The Technical Services Unit (TSU) Manager leads the teams of technical experts at Seefar working on research, monitoring, evaluation, and strategic communications. This position is broad and varied and is ideal for someone with the mental agility to flex between different functions; being equally happy working at a strategic level and getting things done on a practical level.

The TSU Manager is a member of the Senior Management Team, who collectively report to the Board. You can be based anywhere in the world, with occasional travel. Seefar has been a remote-working enterprise since 2014.

You will commence on a 12-month consultancy agreement.  This position is full-time and has a starting fee range of 6,500 – 7,500 USD per month, with a performance review after six months. After three months, you receive an additional package of benefits.

Job Description

We are a social enterprise with a mission to work with vulnerable people to build a better future. We work in East Asia, South Asia, the Middle East, East Africa, North Africa, West Africa, the Sahel and Europe. We are a team that delivers projects responsively but takes a long-term view of improving capabilities. The ideal candidate will enjoy supporting projects in challenging locations while developing the capacities of their team. The TSU Manager has four broad areas of responsibility:

1. Provide research, evaluation and communications support to project delivery teams.
2. Identify and develop improvements to our systems for delivering research, evaluation and communications.
3. Supervise, coach, and develop other Technical Services personnel.
4. Provide organisational leadership as a member of the Senior Management Team.

We do not expect you to have deep specialist expertise in every area of our technical services. You will need specialist expertise in at least one area and you will need to demonstrate a capacity to develop the expertise necessary to supervise people in the other areas.

The following are examples of the kinds of strategic objectives overseen by  the TSUManager:

• Ensure delivery of high-quality services to Seefar’s beneficiaries with a focus on increasing knowledge and transferring new skills.
• Improve systems for the collection of data on service quality and impact.
• Complete a study on Seefar’s influence on legislation, policies or programmes.
• Design and implement experiments that assess the impact of social media on Seefar’s beneficiaries.
• Optimise service delivery costs to enhance return on investment

This role requires someone who is intrinsically motivated, a good problem solver, detail-oriented, adaptable, and a quick learner. . The ideal candidate will have: :

• 7-10 years of experience in roles encompassing research, monitoring and evaluation, and/or strategic communications.
• Fluency in written and spoken English.
• An excellent track record of leading others.
• A strong record of working to evaluate and improve organisational processes. 
• Experience coordinating across multiple teams and projects. 
• Experience working remotely.
• Proficiency with flexible data management tools, such as Google Spreadsheets.

Responsibilities

The primary responsibilities of this role are to: .

Deliver: Project and Mission Implementation

Approximately 60% of your time and attention:

• Deliver research, monitoring, evaluation, and strategic communications guidance for   project teams. This will sometimes include delivering technical inputs yourself, including:
  • Monitoring and evaluation frameworks.
  • Data analysis tools.
  • Research questionnaires.
• Participate in project team meetings and project coordination mechanisms.
• Collect lessons learned and make recommendations to improve projects.
• Lead reporting on the technical services components of projects.
• Provide technical services inputs to the fundraising team. 
• Maintain and develop networks with technical experts outside Seefar, including among donors.

Develop: Capabilities

Approximately 30% of your time and attention:

• Analyse the performance of the TSU and identify opportunities to improve.
• Lead the TSU team to strengthen existing processes, tools and systems. This part of your job requires an interest and capacity for detailing business processes, prototyping and testing. 
• Develop the skills, experience and capabilities of the  TSU team.
• Identify recruitment needs in the TSU, then work with the Operations Team to attract excellent new personnel.

Direct: Global Management

Approximately 10% of your time and attention:

As  a member of the Senior Management Team, you will:

• Design, implement and assess global strategy and organisational structure across Seefar, and set priorities for the enterprise..
• Cooperate with other areas of the Seefar to communicate substantive and administrative information that supports organisational management overall.

Your role will require you to travel. These examples are drawn from someone at your level over the course of a year in Seefar:

• A meeting of global personnel in the Maldives in August and in Kenya in February.
• An SMT meeting in Paris.
• Presenting at a conference in Austria.
• Visiting projects and donors in the Balkans, Jordan, and Nigeria.

Working with Seefar

Current and former personnel have noted the below points as positive features of Seefar’s work environment and culture:

• The Enterprise combines entrepreneurialism with a focus on social impact.
• You work with highly diverse people and across a diversity of contexts.
• There is a high level of trust that supports you to work autonomously.
• The people in the Enterprise encourage innovation and experimentation.
• Achieving results is prioritised over rigid structures and workflows.
• You are never bored and always challenged.

Current and former personnel have noted the points below as challenging features of Seefar’s work environment and culture:

• Collaborating with geographically dispersed teams requires flexibility and patience.
• Working remotely can make you feel isolated and so requires you to invest time in communication.
• Travel schedules can sometimes be heavy.
• It can be fast paced so you need to be productive and able to prioritise effectively.

To Apply for this Role

On or before 19 January 2024, complete our online application form through the Apply button below. You will be required to::

1. Prepare a CV in Word or PDF format. You will upload this in our online application form.
2. In Word or PDF format, prepare an introductory letter that includes only the points below. You will upload this in our online application form:
   1. A maximum of 250 words explaining an example in which you coordinated a team to improve an organisational  process. What was the context? What was your role? What was the result?
   2. A maximum of 250 words outlining an instance where you had to learn quickly on the job. What was the context? What was the result? What lessons did you draw from this experience?