Project Manager- Urban Zoo Projects

Vacancy Number: PM/AN /06/14
Department: Animal Biosciences
Duration: 2 years’ contract

ILRI seeks to recruit a Project Manager to support research within the Urban Zoo suite of projects. He/she will provide project management and coordination support across the Urban Zoo suite of projects, including co-ordination of personnel, budgets, research deliverables and other key outputs.

ILRI works to enhance the roles livestock play in pathways out of poverty in developing countries. ILRI is a member of the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR) Consortium, a global research partnership of 15 centers working with many partners for a food-secure future. ILRI has two main campuses in East Africa and other hubs in West and southern Africa and South and Southeast Asia. 

The Centre’s headquarters are located in Nairobi, Kenya, and research is conducted in 31 countries in Africa, Asia and Latin America. We are supported by the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR) and receive funding from over 50 different donors. CGIAR is a global agricultural research partnership for a food-secure future. Its science is carried out by 15 research centres that are members of the CGIAR Consortium in collaboration with hundreds of partner organizations. 

Key Responsibilities

• Take primary responsibility for documentation and follow-up of the project;
• Acting as a primary point of contact for all issues related to the project;
• Assist the Principal Investigators (PIs) in oversight of project budgets, and tracking project finances to assist the accounting officer in the monthly routine accounting duties;
• Co-ordinate project components with other members of the project team, on behalf of the PIs;
• Pro-actively work with all project team members to ensure work plans are on track and to identify problems before they arise, ideally achieved through regular (every 2 weeks) meetings with each of the project teams to oversee ongoing activities and catalyse the solving of any issues;
• Facilitate and lead communication between different teams within the project;
• Lead in the implementation of project database systems for lab and field data collection;
• Ensure that project databases are working efficiently;
• Take a lead role in coordination of and communication with project partners, including Government officials, collaborators, local chiefs.  This will include being the key contact person for the project’s primary stakeholders, with whom a long running positive relationship should be established;
• Project cycle planning, including defining time-lines and deliverable endpoints for all six project threads (using, for example, Open Proj/MS Project);
• Develop existing (or create De novo) online collaborative tools;
• Contribute to the online presence of the project, including maintaining project website, twitter feed and newsletter;
• Maintain a contacts database for all project staff, students and visiting academics
• Act as the focal point for field logistics;
• Act as the focal point for stores supply/ordering with external suppliers, and maintain up to date inventories of supplies and consumable shipping;
• Maintain the Project Document repository, including contributions to project documents themselves;
• Indexing of spatial databases;
• Take a lead role in assisting project staff in defining their work plans;
• Write monthly summary reports for dissemination to all project members, summarizing project progress and progress in meeting project targets;
• Oversee project expenditure and take a lead role, with the accountant, in managing the project budgets.  Act on behalf of the project leads to authorize expenditure;
• Develop and maintain a Risk register;
• Assist in planning and logistics for project meetings (internal/multi-partner);
• Perform other project management duties as required.

Requirements

• Master’s Degree in Epidemiology, management or a related subject;
• At least 2 years of relevant work experience;
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills and an engaging personality;
• Ability to work in a multi-disciplinary environment;
• Track record of project management in an international organization environment;
• Track record in budget management;
• Strong IT skills;
• Experience with data entry in electronic databases;
• Fieldwork experience;

• Understanding of the veterinary public health landscape in Kenya will be an added advantage;

• Ability to work in a fast paced environment with interdisciplinary teams of scientists and partner organizations;
• Ability to communicate with different stakeholders;
• Ability to handle electronic data entry and data management;
• Strong English language skills, both written and spoken;
• Willingness to travel frequently within Nairobi.

Terms of appointment:

This is a Nationally Recruited Staff (NRS) positions based at ILRI’s Nairobi campus and is for a 2 years’ contract period.

Job level and salary: 

This position is job level 3A with a starting salary of KES 181,317 per month. In addition ILRI currently offers medical insurance for staff and dependents, Life insurance, Pension at 12.5% employers contribution, Annual holiday entitlement of 30 days+ public holidays within ILRI’s National Recruited Staff Scheme.

How to apply:

Applicants should send a cover letter and CV explaining their interest in the position, what they can bring to the job and the names and addresses (including telephone and email) of three referees who are knowledgeable about the candidate’s professional qualifications and work experience to the Human Resources Director through our recruitment portal: http://ilri.simplicant.com/ before 27 June 2014. The position title and reference number  REF: PM/AN /06/14 should be clearly marked on the subject line of the online application.

ILRI is an equal opportunity employer