Vice President Awards Management Unit

Closed: 21 January 2018
Fundraising Management

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  • Salary Competitive
  • Location New York, United States, North America (On-site)
  • Job Type Full-time
  • Sectors International Development
  • Job Reference :

Job Title:Vice President Awards Management Unit

Location: New York, HQ

Reports to: Senior Vice President, AMU/USP

Directly supervises:Five staff and indirectly oversees a team of approximately 65 colleagues

Works closely with: International Programs, US programs, GPP, Policy and Advocacy, Finance, Office of General Counsel, IRC’s European Offices, and other stakeholders.

Salary:Competitive

Background

The Awards Management Unit (AMU), established in 2015, co-ordinates and streamlines the complete awards lifecycle for the organization's global public grants & contracts; which provides approximately $600 million or 80% of our global funding. The AMU provides a robust, field-facing structure that serves to coordinate and facilitate the Grants Lifecycle from opportunity to close out using best-in-class processes and systems to provide transparent information for grants oversight, donor compliance, donor relations, and organizational decision-making. 

Since its inception AMU has worked vigorously to establish clarity of roles and responsibilities, consistency in review and approval processes, as well as accountability for data and decision-making.  We have built an impressive management team who are committed to delivering best in class donor relations, business development, compliance, grants management and training.  The AMUs improved business systems will continue to improve the scale and effectiveness of IRC programs worldwide with evidence of what works best to impact people’s lives in conflict and fragile settings.

The AMU works in close coordination with the IRC's Global Partnerships and Philanthropy (GPP) department, which is responsible for the global delivery of the International Rescue Committee’s private sector financial resources, and plays an important strategic role in the creation of its brand, awareness and support for its advocacy goals.

Vice President of Awards Management Unit:

The Vice President of Awards Management Unit will work in close partnership with a number of departments within IRC, including but not limited to, GPP, International Programs Department, US Programs Department, Policy and Advocacy, Finance, Office of General Counsel, and IRC’s European offices. The VP will provide day-to-day leadership, tactical direction and ensure effective implementation of the global operation and best in class delivery of IRC’s global grants and contracts

S/he will be the operational lead and champion of the AMU business – ensuring that we build a strong, highly motivated and well-trained team, processes and culture which ensures the AMU and all global donor facing colleagues and partners are best placed to succeed. S/he will ensure guidance and practical/hands on problem solving support across the global government grants and contracts network.

S/he will lead be accountable for our global donor business development plans, from a strategic and operational perspective and will ensure effective compliance, analytics, KPIs and planning systems are in place to support and analyze performance across all our government income streams. This key role will ensure that the AMU builds extremely strong delivery partnerships with IRC’s programs teams (International Programs, Policy and Practice and US Programs) to support the development of stronger field partnerships.

S/he will help ensure that AMU as a whole is an exciting, disciplined, creative and high performing global international business development, compliance, and donor facing operation, which consistently places the needs of our clients at the heart of its work.

Major Responsibilities:

  1. Coordinate and ensure alignment of IRC institutional funding strategies in order to position IRC as the premier, effective and innovative humanitarian agency in the view of key funding partners.
  2. Develop a strategy to continue to build IRC's capacity in winning, managing and reporting on grants and contracts from global government donors; continue to ensure IRC is working according to the highest standard in its bid development and reporting to donors; oversee the development of top level policies, procedures and tools.
  3. Lead the development of high quality tools and systems to manage prime and sub-award agreements and develop key partners' capacity.
  4. Supervise, lead and develop the Award Management Unit's directors and their teams globally to build a highly skilled and efficient unit that provides top quality support and guidance to IRC field offices.
  5. Work with AMU staff to identify and implement recruitment and retention strategies for field staff engaged in Award Management.
  6. Establish a model for career and talent development for grants management staff in order to improve performance and retention.
  7. Ensure effective partnership with the Ethics and Compliance Unit.
  8. Advise senior management on IRC donor developments affecting near and long- term funding opportunities and develop strategies and tactics in response to those trends.
  9. Develop and maintain strategic partnerships with key donors and institutions, ensuring good relationships and developing strategies for donor diversification and outreach. Work closely with senior staff charged with developing and maintaining donor relationships to ensure that synergies and any cross leverage within the global portfolio are utilized.
  10. Foster a culture of information management and data quality to ensure AMU systems are fit for purpose and regularly used.
  11. Ensure alignment between AMU’s work and the IRC 2020 Strategy in order to ensure the delivery of field office Strategy Action Plans.
  12. Manage the AMU team with commitment, integrity and accountability to the IRC Code of Conduct.

Job Requirements:

Education: Bachelor & Masters/MBA degree

Work Experience: A minimum of 10 years in high level management roles and experience in the humanitarian sector

Demonstrated Skills and Competencies:

  • Proven track record in successful change management and strong knowledge of organizational development.
  • Core competencies in government grant funding in a global context and at a high value level, ideally at all stages of the cycle – including donor relations, business development, grants submission and compliance.
  • Experience liaising with government donors
  • Strong knowledge or experience in international work
  • Strong knowledge of strategic planning, global team building.
  • Strong analytic skills and fluency in financial management.
  • Rigorous and critical thinker, able to ask probing clear questions.
  • Predisposition toward lean and practical solutions.
  • Strong interpersonal skills, collegial and collaborative, high energy, good humored and creative leader.
  • Experience working in matrix management environment
  • Extensive experience of working collaboratively with Programs teams, Finance, and Legal including across multiple locations.
  • Experience managing staff remotely
  • Excellent written and verbal communication

Working Environment:

  • The AMU is a global unit, with AMU staff, including direct reports, located across four continents and working remotely. 
  • A collegiate environment working collaboratively across the broader IRC. 
  • Strong sense of transparency and accountability to ensure we are doing right by our beneficiaries and donors, exemplifying the IRC Code of Conduct.
  • US and international travel is required. 

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