Senior Project Manager

Splash is an international development organization founded in 2007 and headquartered in Seattle, Washington, USA. In 15 years, we have reached over 800,000 children in cities around the world. In 2019, we embarked on an exciting, five-year initiative, Project WISE (WASH in Schools for Everyone), which focused on reaching over 800,000 children in three major growth cities - Addis Ababa and Bahir Dar, Ethiopia and Kolkata, India - with improved water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) infrastructure, WASH behavior change programs, and strengthened school-based menstrual health programs. Looking ahead, we aim to expand our impact to new cities across five countries in Asia and Africa.

Splash supports local leaders, institutions, and partners to drive lasting change on the ground. We believe that local capacity to solve problems at scale exists, and our job is to strategically support and magnify the impact of local governments, non-profit and for-profit actors for the good of children and families across the cities in which we work. 

Our core values guide everything we do including every hiring decision we make. They are: 

• People - People first. People second. People third.
• Quality - Beautiful products that function and last.
• Honesty - No drama, no surprises, no BS. 
• Joy - Kids at heart, seeing potential everywhere.
• Mistakes - Make them, don’t repeat them.

Splash values the unique skills and experiences each individual brings to the organization and we are committed to creating and maintaining an inclusive and accessible environment for everyone. We provide equal employment opportunities to all employees and qualified applicants for employment. Women are strongly encouraged to apply.

To learn more, please visit  www.splash.org.

The Job

This is a full-time position based in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

POSITION OVERVIEW

Splash envisions a world where every school in Ethiopia has sustainable access to safe water, hygienic and girl-friendly sanitation, handwashing facilities that are used, and menstrual health support so children can learn and thrive. We support the Government of Ethiopia’s vision for WASH in schools.

The Senior Project Manager will leverage the significant capacity of partners in Bahir Dar to implement thoughtfully, creatively, and ultimately at scale and more broadly, given the scope of partner(s) activity in Ethiopia, liaise with and support government departments throughout the country and build momentum for proven models that can be scaled and replicated. 

The position requires a hands-on WASH leader with experience in developing/designing, planning, implementing, monitoring, and reporting on complex programs and budgets; experience with personnel and contractor management; the ability to collaborate effectively with government technical experts and officials at the Bureau, sub-city, and woreda levels, and a strong understanding of risk and conflict management.

The position holder will work under the direct supervision of Splash’s Regional Director, Amhara, and closely collaborate with Splash’s global leadership team.

DUTIES & RESPONSIBILITIES

Technical Assistance

• Support the Regional Director as a key liaison between Splash, government stakeholders, and partner staff towards the ambitions outlined above. 
• With partners, define a blueprint for sustainable water supply, sanitation, handwashing, and menstrual health implementation.
• Successfully plan, schedule, prepare, and facilitate collaborative forums with partners, and local stakeholders; co-design sessions on infrastructure, behavior change, and menstrual health interventions; as well as forums to disseminate learnings, and influence local, state, and regional actors to adopt the model and invest resources towards WASH in Schools.
• With partners, identify school locations for pilots and obtain appropriate school and government approvals to proceed with implementation and evaluation activities.  Support partners, who will identify whoever is appropriate within the community, to lead on implementation, advocacy, and learning. 
• Provide financial and narrative updates to Splash on a quarterly basis throughout the grant term.
• Serve as a conduit of learning across Splash and the wider local stakeholder community so that the strengths of all are further amplified during and after the grant period. 
• Unlock the talent of partners to create the conditions and momentum for scaled impact. 
• Coordinate Splash efforts to support the expansion of its successful schools-based interventions via partners in ways that is impactful and contextualized for local conditions.
• Influence partners; schools; and local, regional, and state government stakeholders to adopt the model while prioritizing and expanding WASH in Schools programs.
• Champion the clear pathway forward for WASH in Schools that is not only compelling but elicits funding support to expand and support future work.   
• Create, implement, and track all high-level work plans and budgets, considering logistics, contractor management, behavior change, sustainability, and procurement activities and regularly communicate updates to key cross-functional team members in Addis and U.S.
• Work closely with the Partnerships Department to track different grant timelines, requirements, reporting needs, program implementation and budget utilization versus planned works and financial projections and communicate to all members of the Ethiopia team (across departments) as needed.
• Ensure the use of data and evidence to guide and enhance planning and strategy development.
• Champion high-quality, on-time entry of programmatic data by the program team into Salesforce (our program data management system).

Strategic Partnerships

• Liaise with concerned project staff, local stakeholders (Woreda, Sub City, and Bureau level relevant government offices), and school management to ensure on-time and on-budget implementation and sustainability of the project interventions.
• Support knowledge sharing among global Splash team members, country and global strategy development and refinement, and development of expansion plans.
• Represent Splash in a professional and positive way, communicating with partners and co-workers with a high level of respect.

About You

EDUCATION, EXPERIENCE, & PERSONAL CHARACTERISTICS

• Second Degree in Construction Management, Civil Engineering, Water Resource Engineering, Environmental Engineering, and Project Management, or other related fields.
• Highly proficient in WASH program and project design and management, construction management and at least 10 years of experience working on major construction and/or WASH projects including at least 10 years of personnel, project management, and program leadership experience with integration of behavior change and sustainability-oriented interventions; urban and rural construction/engineering experience strongly preferred.
• Ability to collaborate effectively with international and local staff, local implementation partners, contractors, government partners, and vendors.
• Experience in leading program sustainability management and working with schools and local stakeholders on ensuring local ownership of project interventions.  
• Highly proficient with Microsoft Office and Project Management software and methodologies.
• Professional level of written and verbal fluency in English and Amharic.
• 10 years of experience working in Ethiopia.

DESIRED ATTRIBUTES

• You exhibit absolute integrity, honesty, openness, and sound judgment.
• You demonstrate excellent organizational skills, self-motivation, flexibility, and the ability to work and thrive in a fast-paced, energetic, entrepreneurial environment.
• You are an excellent communicator, with the ability to listen, communicate effectively, and build trust with a wide variety of internal and external constituents.
• You enjoy collaboration and have a genuine interest in learning from and developing others.
• Innovative and creative: you constantly seek better ways to accomplish objectives.
• You think critically and put a high value on offering and receiving constructive feedback.
• You have a deep belief in and passion for Splash’s work and the children we serve.
• You represent Splash in a professional and positive way, communicating with partners and co-workers with a high level of respect.
• You are willing and able to participate in meetings outside of normal business hours, as needed.
• You are willing to travel to Bahir Dar or Addis Ababa frequently.

COMPENSATION & BENEFITS

The annual salary for this position will be commensurate with experience and will be reviewed at least annually.