Lead, Public Sector Governance

Job Description: Lead, Public Sector Governance

Background

Oxford Policy Management is seeking an experienced leader to oversee our Public Sector Governance (PSG) hub. Our PSG hub supports governments to build the capabilities, systems, and practices required for policy development, implementation, evaluation, and reform. We work to strengthen systems of public management and civil society; accountability, and inclusion; service delivery; and digital governance, at all levels of government and across sectors. We are strongly committed to engaging with the political economy of countries we work in, to provide support that is context-specific, responsive, and innovative. 

PSG is a technical hub within OPM’s Governance Practice and works in close coordination with the Public Financial Management hub and other sectoral teams within the organisation.

More information about our work and projects is available here.

Location

The position will be based in any of the following OPM permanent offices – Australia, Berlin, India, Indonesia, Kenya, Nepal, Nigeria, Pakistan, South Africa, Tanzania, United Kingdom, or the United States of America; (pre-existing right to work or residence essential).

Job summary

The Public Sector Governance Lead will provide technical direction and strategic leadership to our global team of experts. They will be a part of the Practice Management Team and will lead and own strategy and delivery of the hub’s governance programmes. The team has a strong and exciting portfolio of projects, and the Lead is responsible for oversight of programme delivery across geographies, management of multi-cultural teams, thought leadership and partnership development to lead and grow a diverse portfolio of work. The position provides an exciting opportunity to develop and maintain PSG’s client relationships and network of consultants.

Responsibilities

Programme Delivery and Thought Leadership

In collaboration with our existing clients and team of governance consultants, provide technical leadership and support in refining public sector governance priorities and ensuring high quality and timely support to governance strengthening activities. The PSG Lead requires specialist knowledge and experience across the policy cycle, i.e., from problem analysis, policy formulation and strategic planning, budget consultations and preparation, implementation, and budget execution to monitoring, evaluation and learning.

Specific tasks include:

• Lead the design and delivery of OPM’s work in public sector governance. This could include technical design and delivery, oversight of technical projects or quality assurance.
• Pro-actively engage with governments and clients to understand governance priorities and to deepen governance expertise in development programming.
• Ensure that PSG projects are of high-quality and delivered to client satisfaction within budgets and timelines.
• Contribute to the development of global and country-level work plans and budgets, ensuring the technical integrity and feasibility of proposed governance activities.
• Contribute to routine management tasks such as progress reports, budget updates, financial forecasting, training, quarterly KPIs etc.
• Participate in technical leadership meetings and provide input on progress, challenges, and proposed adaptations to strengthen implementation as related to governance initiatives; and
• Represent the hub externally at partner and client meetings, knowledge events, working groups and conferences.  

Strategy and growth

• Design and deliver the PSG strategy on a yearly basis, deciding on key priority areas and geographies.
• Lead strategic growth on new and emerging technical areas such as conflict and peacebuilding, media regulation, digital policy, and climate finance.
• Identify new market opportunities and lead the pre-positioning, bid preparation and collaboration for PSG opportunities.
• Lead in developing OPM’s networks and managing key client and partner relationships for the Governance Practice
• Monitor global developments in governance and ensure PSG is both represented within, and benefitting from, evolving global dialogue and developments.

Team management

• Provide supervision, mentoring and performance management support to the global PSG team to contribute to individual team members’ professional development.
• Lead recruitment and team growth in market-relevant and emerging technical areas.
• Manage recruitment of new consultants into the team, aligned with strategic growth.
• Provide leadership and oversight in strengthening the capacity of a range of stakeholders and organisations in our network.   

Experience

• Demonstrated track record of working with governments, preferably in implementing or supporting governance reform in low- and middle-income countries.
• Demonstrated leadership in strategic planning and delivering complex and adaptive technical assistance with bilateral and multilateral donors, implementing partners, and local organizations.
• Expert technical knowledge and experience in at least four of the following technical areas related to public sector governance:  systems strengthening, capacity development and organisational change; transparency, accountability, and inclusive participation; decentralised governance and service delivery; political economy analysis and Thinking and Working Politically; democracy, conflict, and peacebuilding; and digital governance.
• Demonstrated ability to influence governance-related policy, strategy, and interventions.
• Deep understanding of the drivers and challenges associated with government reform in a context of inadequate resources, incomplete information for decision-making, and weak political incentives for change; 
• Experience of working in multi-cultural teams in politically-sensitive and complex environments, and a willingness to continue to do so;
• Prior relevant work experience in an international development organization, non-governmental organization (NGO), government agency, or private organization;

Applied Knowledge & Skills:

• At least 10+ years of experience providing technical leadership on governance reform in low- and middle-income countries;
• Master's or higher degree in relevant discipline (for example, public policy, public administration, international development, economics, politics, or related disciplines);
• Excellent problem solving, organizing and management skills;
• Excellent written and oral communication skills;
• Fluency in written and spoken English;
• Willingness to travel as required