USDA Food for Peace Chief of Party II

CRS; Baltimore (MD); On-site; USD 150,000 - 190,000; Full time

Job summary

CRS seeks Chief of Party II candidates for anticipated USDA Non-Emergency Food for Peace projects. These multi-year programs aim to combat malnutrition and strengthen resilience, with a focus on women and children in vulnerable communities.

The Chief of Party II will provide vision, leadership and overall management to ensure high-quality programming, effective donor engagement, and proactive security risk management across multiple countries.

Responsibilities

• Lead development, implementation and consolidation of the assigned project, serving as primary donor contact and with stakeholders.
• Ensure the project meets donor expectations for timely, quality results and budget, with strategies for sustainability.
• Manage senior programming and operations talent; coach, mentor and develop staff.
• Monitor national/regional issues affecting staff and programming; enforce safety policies.
• Promote efficient use of agency and donor resources.
• Oversee donor grants compliance, financial tracking, partner budgets and reporting.
• Represent CRS in international circles, publish results and deliver presentations.
• Coordinate roles across consortium member organizations to align with partnership principles.
• Create conditions for learning and a safe environment to share ideas and solutions.
• Identify training needs and deliver high-quality training and technical assistance.

Job description

NOTE: This recruitment is intended to establish a pool of qualified Chief of Party candidates for anticipated opportunities across multiple countries. Final project locations are pending donor confirmation, and positions will be contingent upon donor funding. Chief of Party positions will be based in the applicable country of assignment and are not remote positions.

Job Summary

CRS seeks Chief of Party II candidates for the anticipated USDA Non-Emergency Food for Peace projects. These multi‑year, development-focused projects seek to combat chronic and acute malnutrition especially in children and mothers, strengthen early recovery and resilience, and support communities.

The Chief of Party II will provide vision, leadership and overall management of these large and complex projects to serve the poor and vulnerable. The incumbent’s strategic leadership, management and technical knowledge will ensure the delivery of high‑quality programming and advance the position of CRS as a leading agency in the respective field. As a senior leader, the Chief of Party II will proactively manage security and mitigate security risks.

Roles and Key Responsibilities

• Lead all aspects of the development, implementation and consolidation of the assigned project, including sharing how the project contributes to the thought leadership of the industry. Serve as the primary point of contact with the donor as well as public, private and non‑government stakeholders.
• Ensure the project is designed and implemented to meet donor expectations in terms of timely and quality results and budget, including strategies for phase out and sustainability. Lead coordination efforts between program and operations leads to ensure CRS program quality standards are adhered to.
• Effectively lead senior programming and operations talent. Manage team dynamics and staff well‑being. Provide coaching and mentoring. Strategically tailor individual development plans and complete performance assessments for direct reports. Oversee the development of staffing plans and the recruitment process of senior staff.
• Proactively manage and mitigate risk by monitoring national and regional issues that may impact staff and programming. Ensure all CRS staff safety and security policies and plans are regularly updated and all staff understand and adhere to these policies.
• Promote, uphold and model a commitment to the efficient use of agency and donor resources.
• Ensure compliance with donor grants, including financial tracking and oversight of partner budgets, finance, administration and donor reporting. Approve program expenditures, budget adjustments, and cost modification requests to donors.
• Represent CRS programming in international circles, highlighting innovative work. Publish program results and deliver presentations. Oversee the development of communication strategies and materials, complying with donor and CRS’ branding and marketing requirements and procedures.
• Manage relationships with consortium partner organizations, including organization of review/planning workshops. Coordinate the roles and activities of staff from other consortium member organizations to ensure implementation is inline with CRS partnership principles.
• Create and maintain proper conditions for learning. Establish a safe environment to share ideas, solutions, and difficulties. Build the internal capacity to detect, analyze and respond quickly to deficiencies.
• Identify performance gaps and training opportunities for CRS and partner staff and ensure the design and delivery of high‑quality training and technical assistance.