Gatsby Africa is recruiting Two Programme Directors to lead Gatsby’s sector development work in Textiles and Forestry in Tanzania. This is an opportunity to use your skills, experience and creativity in an environment with huge scope for innovation to build relationships and influence change at various levels across the private sector and government. These are ambitious and complex development programmes, seeking to establish the conditions for competitive, inclusive and resilient industry sectors, with high calibre teams already in place.

Programme Directors (PDs) are responsible for all aspects of running large-scale sector development programmes from design and implementation to managing relationships, monitoring and reporting, as well as all aspects of staff, financial and operations management.  These are technical roles, requiring substantial professional knowledge and expertise in private sector development. PDs will need to understand all aspects of the successful delivery of development programmes, from initial analysis and design of activities; through implementation and management of political economy challenges; to monitoring, evaluating and adapting; to learning and reporting.

The ideal candidates will have at least 10 years’ work experience at managerial level in industry OR private sector consultancy OR project management.  They will be strategic thinkers with sound judgement, private sector DNA and ability to rapidly grasp a new way of working and different strategic goals, coupled with substantive exposure to operational challenges in private sector development.  These roles also require excellent inter-personal and communication skills – written and oral – in both formal and informal settings.  Beyond this, these are critical people management roles, requiring excellent people management skills, including mentoring and coaching skills.

Skills

• A passion for development, with a results-oriented approach.
• Integrity and commitment to high standards of professional performance.
• Excellent work planning and communication skills.
• Initiative and the ability to work independently, taking a high degree of personal responsibility for the team’s results.
• A private sector outlook on development, with enthusiasm for promoting private sector investment to drive results and commercial sensibility.
• Ability to think ambitiously and to combine thinking and analysis with programme delivery.
• Strong intellectual curiosity, with a keenness to learn and innovate.
• Strong analytical skills: able to provide deep assessments of industry constraints, rapidly identify problems with data and to use information to make compelling arguments.
• Strong project management skills: able to monitor multiple workstreams across a range of technical areas (economics, finance, technology, institutional development), co-ordinate contracting partners and stakeholders, foresee potential choke-points in delivery and take necessary action.
• Strong personnel management skills, including a deep commitment to staff development and coaching.
• Excellent external stakeholder relationship management skills across both the private and public sector at the highest level (Company Board and Ministerial).

Knowledge

• A commitment to, and understanding of, market development solutions, with an ability to understand sector dynamics and approaches to transforming entire sectors.
• A detailed understanding of government systems, particularly in an East African context, and of approaches to policy reform. An understanding of public policy decision-making processes and of the means of influencing policy effectively.
• Up-to-date with the latest thinking and best practice in private sector development skills, but also within specific sectors.
• Knowledge of, and experience in, textile and garments industries or the commercial forestry sector is an advantage but not a necessity. We place more emphasis on other criteria.

Experience

• Proven experience of managing large-scale and complex private sector development organisations, including market facilitation programmes.
• A minimum of 10 years’ work experience at managerial level in industry OR private sector consultancy OR project management.
• International experience of working in developing countries, with deep experience of working in East Africa (preferably Tanzania).
• A demonstrable record of building relationships and influencing change at various levels across the private sector and government.
• Strong track record of successfully leading and managing projects with multiple stakeholders, handling annual budgets of at least $3m.

Bachelor’s degree required. MBA or advanced degree, particularly in the areas of Business Administration, Economics, International Development, Agribusiness, Finance, or a business-related field preferred.