Deputy Chief of Party, Ube-GOLD Program

TechnoServe; Philippines; On-site; PHP 1,800,000 - 2,400,000; Full time

Job summary

TechnoServe Philippines seeks a Deputy Chief of Party (DCOP) to provide strategic and operational leadership for the Ube-GOLD project, translating objectives into practical workplans, budgets, and milestones while ensuring timely, budget-compliant delivery.

You will oversee field activities from north to south, supervise staff, manage satellite offices, and coordinate with government, private sector, and partners to advance market-led development.

Qualifications

• Master's degree or Bachelor's with substantial experience
• 5+ years leading large teams or complex programs
• Operations management experience incl. field/satellite offices, logistics, donor requirements
• Project planning, implementation oversight, team leadership, performance monitoring
• Experience with private-sector partners in agricultural value chains or market systems
• Ability to work with broad range of public- and private-sector stakeholders

Responsibilities

• Serve as second-in-line to the COP; translate objectives into practical workplans, budgets, milestones and targets
• Oversee day-to-day implementation across technical and field activities
• Coordinate across project components and geographies North to South
• Supervise and support key program staff; monitor performance against workplans
• Manage satellite offices; ensure logistics, procurement, HR and finances support field delivery
• Collaborate with MEL to collect timely data and inform adaptive management
• Lead periodic reviews and update workplans, delivery approaches, and resource allocation
• Identify risks and elevate issues to COP with mitigation measures
• Contribute to donor reports, workplans, and project deliverables
• Build relationships with government agencies, farmer orgs, private sector and other stakeholders
• Represent Ube-GOLD in meetings; ensure professional communication with stakeholders
• Support team culture and ethics; address staff concerns; ensure compliance with policies
• Serve as TechnoServe’s spokesperson to Philippines staff; escalate staff concerns to COP
• Approve local procurements/payments and act as bank signatory as delegated by COP
• Participate in budget discussions and ensure donor and corporate targets are met

Skills

Leadership

Operations management

Project planning

Stakeholder engagement

Budgeting

Education

Master's degree in Business/Management/Economics or Agricultural economics

Bachelor's degree with 10+ years experience

Job description

At TechnoServe , we believe that everyone deserves the opportunity to build a better life. For over 50 years, we have given smallholder farmers and entrepreneurs the skills, connections, and confidence to lift themselves out of poverty. We leverage the power of markets and the private sector to create sustainable economic growth to benefit people and the planet. Our unique mix of business solutions, deep knowledge of local contexts, and data-driven insights is helping to fight poverty across Africa, Asia, and Latin America. TechnoServe staff are local–95% are from the countries in which they work. We put a high premium on collaboration and entrepreneurship. We hold ourselves and each other to the highest standards of integrity and transparency. And we focus on delivering lasting impact for our mission.

Job Summary:

The Deputy Chief of Party (DCOP) is second-in-line to the Chief of Party (COP) and holds a balanced role that combines programmatic and operations management. The DCOP supports the COP in providing strategic and operational leadership for Ube-GOLD and in ensuring that project activities are implemented effectively, on schedule, within budget, and in compliance with USDA and TechnoServe requirements. The DCOP will help translate the project strategy into integrated workplans and results, oversee implementation of technical activities at the farm level from north to south, manage the satellite offices, and coordinate across project teams and with government, private-sector, and other partners.

Program Overview:

Ube-GOLD (Ube–Growth, Opportunity, Livelihoods, and Development) is funded by the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) Food for Progress Program and implemented by TechnoServe in the Philippines, with consortium partner 6th Grain. It is a five-year project from October 2026 through September 2031, with $15.65M in funding for implementation. The project responds to the widening gap between ube demand and supply. It increases agricultural productivity by commercializing market-preferred ube planting material and training farmers through the Ube Farm College to produce processor-grade ube, and it expands agricultural trade by strengthening aggregation, processing, and market linkages and mobilizing finance for farmers, nurseries, aggregators, and processors. By Year 5, Ube-GOLD aims to provide improved planting material to 12,750 smallholder farmers, train 10,560 farmers, strengthen 50 aggregators and 11 processors, and mobilize approximately $6.3 million in agricultural financing. Activities are concentrated in Northern Luzon, Southern Luzon/CALABARZON, and the Visayas (Leyte and Bohol).

