Project Director (Portfolio Manager)

Position Summary

The Project Director (Program Portfolio) provides strategic leadership, governance oversight, and operational direction for a portfolio of national digital governance projects in Ethiopia and other African countries. This position leads a core oversight project that ensures coordination, quality assurance, and accountability across multiple country-level digital investments.

Serving as the primary point of accountability for performance and coherence, the Project Director leads the oversight team in ensuring that all projects are strategically designed, institutionally anchored, and executed within robust digital governance frameworks. The Director acts as a bridge between governments and implementing partners—strengthening accountability, driving portfolio alignment, and ensuring that country programs deliver measurable, sustainable results.

The role combines strategic vision, governance assurance, and people leadership. It includes direct management of the project’s core leadership team, ensuring that staff, consultants, and country focal points are effectively coordinated and supported in executing their respective functions.

Key Responsibilities

Strategic Leadership and Governance Oversight

• Provide strategic direction and leadership across country digital governance portfolios, ensuring that programs align with national digital transformation strategies and priorities.
• Lead the design and application of governance mechanisms that promote accountability, transparency, and institutional sustainability.
• Serve as the principal liaison with senior government officials and implementing partners to maintain coherence and ensure shared accountability for results.
• Oversee the planning, execution, and monitoring of projects within the portfolio, ensuring that all activities are evidence-based, results-driven, and technically sound.
• Ensure that portfolio interventions advance digital public infrastructure, policy maturity, and operational efficiency in partner countries.

Portfolio Management and Performance Assurance

• Lead portfolio-level performance reviews and provide strategic recommendations to country senior leadership to enhance effectiveness, efficiency, and value for money.
• Establish and maintain a results framework, performance dashboard, and delivery tracking mechanisms across countries and implementing partners.
• Validate and approve key deliverables, reports, and consultant outputs to ensure they meet technical quality standards and contractual obligations.
• Identify implementation risks and dependencies across the portfolio, proposing timely corrective actions to maintain momentum and integrity.
• Work with finance, HR, and procurement teams to ensure resource optimization, compliance, and operational excellence.

Country and Stakeholder Engagement

• Build and sustain strong, trust-based relationships with Ministries, regulatory bodies, and agencies responsible for digital transformation.
• Facilitate coordination between governments and implementing partners to ensure clarity of requirements, joint validation of deliverables, and shared accountability for outcomes.
• Represent the project portfolio at high-level meetings, strategic forums, and regional conferences to advance policy dialogue and visibility.
• Support country teams and partners to ensure adherence to digital governance standards, data interoperability principles, and sustainability requirements.

Team Leadership and Oversight Project Management

• Lead and directly supervise the oversight project’s core leadership team, including technical leads and program managers.
• Ensure that direct reports are aligned with portfolio priorities, clear in their roles, and equipped to deliver on technical and operational expectations.
• Oversee staff performance management, and workload planning to maintain a high-performing, motivated team.
• Coordinate the oversight team’s engagement with country-level projects, providing structure for validation, technical assistance, and risk mitigation.
• Cultivate a collaborative team culture grounded in integrity, accountability, and shared ownership of results.

• Minimum of 10 years of progressively responsible experience in managing complex, multi-country or multi-partner programs.
• Proven experience leading large teams, coordinating government and donor stakeholders, and managing multiple concurrent projects.
• Demonstrated ability to translate strategy into actionable plans with measurable outcomes.
• Strong understanding of public sector transformation principles, governance frameworks, and institutional capacity development.
• Exceptional interpersonal, negotiation, and representation skills with senior government and donor audiences.
• Experience managing budgets, performance frameworks, and contracts with multiple implementing partners.
• Project Management Professional (PMP) certification preferred.