American Center Director at US Embassy

Duties

The American Center Director develops and maintains ties with the Emerging Voices (EV) and Established Opinion Leaders (EOL) sectors in the Embassy Abuja consular district to support foreign policy goals. Is responsible for the day-to-day oversight, management, and operations of the Embassy’s U.S. government (USG)-owned and operated American Center. Develops Center-specific activities and programs to attract EV and EOL audiences at the Center and for Partner American Center audiences throughout the Embassy Abuja consular district; collaborates with non-Center Public Diplomacy (PD) staff on a range of other PD activities and projects to broaden the Center’s EV and EOL activities and programs. This position has a large degree of autonomy as director of a public access facility that is open during hours when the Embassy may be closed, may not be co-located with other Embassy facilities, and must maintain a dynamic schedule of simultaneous activities and projects of interest to the public.

Requirements:

EXPERIENCE:  Four (4) years of experience in an international, academic, government, or cultural institution is required. Experience in communications, marketing, or public relations is required.

JOB KNOWLEDGE:

• Incumbent must have comprehensive knowledge of the attitudes and preferences of the EV and EOL audience sectors and an understanding of regional, ethnic, socioeconomic, cultural and linguistic factors and the influence of religious, cultural, and educational institutions in shaping EV and EOL perceptions of the United States. General knowledge of project management, including defining project objectives, outcomes, and assessment methods is required.
• Knowledge of marketing techniques, market analysis and analytics, and customer service standards in the United States and Nigeria is required; knowledge of trends in experiential learning and audience engagement; and an understanding of the communications and information environments in Nigeria and internationally is required.

Education Requirements:

• A university degree in Communications, Library Science, Museum Education, International Affairs, American Studies, or local equivalent is required.
• Note: NYSC Certificate/Exemption/Exclusion document is required.

LANGUAGE: Fluent Speaking/Reading/Writing English is required.

SKILLS AND ABILITIES

• Analytic Skills: Must have strong analytic skills. Must be able to identify, analyze, predict, and continually assess EV and EOL audience attitudes and evaluate the impact of projects and modify approaches for the best outcomes. Must be able to perceive the emergence of new influencers and adjust operations and programming accordingly.
• Communication and Interpersonal Skills: Must have excellent customer relations, interpersonal, and cross-cultural communication skills and be able to identify and engage key figures critical to shaping local public opinion. Must have excellent written and oral communication skills, including for public speaking, interviewing for evaluation purposes, writing reports, and contributing materials for publication in both English and Yoruba, Hausa, or Igbo. Must be able to tailor communications to fit formal and informal situations; different ethnic, religious, and linguistic cultures; and, as necessary, transmission through multimedia channels. Must be able to brief U.S. officers and visitors on a variety of issues and interpret between English and Yoruba, Hausa, or Igbo for public programs.
• Management Skills: Strong management skills are required, including the ability to develop and oversee project budgets and to organize, run, and present professional and cultural projects, such as workshops, seminars, digital video conferences, panel discussions, lectures, and camps. Must be able to negotiate agreements with partner institutions and manage their fulfillment.
• Technical Skills: Good keyboarding and data entry skills and excellent familiarity with electronic discovery tools, in particular the internet, and standard information retrieval practices and procedures are required. Thorough knowledge of various computer software programs, specifically Microsoft Word, Microsoft Excel, and graphic design and photo editing software, is required. Detailed knowledge of and the ability to use social media and mobile platforms, photo and video sharing sites, podcast creation tools, and basic photo and video skills are required. Must have good numerical skills to be able to develop and manage project and grant budgets