the day-to-day implementation of program activities and grants under contract.
Serving as Acting Chief of Party when the COP is absent from the program.  

Key Competencies Required: 

At least five (5) years with an advanced degree or seven (7) years with a bachelors degree, of relevant program management experience with a donor, contractor or national or international NGO supporting government capacity building, stakeholder engagement and/or community building.
A minimum of two (2) years supervisory experience, working with a culturally and socially diverse team. 
Experience in technical and financial aspects of USAID or outside donor-funded project administration..
Experience in project/activity/grants design and implementation.
Experience in hiring and supervising personnel and providing appropriate capacity building and training support.
Experience working with vulnerable and at-risk groups.
Demonstrated experience in overseeing program startup and closeout.
Experience managing programs in Armenia, Eurasia or the Caucasus or similar natural disaster-prone contexts.
Ability to work under pressure responding to evolving program goals and objectives.
Professional proficiency in written and oral English and Armenian. Russian comprehension preferred.

Equity, Diversity & Inclusion - 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, religion, ethnicity, sexual orientation, disability, nationality, veteran, marital or indigenous status.   

Should you require any adjustments or accommodations to be made due to a disability or you are a neurodivergent individual or any other circumstance, please email our team at accessibility@thepalladiumgroup.com.  

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.