Primary Functions & Responsibilities:

• Serve as second-in-line to the COP: support the COP in leading overall project implementation, act on the COP’s behalf as delegated, and translate project objectives into practical, integrated workplans, budgets, milestones, and measurable targets.
• Oversee day-to-day implementation across technical and field activities, helping ensure that delivery is timely, technically sound, responsive to farmers’ and market actors’ needs, and aligned with approved plans and donor requirements.
• Coordinate implementation across project components, teams, and geographic areas from north to south, promoting collaboration and ensuring that technical assistance, field operations, and market development reinforce the work
• Directly supervise and support key program staff, and monitor performance against workplans and targets, and address implementation bottlenecks in coordination with the COP.
• Manage the satellite offices, working with the Operations and Finance Senior Manager to ensure that office operations, logistics, procurement, human resources, and financial processes support field delivery and comply with USDA and TechnoServe requirements.
• Work with the monitoring, evaluation, and learning (MEL) function to ensure that reliable, timely data are collected, reviewed, and used to track performance, demonstrate results, and inform adaptive management.
• Lead periodic reviews of implementation progress and recommend updates to workplans, delivery approaches, and resource allocation, in consultation with the COP and relevant project staff.
• Identify implementation risks and emerging issues early; propose mitigation measures and elevate material risks to the COP, supporting timely resolution and documentation.
• Contribute to the preparation and quality review of donor reports, workplans, presentations, and other project deliverables, ensuring that reporting is accurate, evidence-based, submitted on time.
• Build and maintain productive working relationships with relevant national and local government agencies, farmer organizations, private-sector companies, aggregators, processors, financial institutions, and other stakeholders.
• Represent Ube-GOLD in meetings and events as delegated by the COP and maintain consistent, professional communication with internal and external stakeholders.
• Support a collaborative, accountable, and results-oriented team culture and perform other related duties as assigned by the COP.
• Serve as TechnoServe’s principal spokesperson to Philippines staff, communicating updates, policies, and general information. Escalating any staff-related concerns or legal issues to the COP.
• Approve local procurements and payments, offer letters and act as bank signatory as delegated by the COP.
• Participate in budget discussions, decision making, and ensure the achievement of donor and corporate budget targets.

Basic Qualifications:

• Master's degree in Business, Management, Economics, Agricultural Economics, Agriculture, or another relevant field, with at least 7 years of relevant professional experience; or a Bachelor's degree in a relevant field with at least 10 years of relevant professional experience.
• At least five years of experience leading and managing large teams or complex programs, preferably in a Deputy Team Leader, Deputy Chief of Party, Deputy Program Director, or comparable senior leadership role.
• Demonstrated operations management experience, including oversight of field or satellite offices, logistics, and compliance with donor operational and financial requirements.
• Demonstrated experience in project planning, implementation oversight, team leadership, performance monitoring, and delivery of results against approved workplans and targets.
• Experience working with or alongside private-sector companies and businesses, preferably in agricultural value chains or market systems development.
• Demonstrated ability to work effectively with a broad range of public- and private-sector counterparts and other stakeholders.

Required Languages:

Excellent oral, written, and interpersonal skills, including fluency in English.

Travel:

Travel up to 80%; extensive north-to-south field and satellite-office travel is expected.

Preferred Qualifications:

• Experience leading or managing USDA-, USAID-, or other bilateral donor-funded projects is highly desirable.
• Experience working in the Philippines, preferably in the Philippine agricultural sector, the ube value chain, or related root-crop value chains.
• Experience with USDA Food for Progress or other USDA-funded projects preferred.
• Familiarity with facilitating access to finance for farmers, agribusinesses, aggregators, processors, or other value-chain actors, to coordinate effectively with the Access to Finance Senior Manager.
• Fluency in Filipino strongly preferred.

Knowledge, Skills and Abilities:

• Analytical, writing, social and management skills required for delivering technical assistance to development programs or initiatives.
• Ability to work both persuasively and diplomatically in a team-based environment with a high degree of complexity and ambiguity.
• Ability to communicate complex issues with clarity, precision and prioritization is a must.
• Strong capacity building skills, including participatory facilitation techniques, coaching, and mentoring

Supervisory Responsibilities:

A small team of program managers and advisors

We encourage all qualified individuals who share TechnoServe'svision of improving the lives of others through proven business solutions to apply.

With our commitment to diversity, we are proud to be an equal opportunity employer and affirmative action employer and do not discriminate on the basis of gender, race, color, ethnicity, religion, sexual orientation, gender identity, age, HIV/AIDS status, protected veteran status, disability and all other protected classes.

We are also proud of our commitment to protecting staff, partners, and beneficiaries from abuse and exploitation and thoroughly vet all final candidates through rigorous background and reference checks.

If you have a disability that affects your ability to use our online system to apply for a position at TechnoServe please contact the Human Resources at [e-mail] or call [phone].

Job Details:

Employment is conditional on donor approval. Candidates must possess valid, unrestricted work authorization for the Philippines. TechnoServe does not offer visa sponsorship for this role. The successful candidate will receive a local employment contract with compensation paid in Philippine peso s. Salary is competitive, aligned with local market rates, and commensurate with qualifications and internal equity.