Program Manager, Partnerships and Systems

Required education, experience and competencies:

• Bachelor’s degree in a related field
  
• Minimum 5 years of experience in international development, including experience in project backstopping, grants or subaward management, program operations, or partnership management
  
• Demonstrated experience managing subawards or partner agreements across the full lifecycle, including partner selection, due diligence, subaward development, budget review and negotiation, and implementation oversight.
  
• Experience leading or supporting cost rationalization, cost efficiency, or value-for-money exercises
  
• Experience developing and strengthening operational systems, tools, templates, and standard operating procedures to improve consistency, compliance, and efficiency in partner or grant management.
  
• Strong analytical skills and excellent written and verbal communication skills to interpret financial and operational data and translate and clearly communicate findings into recommendations.
  

Partner Management Systems Building

• Assess Spark’s current partner management system and procedures and design standardized systems, tools, and guidance for partner selection, onboarding, risk assessment, and implementation oversight across programs
  
• Develop and maintain partner management documentation, including templates and standard operating procedures
  
• Strengthen systems for partner budget review and negotiations to support cost efficiency and alignment with program design
  

Surge Support and Quality Assurance throughout Partner Life Cycle

• Provide quality assurance and technical review throughout the partner lifecycle, including partner capacity assessments, budget negotiations, subaward reviews, and implementation oversight.
  
• In coordination with country teams, review partner scopes of work, subawards, and budgets to ensure alignment with program design and cost expectations.
  
• Provide surge support to country teams in partner identification, selection, and negotiation processes, as needed.
  

Lead Cost Rationalization Workstream

• Lead cost analysis and rationalization exercises across country programs, including analyzing program and partner costs, identifying cost drivers and inefficiencies, and developing cost efficiency analyses
  
• Using analyses, develop recommendations for Spark leadership and country programs and work with country programs to adjust the delivery model to implement quality programs more efficiently
  
• Build and institutionalize tools and practices to support ongoing cost rationalization at the country-level
  

Program Risk Mitigation

• Lead the setting and enacting of a process for identifying, assessing and mitigating risk across country programs
  
• Contribute to Program designs and proposal development relating to risk identification and mitigation
  
• Where necessary, lead cross program work streams to minimize and mitigate identified risks
  

Cross-Organizational Skill-Building and Support

• Provide ongoing support and coaching to country teams on the partner management and cost rationalization systems through proactive identification of challenges, gaps, and opportunities for improvement
  
• Develop and deliver training and support to other relevant departments, including Design and M&E, on skills and systems related to partner selection/management, risk assessment, and cost efficiency