View Vacancy - Bilateral Future Cities Programme Manager

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Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (Policy & Political roles)
Economic and Prosperity

Background and main purpose of job:

The cross-UK Government Prosperity Fund (PF) was created in 2015 to promote economic growth in middle income countries and create opportunities for international business, including for UK companies. The fund has a budget of £1.2 billion over 6 years to provide support to partner countries in key reform areas such as the trade, energy, green finance and future cities, amongst others.

The Prosperity Fund Bilateral Future Cities Programme aims to advance sustainable urban development in Brazil by piloting smart technologies in urban mobility (in São Paulo) and efficient water management (in Recife), areas in which the UK excels.

We are recruiting a Future Cities Programme Manager to assess and monitor programme activity in this sector, to ensure intended outcomes and impacts are achieved, and the programme continues to offer value for money. The successful candidate will build relationships and work closely with delivery partners, the public sector, businesses, civil society, NGOs and other external stakeholders to ensure successful delivery of the programme. The successful applicant will work to the Head of the Future Cities Programme in Brazil and will coordinate with other posts in the region and government colleagues in the UK to achieve UK policy objectives and to ensure that the programme complies with OECD rules for ODA. An important aspect of the job will be working with Department of International Trade colleagues in Brazil and in London to unlock the opportunities created by the programmes’ interventions for increased inward trade and investment, including for UK companies.

The post will be based at the UK Consulates in São Paulo or Recife and is also expected to travel to other places within Brazil and to the UK.

This is a challenging and exciting opportunity to play an influential role in a high-profile and strategic British development initiative in Brazil, which aims to have a positive impact on economic development and trade, as well as strengthening the relationship between the UK and Brazil.

Roles and responsibilities / what will the jobholder be expected to achieve?

We are looking for a pro-active, engaged individual with a passion for delivering development impacts. The job holder will have three main responsibilities:

Programme Delivery – assist in the implementation of the future cities portfolio with strategic management, delivering each project objective in time, with VFM and with impact, supporting the delivery of the wider Prosperity Fund objectives.

  • Support the implementation of the programme ensuring interventions are well placed to contribute significantly to the programme’s overall objectives in terms of primary purpose (poverty reduction and inclusive economic growth) and secondary benefits (opportunities for business partnerships with the UK). 
  • Support the design, delivery and monitoring of programme activities through coordinating with local stakeholders and/or directly with the implementing partner. Facilitating regular communication with implementing partners will form a core part of this role to support programme delivery. This will include liaising with government, the private sector, civil society and academia/thought-leaders.
  • Assist with setting up programme performance tracking systems to ascertain programme performance against plan and resource expenditure.
  • Monitor implementation and report on programme progress through regular meetings and official documents. This will include the mitigation of risks and the identification of opportunities to improve project delivery and ensure impact.
  • Support the financial management of the programme, working together with the Prosperity Fund operations team, to ensure that all procedures are carried out in a timely and accurate manner.
  • Compile and maintain information through project records in order to support accounting and reporting processes, ensuring learnings and best practices are spread.

Cross-Whitehall engagement – communication with the wider Brazil Network including DIT teams, ensuring programme opportunities for collaboration are developed and wider learning is shared.

  • Maintain effective coordination with the relevant teams within the Brazil network and the cross-government programme teams in London, under the guidance of the Head of Programme in Brazil. 
  • Contribute to maximise synergies and impacts in coordination with the work of the wider Prosperity Fund in Brazil and internationally (particularly the Global Future Cities Programme).

Policy Delivery – support the delivery of the main policy objectives of HMG in Brazil.

  • Know and monitor the current business regulatory environment and development opportunities in the Future Cities sphere for Brazil, including opportunities for and barriers against the programmes objectives.
  • Build relationships with key decision makers in Brazil’s local governments, civil society and private sector in support of these programmes, including leveraging diplomatic and senior engagement to drive forward regulatory and policy shifts in support of prosperity objectives.
  • Ensure the programme complies with the International Development Act, including the International Development (Gender Equality) Act 2014; meets the OECD Development Assistance Committee (DAC)’s criteria; is untied; meets UK government transparency commitments on ODA spend; and complies with HMG audit requirements.

Resources managed (staff and expenditure):

No direct line management responsibility is envisaged at this time for the job holder.

  • Candidates need to have a university degree in International Relations, Economics, Environment, Urban development or related-areas
  • Minimum 3 years work experience on project management
  • A demonstrable track record of managing a portfolio of projects
  • Experience of managing delivery partners
  • Understanding of economic and urban development issues in Brazil
  • Excellent communication skills in English and Portuguese (fluent language) 
  • Experience of policy work, a diverse network of contacts in government, business and civil society
  • A master’s degree
  • 5 years experience on project management and technical qualifications relating to future cities
  • Readiness to start managing projects and fast learning capability are crucial to success
  • Experience working with multilateral institutions
25 October 2020
Executive Officer (EO)
Fixed Term, Full-time, Temporary
36
7 months
Latin America and Spanish speaking Caribbean
Brazil
Recife, Sao Paulo
British Consulate General
1
BRL
R$ 8103,66
7 December 2020

Position is available in São Paulo or Recife.

The post will be based at the UK Consulates in São Paulo or Recife and is also expected to travel to other places within Brazil and to the UK.

The Embassy supports flexible working hours, which should be agreed with the employee’s line manager.

The British Embassy Network offers a strong benefits package.  This package includes generous vacation and leave time, flexible working patterns, and enriching learning and development opportunities.  Eligibility to work and live in Brazil is required.

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.

This opportunity is closed to applications.