Job opportunities at ORDA Ethiopia

Position Summary

The National Hub Director provides strategic leadership, overall management, and operational oversight for the STREAM Project. The role is responsible for leading the planning, coordination, implementation, monitoring, and reporting of project activities to ensure agreed objectives, results, outputs, and targets are achieved on time, within budget, and in full compliance with ORDA Ethiopia, the donor, and applicable partnership agreements.

The Hub Director supervises the hub’s technical and operational teams, coordinates closely with national and regional governments, cluster-level project structures, and private-sector actors, and builds strong partnerships to promote harmonized implementation, technical quality, climate resilience, inclusive and community-owned WASH services, and sustainable livelihood opportunities in conflict- and climate-affected communities. Furthermore, the role ensures robust financial and operational controls, partner accountability, risk management, safeguarding, gender equality, disability inclusion, environmental and social responsibility, and evidence-based learning across the project lifecycle.

Duties and Responsibilities

Project Leadership and Management

• Provide overall strategic, managerial, and technical leadership for effective project implementation in accordance with the approved project document, results framework, budget, work plans, and partnership agreements.
• Oversee project start-up, administration, and execution, ensuring interventions are delivered on time, within budget, and aligned with ORDA Ethiopia, national, and donor quality standards.
• Facilitate the annual development of detailed implementation plans, ensuring rigorous technical quality and adherence to core project approaches (climate resilience, integrated natural resource management, market-based sanitation, and private-sector engagement).
• Ensure effective coordination between the National Hub, cluster offices, woreda-level teams, implementing partners, and ORDA Ethiopia’s Head Office.
• Systematically integrate community engagement, gender sensitivity, social inclusion, conflict sensitivity, and the “Do No Harm” principle into all project activities and safeguard beneficiary accountability standards.
• Ensure that project achievements, lessons learned, good practices, and innovations are documented, validated, and widely disseminated to inform program improvement.
• Collaborate closely with ORDA Ethiopia enabling departments (finance, procurement, property and facility, human administration, and security) to ensure operational systems effectively support field activities.
• Ensure ORDA Ethiopia’s safeguarding policies are strictly implemented across all clusters, reporting any form of abuse immediately to the organizational safeguarding officer.

Partnership and Stakeholder Coordination

• Lead coordination and collaboration among ORDA Ethiopia, implementing partners, government institutions, private-sector actors, and technical partners.
• Maintain constructive working relationships with donor and other authorized donor representatives, ensuring timely communication, effective follow-up, and compliance with partnership commitments.
• Establish clear partnership frameworks, coordination mechanisms, capacity-strengthening plans, and joint performance reviews, ensuring roles, responsibilities, and reporting lines are transparently defined.
• Promote alignment with regional and national priorities by fostering active coordination with relevant government offices across the four project regions.

Team Management

• Lead, supervise, and motivate the National Hub’s technical and operational teams, fostering a collaborative, respectful, and high-performance work environment.
• Guide recruitment, staff orientation, deployment, capacity development, and performance management in alignment with ORDA Ethiopia human resource policies.
• Communicate clear expectations, provide regular formal and informal feedback, and ensure team members have the necessary tools, resources, and support to reach their objectives.

Finance, Procurement, and Compliance Management

• Oversee the effective management and utilization of project resources in accordance with approved budgets, donor regulations, and ORDA Ethiopia procedures.
• Ensure timely finalization of partnership agreements with implementing partners and relevant regional governments.
• Oversee the preparation and review of annual budgets, cash-flow forecasts, expenditure plans, and budget revisions through proper approval channels.
• Monitor financial reports and internal controls to guarantee transparent resource utilization and timely financial reporting to management and donor.
• Ensure sub-grantees and implementing partners comply fully with financial, procurement, logistics, human resources, and internal control requirements.

Monitoring, Evaluation, Accountability, and Learning (MEAL)

• Oversee the implementation of the project’s MEAL framework, results framework, performance indicators, and data collection systems.
• Ensure reliable, verifiable, and disaggregated data is collected and analyzed to monitor progress and assess intervention quality.
• Promote accountability to affected populations through accessible feedback and complaints mechanisms, community consultations, and timely responses.
• Ensure independent evaluations, assessments, and lessons learned directly inform project adaptation and knowledge sharing.

Safeguarding, Integrity, and Risk Management

• Promote a zero-tolerance approach to sexual exploitation, abuse, harassment, fraud, corruption, and retaliation.
• Ensure rigorous compliance with organizational safeguarding, PSEA, anti-fraud, gender, and child protection policies across all staff, consultants, suppliers, and partners.
• Ensure safeguarding concerns and allegations are promptly reported through designated channels and managed in adherence to survivor-centered and confidential principles.
• Assess and manage environmental, social, and conflict risks to ensure sustainable use of natural resources and adherence to Do No Harm standards.

Representation and Communication

• Represent ORDA Ethiopia and the STREAM Project at government, donor, NGO, and technical working group meetings within the limits of delegated authority.
• Establish and maintain strong relationships with community structures, local governments, civil society, and private-sector stakeholders.
• Ensure appropriate project visibility and proper acknowledgement of EKN and partners in line with agreed communication guidelines.
• Protect the institutional reputation of ORDA Ethiopia by ensuring external commitments strictly respect delegated authority limits.

Educational Background

• Master’s degree (MPH, MSc, or above) in Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene (WASH), Environmental Health, Public Health, Water Resource Management, or another relevant discipline.
• Additional professional qualifications or training in project management, development management, climate resilience, or organizational leadership are an asset.

Work Experience

• A minimum of 11 years of professional experience, including at least 5 years in a senior management position.
• Demonstrated experience managing large, complex, multi-sectoral development or humanitarian projects, preferably involving consortium partnerships for a minimum of 5 years.
• Proven technical expertise in WASH programming (rural water supply, sanitation and hygiene, climate-resilient WASH, institutional WASH, market-based approaches, or water-resource management).
• Strong background in project planning, budget management, donor compliance, procurement oversight, performance monitoring, and reporting.
• Extensive experience working with international donors, government institutions, NGOs, and private-sector stakeholders.

Required Skills, Knowledge, and Competencies

• Exceptional strategic visioning, leadership, and team-building capabilities, with the ability to translate objectives into practical plans and inspire multidisciplinary teams.
• Strong networking, negotiation, problem-solving, and conflict-resolution skills.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills in English, including high-level report writing, presentation, and stakeholder facilitation.
• Strong financial acumen, including budget interpretation, expenditure tracking, risk identification, and internal control oversight.
• Proficiency in MS Office applications (Word, Excel, PowerPoint) and modern information management systems.
• Ability to operate effectively in complex, changing, and potentially insecure environments.

Personal Attributes and Values

• High standards of integrity, honesty, professionalism, and accountability.
• Firm commitment to gender equality, disability inclusion, safeguarding, participatory management, and cultural diversity.
• Strong work ethic, reliability, initiative, and commitment to achieving measurable results.