USAID CATALYZE MS4G:  Senior Grants Manager

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. 

Project Background
USAID CATALYZE Market Systems for Growth (MS4G) focuses on creating transformative outcomes in the food security and WASH sectors to benefit all Ethiopian people. To achieve these goals, the activity engages youth, mobilizes capital, increases access to finance, connects enterprises to markets, and supports stakeholders to self-advocate towards policy change which will promote opportunities for the private sector community. The project supports activities in Addis Ababa and secondary cities.

To strengthen the private sector in the food security and WASH sectors, MS4G uses a market-based approach to enhance enterprises’ performance, product/service delivery, and inclusion. The activities are designed to build institutional capacity, enhance knowledge and skill transfers through workforce development initiatives, advance the business enabling environment, accelerate digital transformations and scale best practices to increase productivity and quality.

Location:
The position is based in Palladium’s Addis Ababa, Ethiopia Office

Estimated Start Date:
This assignment is expected to commence in February 2025.

Reporting and Supervision:
The Senior Grants Manager will report to the CATALYZE: MS4G, Director, Operations & Compliance. S/he will be responsible for overseeing all aspects of the grants program under the Market Systems for Growth activity. The Senior Grants Manager will ensure the project’s compliance with Palladium and USAID policies, rules and regulations. S/he reports primarily to the Director, Operations & Compliance with secondary reporting to the Grants Manager, CATALYZE (US). S/he will supervise the Grant Manager and Grant Advisors.

Specific responsibilities of MS4G’s Senior Grants Manager include, but are not limited to:

- Provide guidance to the Grants team on USAID regulations and terms and conditions as they relate to the grant lifecycle and administration of GUCs.
- Ensure the development and execution of all aspects of the Grant under Contract (GUC) process in accordance with Palladium’s USAID-approved Grants Under Contract (GUC) manual,
- Prepare and maintain tools and trackers in coordination with the CATALYZE US Grant Manager and Director of Operations and Compliance to ensure process standardization and compliance
- Provide feedback to the CATALYZE US Grant Manager and Director of Operations and Compliance on ways to improve GUC processes.
- Provide targeted trainings staff, including finance and technical teams, as required, to build the capacity in GUC implementation and management.  
- Manage the communications between project staff and grant recipients and refer technical issues encountered during grants implementation to the Director of Operations and Compliance, CATALYZE: MS4G.
- Lead and monitor completion of grants milestones and report issues hampering the smooth implementation of grants to the Director of Operations and Compliance, CATALYZE: MS4G.
- Monitor grants activity and expenditure to accurately contribute to the project’s financial forecasts
- Oversee the development of proper and compliant RFA
- Lead the reviews of grant proposal including grantee negotiation, pre-award risk assessments, and cost analyses. 
- Review and approve draft grants agreement, including milestone tables, in compliance with applicable Palladium policies and procedures and USAID conditions.
- Serve as the primary point of contact for all issues with CATALYZE MS4G grantees.
- Resolve in a timely manner internal and external issues/problems related to grants administration in coordination with CATALYZE Grant Manager
- Conduct training and capacity building, as needed, for grantees and those unfamiliar with USAID funding.
- Facilitate and participate actively in periodic internal and external meetings to assess compliance with terms and conditions of awards and assume leadership in ensuring that deficiencies in compliance are corrected.
- Ensure the maintenance of audit-ready grant files and facilitate external grants audits as required.
- Collaborate with Communications and MEL components in providing GUC data for reporting requirements.

Supervisory responsibilities include:
- Develop and implement detailed grant programming plans to support delivery.  
- Manage the workflow of the unit along with the team (Grant Manager and Grant Advisors).
- Provides training to all staff, including new hires.
- Evaluates performance and provide frequent feedback to her/his direct reports.
- Work with the staff to identify career development opportunities and provide them with coaching and support.
- In consultation with the next level supervisor, resolve staff issues and disputes when arises

Desired Qualifications and experience
- A minimum of bachelor’s degree in finance, Grant Management, Business Administration or any other related field. - Master's Degree in one of the above related fields is preferred. 
- At least 10 years of relevant work experience in grants administration on large-scale,
- At least four years of experience working on grants funded by USAID.

Required competencies
- Ability to work under pressure and meet deadlines
- Strong analytical skills to successfully perform financial reviews, determination of responsibility, and other forms of qualitative analysis
- Strong financial and grant management experience 
- Proven experience in launching, evaluating, negotiating, administering, and closing-out grants under contract. 
- Expert level knowledge of various types of Grants.  
- Experience building relationships with local organizations and building their capacity to administer large donor grant funds
- Professional level of oral and written fluency in English language
- Relevant computer software skills and familiarity with standard applications in MS Office. 

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 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.