Country Lead at Adam Smith International

Role Summary

• Country Leads are the senior professionals that lead GCIEP delivery in their Deep Offer Country. They will be based in-country with a deep understanding of the local context, geography and stakeholders. They are the ‘face of GCIEP’ in that country – representing the programme to senior FCDO, international, government and other local stakeholders. They lead the effective and high-quality delivery of the programme. They have overall leadership responsibility in-country – delivering the Programme and overseeing the effective running of the country operations with support from the Country Manager role. They are likely to have a Country Manager reporting to them, as well as one or two Intervention Leads. They will ideally also act as an Intervention Lead to oversee the implementation of one of the GCIEP interventions.
• Country Leads are the senior professionals that lead GCIEP delivery in their Deep Offer Country. They will be based in-country with a deep understanding of the local context, geography and stakeholders. They are the ‘face of GCIEP’ in that country – representing the programme to senior FCDO, international, government and other local stakeholders. They lead the effective and high-quality delivery of the programme. They have overall leadership responsibility in-country – delivering the Programme and overseeing the effective running of the country operations with support from the Country Manager role. They are likely to have a Country Manager reporting to them, as well as one or two Intervention Leads. They will ideally also act as an Intervention Lead to oversee the implementation of one of the GCIEP interventions.

Details

• TAF Grade: Principal Expert (15+ years of experience)
• Timing: The role is required to start as soon as possible and on an ongoing basis to March 2026.
• Location: In-country (Nigeria)
• Capacity requirement: Ideally full time (220/days per year) although it may be possible that the right candidate would be successful at 0.50FTE (110days/year)

Key Skills

• Extensive experience managing and leading consulting teams in developing countries, and ideally in Nigeria.
• Geographic expertise and good understanding of the practical complexities of implementing programmes in Nigeria.
• Previous relevant experience of leading similar programmes for FCDO or other donors.
• Extensive green cities and/or infrastructure expertise, including in one of the following sectors: Energy, Urban, Transport, Infrastructure Services.
• Excellent interpersonal skills and ability to establish effective working relations with different stakeholders .
• Strong in-country networks and credibility with senior stakeholders.
• Experience in leading the delivery of high-quality work and developing high quality reports .
• Experience of adapting professional workplans in a fast moving and changeable environment .
• Experience of overseeing international development-funded country office operations.

Example Responsibilities
Day to day Lead responsible for detailed design and implementation of the country programme, including:

• Leading/supporting the Country Strategy and the detailed design of the interventions.
• Leading the implementation of the GCIEP country programme and team to deliver against agreed objectives.
• Team leadership and management of circa £2-4m programme of technical advisory per annum, with a team consisting of technical experts (international and local) and programme managers and support team (local).
• Responsible for delivery against the workplan.
• Oversight, direction and QA of all work delivered by the team in the relevant country.
• Responsible for implementing country team procedures, policies and processes including governance structures and ways of working.
• Responsible for delivery against the country programme GEDSI, Climate, Nature and Environment (CN&E) ambitions and ICF target.
• Responsible for delivery against the country-nested log frames and intervention-specific ToCs.
• Responsible for feedback into programme learnings, communications and reporting.
• Engaging directly with the GCIEP Beneficiaries, FCDO posts, Embassies, key stakeholders .
• Leading on identifying and managing risks and issues and escalating as appropriate.
• Monitoring implementation progress, milestones, and intervening to provide corrective measures.
• Oversight of the Country Office operations through Line Management of the Programme Manager and ultimate accountability for financial, security and personnel management in country.