Program Management Unit Director

Reporting to the Consortium Lead Country Director

Employment condition: contract for one Year with the possibility of extensions

Duty station: Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, with frequent field travel to project sites

Number of positions: One (1)

Salary: As per the organization’s salary scale

Application Deadline: 10 October 2025

The overall purpose of the role:

The Consortium Program Director will lead a multi-partner education initiative, serving as the strategic and operational head responsible for ensuring cohesive, high-quality implementation across consortium members and regions. The role emphasizes strategic leadership, partner coordination, performance oversight, and alignment with donor and national education priorities. Key responsibilities include context-responsive collaborative partnership strategy and program design, adaptive management, stakeholder engagement, and system integration, all aimed at achieving sustainable education outcomes at scale.

Major Role & Responsibilities:

Program Leadership and Coordination

• Provide overall strategic leadership and direction to the Program Management Unit (PMU), ensuring effective coordination among consortium members for the successful delivery of program objectives.
• Lead the development and execution of unified program strategies, annual work plans, and performance monitoring frameworks across all consortium partners.
• Ensure harmonized and standardized implementation of program activities across partners, promoting alignment with the consortium’s shared vision, donor expectations, and national education priorities.
• Facilitate regular joint planning, review, and decision-making forums with consortium partners to promote synergy, resolve operational challenges, and track progress against milestones.
• Serve as the primary focal point for technical and programmatic pillars, acting as a bridge between members, partners, and stakeholders

Strategic Planning and Alignment with National, Regional, Donor Priorities, and Local Needs

• Lead Strategic Planning and Visioning: Steer the development and periodic refinement of a long-term strategic framework that aligns with national education policies, regional priorities, and the donor’s strategic vision, while proactively engaging with national and regional education authorities to harmonize consortium initiatives with policy frameworks and advocate for scalable, sustainable solutions that address identified needs in both development and emergency settings.
• Ensure Evidence-Based Decision-Making: Oversee the analysis of sector data, needs assessments, and contextual studies to guide the consortium’s strategic direction and programmatic focus, ensuring that all interventions are grounded in current evidence and evolving realities on the ground.
• Foster Adaptive and Innovative Programming: Promote a culture of continuous learning and innovation by facilitating strategic reviews, learning forums, and real-time adaptation of program strategies based on implementation experience, contextual changes, and emerging global best practices.
• Mainstream Cross-Cutting Priorities: Ensure the strategic integration of gender equity, disability inclusion, youth agency, and sustainability in all phases of program design, delivery, and monitoring, reflecting a holistic and inclusive approach to education transformation.

• Promote Agility, Complementarity, and Local Ownership: Lead the consortium in adopting an agile, responsive posture that values complementarity over competition, champions local leadership, and enhances synergy across interventions to maximize collective impact.
•  Ensure Coordination and Foster Synergy: Work with consortium partners, government counterparts, and other stakeholders to establish effective coordination mechanisms that promote coherence of efforts, enhance synergy, and contribute to greater collective impact, while minimizing overlap and ensuring interventions complement each other in target regions.

Monitoring, Evaluation, and Reporting

• Provide Strategic Oversight of MEL Systems: Ensure the design and implementation of robust, harmonized MEL frameworks across consortium partners that align with donor requirements, national systems, and global best practices.
• Champion Learning and Adaptive Management: Promote a strong learning culture within the consortium by facilitating the use of monitoring and evaluation findings to inform strategic decisions, improve program quality, and adjust interventions based on evidence and context.
• Drive Results-Oriented Performance Management: Oversee the setting and tracking of key performance indicators (KPIs) and outcomes across partners to ensure delivery against targets, accountability for results, and alignment with the overarching program strategy.
• Strengthen Coordination for Joint MEL Efforts: Lead coordination among consortium MEL teams, government stakeholders, and implementing partners to promote shared indicators, joint evaluations, and consolidated reporting, minimizing duplication and ensuring coherence.

• Ensure Use of Data for Influence and Policy Dialogue: Oversee the establishment and application of standardized data collection tools and reporting protocols across consortium partners to generate systematized, high-quality, and timely data. Leverage this data, along with MEL evidence, to inform policy discussions, advocacy efforts, and engagement with external stakeholders, showcasing the consortium’s impact, supporting program monitoring and learning, and contributing to systems change.

• Oversee Knowledge Management and Dissemination: Ensure that learning products, case studies, success stories, and evaluation findings are systematically documented, shared, and used both internally and externally to promote transparency, accountability, and scaling of promising practices.

• Establish and Uphold Accountability Mechanisms: Lead the design and implementation of strong accountability and feedback mechanisms, ensuring program performance is transparently tracked and that feedback from stakeholders—including communities and government—is systematically collected and acted upon.
• Promote Experience Sharing and Learning Uptake: Facilitate diverse and inclusive learning and knowledge exchange platforms—including structured learning workshops, partner review meetings, cross-site and peer-to-peer learning visits, communities of practice, online knowledge hubs, webinars, conferences, thematic roundtables, policy dialogues, and joint reflection sessions—to share best practices, lessons learned, and innovations derived from MEL data and implementation experiences across the consortium and with external stakeholders.

