Senior Program Manager – Water Resource Management

Position Title:              Senior Program Manager – Water Resource Management

Location:                      Arlington, Virginia; Little Rock, Arkansas; or Remote within the U.S.

Department:               Agriculture, Resilience, and Water

Reports To:                  Technical Director - Water

Winrock International (Winrock) is a non-profit organization that works around the world to increase economic opportunity, sustain natural resources, and protect the environment. Winrock strengthens the capacity of women, children, youth, civil society organizations, and businesses to actively participate in sustainable development and to positively impact society.

Agriculture, Resilience and Water (ARW) Group   

The Agriculture, Resilience and Water (ARW) group partners with rural communities, businesses, and local leaders to develop market-oriented, climate-smart solutions at scale that increase food production and profitability, expand market access, secure natural resources, and build resilient livelihoods. Using a systems lens, we apply local and global expertise to advance inclusive, equitable, and sustainable economic growth for all, especially the historically marginalized.  ARW prioritizes data-led consensus building solutions to strengthen water resource management to facilitate reliable, equitable access to the multiple uses of water services as unpredictable weather and rising temperatures and sea levels alter the availability and quality of water supply.

POSITION SUMMARY: 

The Senior Program Manager, Water Resources Management provides technical assistance and project implementation oversight to programs that strengthen water security and water resources management (WRM). The Senior Program Manager, Water Resources Management will liaise on a daily basis with relevant project offices and supervise the work of one or more Program Associates. The position involves overseeing, coordinating, and monitoring project activities; preparing, reviewing, and managing project budgets; ensuring compliance with USG procedures; providing quality assurance of technical reports and other deliverables; communicating with project staff; and liaising with donors. The Senior Program Manager, Water Resources Management is responsible for ensuring programmatic, budgetary, and implementation excellence; facilitating strong and regular communication with the project teams; providing rapid and ongoing support to Chiefs of Party; and representing Winrock at water focused and resilience events. The candidate is also expected to significantly contribute to proposal development and program design efforts, including leading or writing water resource management focused proposals or other roles as needed to expand Winrock’s funding and partnership opportunities. 

ESSENTIAL RESPONSIBILITIES:

• Serve as Senior Program Manager for assigned projects, working closely with project teams to develop project strategies, work plans, budgets, and reports. 
• Track and monitor programs, as assigned, to ensure they are fulfilling deliverable and performance requirements at a high quality, on time, and within budget. 

• Work closely with the Chiefs of Party to achieve project objectives, and manage work processes associated with program outputs, deliverables and operational compliance, including, but not limited to, work plans, budget monitoring, procurement and grant packages, internal/external reports, and written and oral communications and correspondence with clients, donors and external audiences. Manage relevant databases, support monitoring and evaluation processes, and link project data with required donor reporting.
• Provide technical expertise on Water Resources Management, including designing programming at the nexus of water, climate and food security.
• Develop and implement WRM approaches and tools, through a collaborating, learning, and adapting approach grounded in evidence generated from current and past Winrock projects and aligned with USAID strategies and the competitive landscape in the sector.
• Assist project and country-teams in design, implementation, monitoring and documentation of evidence and learning from WRM activities, through remote and in-person guidance, capacity building, development of resources and review of project documents.
• Assist the Technical Director, Water on water-related opportunities supporting funding, thought leadership, external and internal communication, and technical advocacy, aligned with the organization strategy, in areas including water security, WRM financing, private sector engagement, WASH, water-agriculture-food-energy-climate linkages.
• Lead select business development efforts, including the technical design of approaches, writing proposals, support personnel recruitment, coordinate partnerships and ensure coherent budgeting and operational planning.
• Supervise Project Associate(s) and mentor operational and technical field staff to ensure sound project management, donor compliance, organizational success and individual advancement.
• Perform other tasks as assigned.

QUALIFICATIONS AND BACKGROUND:

• Education:
  • Bachelor’s degree required, Master’s or advanced degree preferred in a field related to Water Resources Management, Environment, Hydraulics/Civil engineering, WASH, Geography or Public Policy and Governance of Natural Resources
• Work Experience:
  • At least 7 years of progressive project/program management, on international development projects funded by USG/USAID or major donors
  • Experience in technical and managerial roles in Water Resources Management projects, or WASH, Natural Resources Management, Climate Change or Environment
  • At least 4 years of project/program development experience, including developing proposals for USAID and major donors
• Skills:
  • Demonstrated strong analytical capability and problem-solving abilities required
  • Strong program analysis, planning, new business development and conceptualization skills
  • Demonstrated writing abilities
  • Demonstrated project management and financial management skills
  • Excellent understanding of donors’ rules and regulations and partner institutions
  • Demonstrated team building skills, previous staff management preferred
  • Excellent organizational skills essential, including ability to coordinate a variety of tasks, meet deadlines, work effectively under pressure, and work as team player
  • Proficiency with Microsoft Office required
  • Excellent communication (oral and written) and interpersonal skills required
  • English professional-level oral and written fluency required
  • Fluency in Spanish or French desired
• Other:
  • Must be willing and able to travel without dependents to remote locations both domestically and internationally on short trips, up to 25% of the time

Salary: This position has a salary range between $115,000 - $120,000 with an additional 10% 403b annual contribution and additional excellent benefits package Winrock offers competitive pay and an excellent benefits package.

Diversity

Guided by our belief that organizations do their best work when individuals with different backgrounds and perspectives are fully engaged, Winrock International is dedicated to building an inclusive workplace that respects the dignity of each individual. We are committed to fostering a culture that embraces diverse perspectives and believe that a diverse workforce broadens our understanding of the communities we serve and enhances and enriches our work.

Winrock International is an Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action Employer, and we comply fully with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). We are committed to creating and maintaining a diverse workforce through our recruitment and employment practices.

At Winrock we have a clear mission: Empower the disadvantaged, increase economic opportunity and sustain natural resources through unwavering dedication to accountability, equity, innovation, integrity and transformation.

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