Chief of Party, USAID/Vietnam Innovation Ecosystem

About Palladium:
Palladium is a global company working to design, develop and deliver positive impact on the lives and livelihoods of people around the globe; broaden access to health, water, power, and infrastructure; build enduring, sustainable, and transformative institutions and market systems to address global challenges; and conserve the natural world. We operate in over 90 countries and have a workforce of 4,000 talented, motivated, and diverse staff of all religions, races, languages, and gender identities.

This Proposal Opportunity:
The USAID/Vietnam Innovation Ecosystem (VIE) Activity will develop Vietnam's innovation ecosystem by supporting the Government of Vietnam to strengthen the business enabling environment; strengthening interconnections and resources among actors; and enhancing the Ministry of Planning and Investment's (MPI) National Innovation Center's (NIC) capabilities to facilitate the ecosystem's development. The Activity will promote Vietnamese Growth-oriented Businesses (GOBs) that are developing, commercializing, or implementing innovative Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR) technologies or processes to realize untapped business growth opportunities, in alignment with Vietnam’s National Strategy on the Fourth Industrial Revolution to 2030 (NS/4IR).

Position Summary
The Chief of Party (COP) will provide overall leadership, management oversight, and technical direction for the project, ensuring an integrated vision across components and stakeholders, with a focus on achieving the results defined in the contract. This individual must identify issues and risks related to implementation in a timely manner and suggest appropriate adjustments. This individual must act as the key liaison with USAID and all other counterparts, implementing partners and stakeholders involved with the program. The COP will have a firm understanding of the programmatic aspects of the project in the context of evolving political, legal, and economic contexts, and contribute to a continuous adaptive management approach. The position requires significant coordination skills, broad general and technical knowledge, an ability to cope with multiple interests and challenges, experience in developing countries, and skills to ensure coherence and consistency in the face of urgent deadlines.
*This is an anticipated project, and all positions are contingent upon award from USAID.*

Primary Duties and Responsibilities:

• Provide overall leadership, management, administrative, strategic and technical direction, and serve as the primary authority for all decision-making to ensure all program activities, staff, and partners achieve targeted results and that all required objectives, outcomes, targets, deliverables, and reporting are met.
• Serve as the primary point of contact with USAID/Vietnam, the Government of Vietnam, and all other stakeholders.
• Provide thought leadership in innovative 4IR technologies commercialization and implementation, market connections facilitation, institutional capacity building, private sector engagement and finance and investment mobilization in Vietnam’s GOBs.
• Provide strong leadership, executive decision-making, and clear direction to the project team on the development and implementation of strategies, staffing, budgets, internal operations, project targets and milestones, communications, and reporting.
• Develop and maintain productive working relationships with a broad range of high-level host country government agencies and international agencies, serving as the primary liaison with all stakeholders and proactively troubleshooting challenges as they arise, with support from other project staff as appropriate.
• Provide activity/intervention design and implementation oversight of work delivered by current and future implementing partners and other subawardees.
• Facilitate project learning and adaptive management, ensuring documentation and dissemination of findings, impact, innovations, and lessons learned, and utilize a collaborative and adaptive learning approach.
• Provide close oversight of progress towards program results, maintaining continuous communication with technical leads to identify and troubleshoot challenges and make clear decisions on appropriate solutions.
• Ensure that the project is implemented in accordance with the rules, regulations, and financial, operational, and reporting requirements of USAID and Palladium.

Required Qualifications:

• A University degree in business, economics, finance and/or other relevant area; Master’s degree in relevant area preferred.
• At least 10 years of experience managing projects that are similar in size and scope with skills in strategic planning, management, supervision, and budgeting.
• Knowledge of USAID contract management, policies, procedures, regulations and reporting requirements.
• Strong technical expertise through experience managing field-based economic growth initiatives.
• Experience working with closely with host government counterparts.
• Familiarity with private sector engagement and applying market-based approaches to achieving strategic productivity and investment outcomes.
• Experience in proactive coordination of and productive collaboration with implementing partners and relevant stakeholders including government agencies, private sector companies, NGOs, universities and research institutions, civil society and international donor agencies.
• Experience managing teams of professionals, and with the administrative, procurement, hiring, and recruitment, financial and logistical aspects of project implementation.
• Excellent oral and written communication skills in English.
• Experience working in the Southeast Asia region preferred. Experience in Vietnam a plus.

Our company provides equal employment opportunities (EEO) to all employees and applicants for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, disability or genetics.