Country Director, Kenya & Burundi

Company Description

SNV is a global development partner, working on the core themes of gender equality and social inclusion, climate adaptation and mitigation, and strong institutions and effective governance, with a focus on the Agri-Food, Energy, and Water sectors. 

The role of Country Director is critical for the success of SNV and reports directly to the Director Country Programmes. The Country Director Kenya & Burundi will spearhead SNV’s impact, business development, operational excellence and partner engagement in both countries.

Our aim is to maintain and expand our diverse portfolio and impact in the dynamic and non- traditional development market that is Kenya. As Burundi moves from a traditional emergency relief phase towards a greater sustainable development period, we are seeking to expand our portfolio working with local partners for greater impact.

Position
SNV seeks an entrepreneurial, results-oriented, seasoned people leader who will lead the Kenya & Burundi country teams in enabling and delivering high quality impact programs.  
SNV offers the successful candidate a challenging position, leading a well-established team in a two different and exciting development contexts. The current EUR 70 million program portfolio includes support from the Embassies of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, Netherlands Ministry of Development Cooperation and European Union, as well as from development banks, foundations and private sector investors. 

The Country Director is responsible for leading and enabling the country programs with and through their teams and local implementation partners. It is a multi-faceted role, focused on upscaling and strategically strengthening the country position with an ambitious country strategy, ensuring high-quality delivery of operations, and securing adequate funding to sustain and grow opportunities to deliver impact. The Country Director needs to be well informed about national and international development priorities and steer the sectors and themes in response to these priorities. The Country Director is expected to forge partnerships and alliances between SNV and important national and international actors and stimulate collaboration for impact. He/she will be the face of SNV in the country and ensure its positive image and visibility.

The Country Director leads, coaches and supports their country management team (CMT) and inspires a total team of 150 team members in 5 offices across Kenya and Burundi. Building capabilities to deliver our 2030 ambition is a key deliverable for the CMT.  The Country Director is a key member of SNV’s global senior leadership team, making meaningful contributions across the wider organisation to further shape and enable the future of SNV.

Job Description

SNV seeks an entrepreneurial, results-oriented, seasoned people leader who will lead the Kenya & Burundi country teams in enabling and delivering high quality impact programs.  
SNV offers the successful candidate a challenging position, leading a well-established team in a two different and exciting development contexts. The current EUR 70 million program portfolio includes support from the Embassies of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, Netherlands Ministry of Development Cooperation and European Union, as well as from development banks, foundations and private sector investors. 

The Country Director is responsible for leading and enabling the country programs with and through their teams and local implementation partners. It is a multi-faceted role, focused on upscaling and strategically strengthening the country position with an ambitious country strategy, ensuring high-quality delivery of operations, and securing adequate funding to sustain and grow opportunities to deliver impact. The Country Director needs to be well informed about national and international development priorities and steer the sectors and themes in response to these priorities. The Country Director is expected to forge partnerships and alliances between SNV and important national and international actors and stimulate collaboration for impact. He/she will be the face of SNV in the country and ensure its positive image and visibility.

The Country Director leads, coaches and supports their country management team (CMT) and inspires a total team of 150 team members in 5 offices across Kenya and Burundi. Building capabilities to deliver our 2030 ambition is a key deliverable for the CMT.  The Country Director is a key member of SNV’s global senior leadership team, making meaningful contributions across the wider organisation to further shape and enable the future of SNV.

Duties and Responsibilities
The selected candidate will be responsible for the following tasks:

• Strategic leadership of the countries and current and future programmes within the overall parameters of SNV’s global strategy;
• Strong and supportive people leadership enabling the country team: creating and nurturing an environment that supports high performance, continuous learning and teamwork at all levels;
• Representation and profiling: building partnerships and maintaining excellent relationships with donors, partners, local governments, businesses, policy makers and other relevant stakeholders;
• Oversight and quality assurance of project implementation (including project director roles) ensuring the delivery of impact to the satisfaction of key stakeholders and compliance with SNV’s and the donor’s financial standards and monitoring protocols;
• Business development to grow the country position and its programs, ensure financial sustainability of SNV Kenya and Burundi and ensure a high-quality project design;
• Collaboration with other SNV countries to effectively exploit opportunities for synergy, deliver at scale (including multi-country projects), exchange knowledge and strengthen SNV’s position;
• In addition, the Country Director fosters innovation of SNV products and services: facilitates learning, documentation and evidence-based knowledge development in collaboration with SNV’s global team and partners; and ensures collaboration with renowned knowledge institutes and networks.

Qualifications

To be considered for this role, the following aducation and experience is required:

• Master’s degree or equivalent in a relevant discipline;
• At least 5 years of relevant leadership experience at a senior, end- responsible level.
• Knowledge and understanding of the international development context in East and Southern Africa , including familiarity with key financiers and actors in SNV’s three sectors and core thematic areas.
• Proficiency in both written and spoken English and French is required.
• Strong business acumen accompanied by an innate people-centric focus;
• Ability to coach, lead, stimulate, and inspire professionals in a development context, ability to manage remote leadership dynamics;
• Self-starting professional, with entrepreneurial skills and data-driven approach to business leadership
• Demonstrated business development experience on large tenders and grants from multilateral development agencies, banks and bilateral donors;
• Excellent track record in mobilising resources from the public and private sector, including strong networking and positioning skills at multiple levels;
• Proven ability of establishing partnerships, consortia and fostering relationships with government at multiple levels;
• Proven track record in project management including familiarity with donor-funded project procedures and processes;
• Excellent interpersonal skills, culturally aware, inclusive and open-minded;

Additional Information

• Contract Type: Fulltime position
• Contract Duration: 3 years initial assignment, with the possibility to extend to 6 years
• Desired Start Date: as soon as possible
• Duty Station: Nairobi, Kenya

Working at SNV
SNV offers a competitive salary and comprehensive benefits package. We offer a challenging work environment, opportunities to lead and innovate, and a commitment to growing your skills in a fulfilling and diverse working environment. Our staff benefit from, and contribute to, an internal global network of experts. For more information, please visit our website: www.snv.org/careers.

SNV strives to be an inclusive employer, thriving on the diversity of its people and does not discriminate on the basis of disability status, religion, ethnic origin, gender and sexual orientation, etc.

How to apply
If you believe that your credentials meet the outlined profile, we invite you to apply by uploading your CV and letter of motivation by 22nd of March.
Reference check and vetting
We will require that you provide us with the full details of three people who are willing to act as a reference.  We will not contact these references without your explicit permission.
SNV carries out rigorous background and reference checks concerning possible safeguarding incidents for all candidates applying for International determined positions. As SNV participates in the Inter-Agency Misconduct Disclosure Scheme, all reference checks include a request to past employers to fill in a questionnaire regarding Misconduct (sexual exploitation, sexual abuse, or sexual harassment), the “Statement of Conduct". This Statement of Conduct adopts the definitions used in the Scheme.