Position: Senior Program Manager for Asia, NDI

The National Democratic Institute for International Affairs (NDI) seeks a Senior Program Manager in its Washington DC office to support the Regional Director in supervising the Asia team.

Primary Responsibilities

• Designs and oversees the implementation of program activities;
• Provides assistance and team leadership in day-to-day internal management of regional department and acts as management focal point in absence of Regional Director;
• Responds to NDI staff inquiries requiring functional or regional expertise;
• Contributes to the planning, design and evaluation of NDI’s projects for the region in collaboration with local partners, in-house experts and external experts and advisors;
• Maintains collaborative relationships with international democratic development organizations, civic organizations in the US and the region, national and international news organizations, political party networks and partners, and NDI’s network of volunteer trainers and experts;
• Monitors assigned region’s annual budget; provides a full, accurate and timely accounting of all funds;
• Monitors political events in assigned regional department;
• Serves as “high-level” NDI representative at local and international conferences and meetings and assists with NDI’s public outreach;
• Provides final edits on regional department generated documents;
• Travels to the region (or assigned country) to assess political development and new opportunities and evaluates current projects; serves as “Resident Director” in absence of established office or staff;
• Supervises, guides and mentors subordinates;
• Takes necessary steps to fill staff vacancies and orchestrates recruiting for assigned region, i.e. approves job descriptions, develops short-lists and interviews.

Qualifications

• Bachelors Degree, preferably in International Relations or related subject, graduate degree desired;
• Preferably a minimum of nine (9) years relevant work experience in international development, community organizing, political campaigns, organizational development, legislative affairs, or impressive experience at NDI. Additional years of relevant work experience may be substituted for educational requirement on a one-for-one basis ;
• Living or working experience outside of the US preferred;
• Exceptional interpersonal skills and cultural sensitivity to effectively interact with all levels of staff, US and foreign government personnel, members of donor organizations, funders, and policy makers;
• Superior oral communications skills to effectively present information, respond to questions and negotiate;
• Foreign language ability applicable to region preferred;
• Exceptional competency in one or more areas of NDI’s functional programs, in addition to a highly developed knowledge of the assigned region’s political environment and people;
• Exceptional analytical skills for interpreting complex program and political issues and to think innovatively and introduce new concepts;
• Superior writing skills, clear, persuasive and experienced enough to edit all types of team documents;
• Established network, through years of experience, of significant contacts and political leaders;
• Experienced management and leadership skills in order to lead, inspire and motivate staff where results are clearly beneficial;
• Experience in program design and how to strategize;
• Working knowledge of PC-based word processing and spreadsheet applications;
• Seasoned budget and accounting skills;
• Proficiency in Mandarin Chinese desirable;
• Prior experience working with programs in China is strongly desired;
• Ability and willingness to travel to regional locations which are often remote and difficult to reach.

For more information, see the NDI website.