Institutional Systems Strengthening Lead (ISSL)

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.  

Palladium Americas:

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 Institutional Systems Strengthening Lead (ISSL) plays will be responsible for strengthening the Government of Armenia’s (GoA) institutional capacity and organizational reform resulting in better leadership of DRM.

Primary Duties and Responsibilities: 

Strengthen GoA’s capacity to support inter-ministerial coordination for DRM.
Work with GoA to embed tools, maps, and science products developed under similar functional DRM programs into their systems and processes.
Establish a coordinated process for GoA to seek donor support in implementation of GoA’s programmatic priorities and ways to track, measure, and evaluate these supports.
Provide technical inputs and logistical support to strengthen critical areas of GoA including coordination, strategy setting, policy, knowledge management, and communications.
Provide Technical Assistance support such as training, workshops, internships, study tours, mentoring, and coaching.
Undertake consultations with GoA and other stakeholders to determine specific activities to be delivered each year.
Support GoA’s procurement systems in emergencies including reviewing implications for procurement regulation reform.
Support policy dialogue between ministries within the GoA.
Other strategy and policy development, coordination, knowledge management, organizational planning and monitoring as required.
Conduct taskforce meetings resulting in greater information sharing and outcomes.
Plan and support government buy-in as well as support transitioning all support functions to government.
Working with the DRM Community Resilience Lead, strengthen feedback between national and sub-national levels on learnings related to DRM processes, particularly disaster response to inform on GoA Planning and institutional strengthening processes.

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 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.
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.

Diversity, Equity, & 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 accommodations 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.