About the Role
The people of Wasafiri are brought together for their adventurous spirit, understanding of complex problems and track record of delivering change. We share a relentless optimism for Africa’s future, a hunger to move from dialogue to action, and a desire for excellence.
We are in search of a brilliant and professional person able to lead our Conflict & Extremism Portfolio. This person will be responsible for driving our portfolio forward, in terms of generating new opportunities, supporting high quality project delivery, and strengthening our network of outstanding consultants. Furthermore, they will help drive Wasafiri’s thought leadership by building upon our practice of navigating complex change to help our clients more effectively tackle conflict and extremism.
PORTFOLIO DEVELOPMENT (APPROX 30%)
We are committed to expanding our support to organisations tackling complex problems associated with conflict, instability and violent extremism. Working with our Commercial Director, the Portfolio Manager will lead and coordinate the identification of and response to new opportunities for expanding the portfolio of work where we believe we can make a meaningful difference for our clients.
Strengthening our approach to strategic opportunity identification – The Portfolio Manager will lead on our efforts to become more proactive and strategic in the identification of new business. This may include expanding and deepening our networks, applying learning across portfolios, developing market profiles.
Leading and coordinating proposal development – The Portfolio Manager will oversee Wasafiri’s efforts to develop high quality responses to new opportunities. These responsibilities are likely to include:
Serving as a thought partner to clients
Coordinating the proposal development team
Leading the response to technical requirements
Forming a high quality team
Developing the financial structure
Writing and presenting concepts and proposals
Deepening our capacity as specialists in this area – The Portfolio Manager will be responsible for ensuring Wasafiri’s technical capacity in the areas of Conflict, Stabilisation and Extremism are of the highest standards, as they relate to our core services of research, strategic planning, project design and management.
PROJECT DESIGN & DIRECTING (APPROX 50%)
The value we add is directly dependent upon how well we design and manage projects for our clients. Every Wasafiri project is led by a Team Leader, and overseen by a Project Director. It is anticipated that the Portfolio Manager will serve as Project Director (PD) and / or Team Leader (TL) for multiple projects within the portfolio. Key responsibilities in these roles are likely to include:
Strategic project leadership – The PD will provide strategic oversight and direction to Wasafiri’s engagements, ensuring our contributions are best placed to respond to the client’s needs and ultimately to effect positive change.
Strong client and institutional management – The PD serves as Wasafiri’s key link with our client, ensuring a strong relationship and institutional oversight for overall project quality and delivery.
Robust project and financial management – The PD and TL work together to oversee and coordinate the project, ensuring sound management of the workplan, finances, operations, risk and quality to deliver high quality outputs.
People and performance management – The PD and TL work together to establish and support a brilliant project team comprising a tailored team of consultants and specialists. Successful project delivery depends upon ensuring strong performance and relationship management at the heart of every team.
PRACTICE & PEOPLE DEVELOPMENT (APPROX 15%)
Wasafiri is defined by the quality of our people, and the strength of our practice in navigating complex change. For us, this is a collective undertaking, drawing from the skills, insights, experience and connections across the entire staff team at every level. The Portfolio Manager will be well positioned to play a leading role in these efforts from the perspective of Wasafiri’s experience tackling conflict, instability and extremism.
Strengthening our community of consultants and partners – A measure of our success is how well we support our people and our partners. The Portfolio Manager will work alongside our Operations & People Manager to proactively strengthen our community of consultants and specialists, to build a vibrant community of practice that equates to increasing the impact we generate for our clients.
Contributing to developing our practice around navigating complex change – Wasafiri is committed to deeply learning about how change happens within complex systems and problems. The Portfolio Manager will play an important role in contributing to our ongoing journey to deepen our thinking, practice and proposition.
OTHER RESPONSIBILITIES (APPROX 5%)
We are a fast-growing consulting business, with an expanding portfolio of impactful work being delivered across the continent. As such, no single Terms of Reference can adequately cover the extent of possible responsibilities required of our staff members. We therefore place a premium on the flexibility of staff to proactively seek areas beyond their Terms of Reference to contribute to our growth and community.
Who we are looking for
ESSENTIAL PROFESSIONAL SKILLS AND EXPERIENCE
Demonstrated strategic and thought leadership – The candidate will bring a track record of strategic leadership in their field, an ability to articulate how this has translated into positive change and concrete results. This will be closely connected with experience in providing thought leadership in fields related to the portfolio, particularly as it relates to Wasafiri’s wider ambition of tackling complex problems and issues.
Proven business and network development record – The candidate will be able to demonstrate a strong track record of identifying and securing new opportunities in fields related to conflict, stabilisation and extremism. Underpinning this, the candidate will be able to bring a strong and established network in the field, and articulate how this will be strengthened.
Outstanding team and people management skills – The candidate will be able to demonstrate their experience in working effectively with staff, consultants and institutional partners at all levels and in multinational teams. They will be able to highlight their experience with the technical processes required for attracting, recruiting, retaining and developing outstanding people, as well as demonstrate strong skills of coaching, mentoring, developing and managing people.
Excellent project management experience – The candidate will have a proven track record of managing complex projects and initiatives, particularly in regions affected by conflict and insecurity, and demonstrate strong experience with all aspects of effective project management, including related systems, risk and budget management.
Excellent relationship and communication skills – Along with outstanding relationship management skills, the role requires excellent written, oral and presentational skills as a pre-requisite.
Strong and relevant technical capacity – The candidate must be able to demonstrate deep technical skills relating to research, strategic planning, project design and management relating to the fields of conflict, stabilisation and extremism.
DESIRABLE EXPERIENCE
Commercial consulting experience – Ideally, the candidate will have had experience working within or with a commercial consultancy based organisation.
Living and working in East Africa – Ideally with the right to live and work in Kenya.
STYLE AND APPROACH
Excited to be in an entrepreneurial, start-up environment – This means a willingness to be flexible in the role, do what it takes to get the job done; comfortable negotiating with senior clients, and willing to, when needed, get stuck in with basic tasks.
Proactivity and autonomy – Wasafiri has a culture that values collaboration, relationships and high quality delivery. As a manager, the role requires a collaborative style, someone willing to be challenged by anyone in the organisation, able to provide coaching and hold people to account. The Portfolio Manager will be comfortable in an agile organisational environment not driven by hierarchy.
Focused on client needs – The Portfolio Manager will be comfortable working directly with clients across all levels of seniority, curious to understand their issues and willing to challenge them to help create the best possible solutions. The successful candidate will be an ambassador for Wasafiri able to represent the organisations in different forums and with a wide variety of organisations.
A curiosity about Wasafiri’s Complexity-based practice – and a willingness to invest in and be a champion of Wasafiri’s complexity aware approach to delivering change- including providing thought leadership and practice support to the Wasafiri team and consultants with whom you work
FURTHER INFORMATION
Location
The role is full-time based in Nairobi. Wasafiri also has offices in Brighton, UK. Some regional travel may be required, primarily across the East African region.
Compensation & Benefits
The position comes with an attractive compensation package based on skills and experience. This will be a permanent position, with 3-month trial period and then annual review process to ensure performance and remuneration is acceptable to both parties. Based on the above, we anticipate a salary package worth between £70-85,000 GBP.
