Deputy Chief of Party, USAID/Cambodia Employ Activity

About IREX
IREX is an independent nonprofit organization dedicated to building a more just, prosperous, and inclusive world by empowering youth, cultivating leaders, strengthening institutions, and extending access to quality education and information. Founded in 1968, IREX has an annual portfolio of over $100 million, work in more than 100 countries worldwide with offices in 20 countries, and a global staff of 600.

Summary of Position
IREX seeks qualified Deputy Chief of Party (DCOP) candidates to lead the technical aspects of Employ, an anticipated five-year USAID-funded workforce development activity in Cambodia. This initiative is designed to equip Cambodians with job skills tailored to sectors that are driving inclusive and sustainable growth and economic diversification, and that will allow them to compete for and thrive in the jobs of tomorrow. Based in Phnom Penh, the DCOP will be responsible for supporting the Chief of Party in the management of the program and provide high-quality technical inputs to achieve program objectives.

Summary of Responsibilities:

• In conjunction with the Chief of Party (COP), oversee the engagement of a diverse workforce ecosystem of actors including the private sector, learners, education institutions, policy makers, and donors for targeted high-growth sectors to address the skills gap and contribute to greater market system competitiveness.
• Provide technical oversight to partner training programs that close the skills gap for high growth sectors.
• Work closely with the COP to coordinate technical assistance across all program activities.
• Build and maintain relationships with employers, business associations, and other private sector stakeholders, and ensure their buy-in throughout the project.
• Facilitate productive and sustainable cross-sectoral collaboration between the business community, education institutions, and government.
• Lead or co-lead work planning process.
• Contribute to monitoring, evaluation, and learning; project communications; and project reporting.
• Directly supervise and manage contributions for weekly, quarterly, annual, and ad-hoc reports.
• Other duties as required.

Skills and Qualifications:

• At least five (5) years of previous relevant experience and expertise in the TVET sector or workforce development activities, with a Master’s degree; or bachelor’s degree with at least seven (7) years of relevant experience also considered.
• Good network of relevant stakeholders in Cambodia.
• Excellent communication, teamwork, and networking skills.
• Strong facilitation skills and good know-how of the TVET system in Cambodia.
• Successful track record of supervising, designing, managing, and implementing complex donor-funded technical assistance projects (with strong preference for past international-funded education project management experience).
• Proven leadership qualities and excellent management skills.
• Demonstrated ability to track and manage budgets and plan both strategically and creatively to meet project objectives.
• Experience working with private and public sector partners to leverage additional sources of funding to meet project objectives preferred.
• Strong understanding of the education landscape in Cambodia preferred.
• Experience with or strong understanding of key growth sectors such as green economy, STEM-related fields, digital technology, or manufacturing preferred.
• Ability to provide written reporting in English for the project Strong representational and organizational skills.
• Professional level proficiency in spoken and written English; proficiency in Khmer preferred.