Stakeholder Engagement and Representation

• Build and maintain strong working relationships with key government stakeholders, including the Ministry of Education, Regional Education Bureaus, and other national education coordination platforms, to ensure alignment with national priorities and foster joint ownership of program results.
• Actively engage and collaborate with universities, teacher education colleges, and technical and vocational training institutions to leverage their expertise, align curriculum and training approaches, and strengthen their role in program implementation and sustainability.
• Represent the consortium in national and regional policy dialogues, technical working groups, and donor coordination forums to advocate for the program’s strategic objectives and share best practices and learning.
• Establish and implement structured mechanisms (e.g., joint review meetings, learning forums, stakeholder surveys) to collect regular feedback from education institutions and other stakeholders, using insights to improve program design, delivery, and overall quality.
• Coordinate and oversee activities assigned to universities, teacher education colleges, technical and vocational training colleges, and other key partners involved in program implementation.
• Represent all consortium members in formal engagements and collaborations with higher education and technical institutions to ensure unified communication and partnership.
• Facilitate the development, signing, and effective implementation of Memorandums of Understanding (MoUs) between the consortium and partner institutions.
• Provide strategic and technical support to partner institutions to ensure standardized, harmonized, and high-quality delivery of the program

Team Management and Development

• Lead the Program Project Management Unit (PMU) staff by establishing clear roles, responsibilities, performance expectations, and accountability mechanisms that support effective consortium-wide coordination and delivery.
• Foster a results-oriented, collaborative, and inclusive culture across the PMU that encourages innovation, learning, and high performance, aligned with the vision and goals of the consortium and its donors.
• Provide consistent coaching, mentorship, and capacity-building opportunities to enhance PMU team members’ leadership, coordination, and program management skills, particularly in engaging with line departments of the consortium members,  the donor, universities, and colleges.
• Ensure active coordination between the PMU and designated focal persons/teams within each consortium member organization to build shared ownership, commitment, and accountability for quality program delivery.
• Promote strong engagement and alignment between PMU staff and relevant government sector offices—including education, labor and skills—as well as academic institutions, ensuring a common understanding of program objectives, strategies, and roles.
• Facilitate joint planning, implementation, and monitoring activities across the PMU, consortium partners, and key government and academic actors to ensure consistency and quality in program execution at all levels.
• Oversee recruitment, induction, and continuous professional development of PMU staff, with a focus on equipping them to navigate and coordinate complex multi-stakeholder environments effectively.
• Organize regular team and inter-consortium coordination meetings, reflection sessions, and cross-institutional learning events to strengthen collaboration, resolve challenges, and align implementation approaches across all stakeholders.
• Develop and maintain internal communication protocols and knowledge-sharing platforms that support harmonized action and strengthen alignment across consortium partners, the donor, and implementing institutions such as universities, teacher education colleges, and TVETs.

· Foster an environment that supports values of women and men, and equal access to information.

· Provide a work environment where women and men must be evaluated and promoted based on their skills and performance.

·  Respect beneficiaries’ women, men, and children (boys and girls) regardless of gender, sex orientation, disability, or religion. race, color, ancestry, national origin, age, or marital status.

· Value and respect all cultures.

Safeguarding Commitment 

Imagine1day has zero tolerance for violations of Child and Adult Safeguarding, Sexual Exploitation and Abuse, and the Code of Conduct. In the process of recruitment, selection, and appointment Imagine1day implements a range of procedures and actions including Criminal Background Checks/ International vetting/Certificates of good conduct to ensure children and vulnerable adults are safeguarded and abuse is prevented.

• Minimum of 10 years of progressive and relevant professional experience in education program leadership, with at least 5 years in a senior management or coordination role within international NGOs, or donor-funded projects.
• Proven track record in managing large-scale, multi-partner, and multi-regional education programs in Ethiopia or similar humanitarian/development contexts.
• Demonstrated experience in strategic planning, consortium coordination, and programmatic oversight across multiple implementing partners.
• Extensive experience in engaging with government stakeholders, including the Ministry of Education, the Ministry of Labor and Skills, Regional Education Bureaus, and Woreda Education Offices.
• Strong background in program monitoring, evaluation, and learning (MERL), including overseeing quality data collection, ensuring timely reporting, and applying learning to inform adaptive program management.
• Experience in setting up and maintaining accountability mechanisms, including beneficiary feedback and safeguarding frameworks.
• Proven capacity in resource mobilization, budget oversight, and grant management, including coordination with donors and development partners.
•  Proven experience in convening high-level multistakeholder summits/conferences and events
•  Additional Skills:
• High-level interpersonal and leadership skills, with a proven ability to foster teamwork, collaboration, and mutual accountability among diverse partners.
• Strong analytical, problem-solving, and decision-making skills, especially under time-sensitive and complex program conditions.
• Solid understanding of inclusive education, gender equity, and child protection principles, particularly in relation to program design and implementation.
• Ability to lead and inspire teams, promote collaboration, and build institutional capacity.
• Excellent communication skills, both oral and written, including the ability to produce high-quality reports, presentations, and strategic documents
• Familiarity with government systems, and the broader education sector landscape in Ethiopia is highly desirable.
• Strong advocacy, negotiation, and representation skills, with experience influencing senior government officials, donors, and other stakeholders at national and regional levels.
• Demonstrated understanding of gender equity, inclusive education, child safeguarding, and protection principles within programming and organizational practice.
• Proficiency in project management tools and software, including Microsoft Office Suite (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook).
• Ability to effectively manage complex workflows, prioritize tasks, and lead teams in high-pressure environments.
• Maturely able  to curb problems, create feasible solutions, and overcome challenges; effectively lead diverse team groups for a common goal.

Education:

• A minimum of Master’s Degree (MA/MSc) in Education Management, Educational Leadership, Curriculum and Instruction, Development Studies, or other relevant social science fields.

Languages:

• Fluency in written and spoken English is required; proficiency in additional international languages (e.g., French or Arabic) or local Ethiopian languages is an added advantage.

Key Internal & External Stockholders:

• Imagine 1day Internal staffs
• Imagine 1day External partners (Pension Office, Landlord, and other government & private organizations