Programme Manager HEO, British Office Sudan

Location:  Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

Deadline: 3 October 2025

Job Description

Main purpose of job:

The British Office Sudan (BOS) is looking to recruit capable, motivated, and experienced Programme Manager to join the Operational Excellence Team to lead and support delivery of our development programmes. This is a fantastic opportunity to ensure our programmes deliver results for Sudanese people through excellence in programme, financial, risk and commercial management. The post requires the ability to build trusted and influential relationships with suppliers and partners to deliver effectively. In all cases, the role will include managing the programme cycle, risk, finances, engaging with implementing partners, driving forward implementation, and ensuring programmatic compliance. The postholder will be working closely with a range of delivery partners including multilaterals, international and Sudanese NGOs, and private sector suppliers.

In this role, the Programme Manager supports the management of a team’s portfolio, and as well as leading the programme management of complex and/or high value programmes. They will have a strong understanding of the FCDO Programme Operating Framework (PrOF), provide advice to colleagues on programmatic issues and lead on compliance and financial management for the programmes which they manage. They will support and manage Programme Officers.

Roles and responsibilities:

• Lead the management for the programmes/projects you are responsible for. As a Programme Manager, you will be responsible for the day-to-day management of a particular project, proactively driving delivery whilst ensuring compliance with UK Government rules (including the PrOF). You will put in place robust systems for managing this within the team, including maintaining a clear and comprehensive delivery plan, keeping information on the Aid Management Platform up to date, and organising regular programme meetings. Depending on the stage of the programme, you may be involved in programme design and mobilisation including procurement processes to secure implementing partners.
• Delivering robust financial management of programmes to ensure spending limits are adhered to, variances are minimised and value for money is achieved. You will proactively manage accurate financial forecasting over the year and profiling for outer years, ensure timely payment of invoices, and robust scrutiny and follow up of financial reports and annual audited statements. You will work closely with partners to understand risks to spend, explain UK requirements and challenge poor financial performance.
• Proactively managing risk (including fiduciary risk) of programmes. You will engage constructively with partners and the FCDO’s Programme Responsible Owner to ensure we identify the key risks to programme delivery, discuss these regularly and respond promptly and effectively to mitigate risks, including escalating these to senior management when required. You will conduct due diligence assessments when required to review partners’ systems, identify areas for improvement and then ensure these are addressed. By maintaining an up-to-date delivery chain map you will ensure we have clarity on exactly where UK aid funds are going, and the key risks in the delivery chain. You will ensure the UK’s zero tolerance approach to fraud and corruption is effectively implemented for your programme.
• Establishing and maintaining strong relationships with our implementing partners to ensure our programmes deliver the intended results and that we maximise our impact. You will be required to have a strong understanding of the requirements of partners set out in our contracts or grant agreements and use these to manage and incentivise strong performance from partners, as well as compliance with UK rules and standards.
• Support wider team and / or cross office priorities as required. This may include supporting the Senior Programme Manager / Team Leader on management of the team portfolio. You will have the opportunity to  support cross office working including participating in policy discussions, assisting with communications briefings, Parliamentary Questions, Ministerial visits and corporate returns. You will be encouraged to participate in cross-office forums like the Learning & Development Committee or the Diversity & Inclusion Committee.

Resources managed (staff and expenditure):

• As part of this role, the post holder may be expected to have line-management responsibilities of EO Programme Officers within British Office Sudan.

Essential qualifications, skills and experience  

• Language requirements: Fluent English
• A good understanding of Programme and Project management (PPM) processes, procedures and best practice.
• The resilience to manage multiple projects/programmes concurrently, with the ability to take the initiative and manage own workload.
• Proven financial management capabilities, including accuracy, attention to detail and a proven ability to accurately forecast and manage expenditure.
• Strong experience in managing risks and issues.
• Ability to work with a range of stakeholders, both internal and external, and challenge implementing partners when required.
• Flexibility and willingness to support colleagues as and when necessary, not just on PPM work.

Desirable qualifications, skills and experience

• Experience of working in the International Development or Humanitarian sector.
• Arabic language skills.
• Prior experience working on or in Sudan.
• Formal Programme Management Qualifications (APM PMQ, AGILE, PRINCE2 or equivalent)

Other benefits and conditions of employment

Working patterns and conditions:

• This opportunity to full-time and the postholder is expected to work the British Office Sudan’s working pattern.
• The British Office Sudan can offer flexible working such as remotely working, however no part-time or job-share given how instrumental the PM role is to BOS’ programme objectives.
• This post will be based in Addis Ababa (Ethiopia), with majority of the British Office Sudan team. The rest of the BOS team will be based in between London, East Kilbride and Nairobi (Kenya).
  Travel requirements: There may be travel requirements envisaged for this role, however will be reviewed, dependent on business need, on an on-going basis.
• The British Office Sudan may have further vacancies in the coming months and if there are other suitable candidates, we will use this recruitment to develop a pipeline of reserve candidates, for approximately 1 year.

Additional information

Please ensure that your application is authentically written based on your own experiences. If AI tools are used, their usage must only be limited to specific tasks such as ensuring formatting consistency and keyword relevance. The core content, personal narratives, and responses to behaviour and skill-based questions must genuinely reflect your professional journey, experiences, and achievements. We place great importance on originality and individual effort throughout the application process. Any form of plagiarism will result in immediate disqualification.

• The British Embassy will never request any payment or fees to apply for a position
• The base salary is subject to tax and other statutory deductions
• Employees recruited locally by the British Embassy in Addis Ababa are subject to Terms and Conditions of Service according to local employment law in Ethiopia.
• All candidates must be legally able to work and reside in the country of the vacancy with the correct visa/work permit status or demonstrate eligibility to obtain the relevant permit
  The responsibility lies on the successful candidate to:
  1.Obtain the relevant permit
  2.Pay the fees for the permit
  3.Make arrangements to relocate
  4.Meet the costs to relocation
• Employees who are not liable to pay local income tax on their Mission salary may have their salaries reduced by the equivalent local income tax amount.
• Information about the Civil Service Success Profiles can be found on this link: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/success-profiles
• Reference checking and security clearances will be conducted on successful candidates
• Please log into your profile on the application system on a regular basis to review the status of your application
• Appointable candidates who were unsuccessful may be placed on a ‘reserve list’. If during the reserve period of 12 months the same or a largely similar role becomes available, that role may be offered to the second or subsequent candidate

Please be aware that you will only be able to apply to vacancies for Country Based Staff roles with the British Government through this official tal.net site (operated by Oleeo). Jobs may be advertised on third party websites, however our adverts will always link back to the official tal.net site. If you complete and send an application through any other site, we will not receive it.

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