Technical Deputy Chief of Party, Transforming Local Food Processing

TechnoServe is seeking a Technical Deputy Chief of Party for a USAID project focused on transforming local food processing in Arlington, VA. The role involves delivering a technical strategy, overseeing interventions, leading a team of experts, and collaborating with local partners to enhance food systems. Responsibilities include ensuring project alignment with goals, managing stakeholder relationships, and documenting best practices.
Everyone deserves the opportunity to build a better future. This simple idea has been at the heart of Techno Serve’s work around the world for over 50 years. Techno Serve is a pioneer in leveraging the power of business and markets to create sustainable pathways out of poverty.

The low-income communities in which we work are full of enterprising people. Their small-scale farms and businesses are the keys to economic development. But they face many challenges: low literacy, lack of access to jobs and markets, unpredictable political dynamics and, increasingly, the effects of climate change. For many women and young people, the challenges are even more daunting. Working with Techno Serve staff, people around the world are lifting themselves out of poverty.

The results are amazing...when incomes increase and living conditions for families get better, they are able to access health care and education previously out of reach. Communities and even whole countries are better off.

Program

Description:

Techno Serve is preparing for a global opportunity with USAID focused on transforming the local food processing sector to provide for the greater availability of safe and nutritious foods in Feed the Future countries. Building on Techno Serve’s rich history in the food processing sector, the program will leverage the power of the private sector to create better nutritional outcomes for base-of-the-pyramid consumers and more profitable market opportunities for local farmers.

This will be achieved by working with local food processing companies in priority USAID countries to support better business practices, more durable market linkages, and improved knowledge.

Job Summary:

The Technical Deputy Chief of Party (DCOP) will be responsible for delivering a comprehensive technical strategy aligned with the program’s overarching objectives across the targeted countries. S/he will oversee the planning, execution, and delivery of technical interventions, ensuring they are completed on time and according to Techno Serve’s quality standards. S/he will work closely with the COP and Knowledge Management Director to continuously assess the quality of our implementation based on data, take measures to improve or reorient program activities when needed, prioritize tasks and allocate resources effectively to meet program goals.

S/he will lead a team of technical experts in food processing, food safety, food systems R&D, among others, and support them as they build the capacity of local partners to strengthen their countries’ food systems. S/he will foster a culture of collaboration, innovation, and continuous learning within the technical team.

Responsibilities:
• Provide technical leadership and oversight for the project's activities, ensuring alignment with project goals and objectives;
• Work closely with the Chief of Party (COP) to develop and implement project work plans, ensuring technical quality and compliance with donor requirements;
• Represent the project and organization in technical forums, conferences, and meetings with donors and other stakeholders;
• Lead efforts to capture, document, and disseminate lessons learned, best practices, and innovations from project implementation;
• Manage relationships with key regional and local stakeholders and support them as they build their capacity on regulatory control systems for food quality, nutrition requirements, and safety standards;
• In collaboration with the Chief of Party and the M&E Manager, design, review and continuously improve program implementation on the basis of results obtained, based on quantitative and qualitative data and feedback from program participants, clients, partners and staff;
• Plan, establish, and direct a wide range of program interventions (special studies, after action reviews, partners’ meetings, organizational learning surveys, on-line engagements) to inform and advance the program’s Collaborating, Learning & Adapting (CLA) Plan, to facilitate overall program implementation;
• In collaboration with the Chief of Party, ensure that the programming execution meets Techno Serve quality standards;
• Assist Chief of Party with other strategic and technical tasks as…