Senior Infrastructure and PAQ Manager at Mercy Corps

Location: Owerri, Imo
Employment Type: Full-time, Regular

General Position Summary

• The Small-Town Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene (STWASH) Activity is a five-year initiative funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). The Activity is to support sustainable improvements in access to basic water and sanitation that are necessary to facilitate ongoing recovery, peacebuilding, and economic development within Nigeria.
• The program has three interrelated areas of intervention. As a foundational approach, STWASH focuses on expanded access to water and for sanitation facilities and strengthening capacity for small town water governance covering the states of Borno, Adamawa, and Yobe (BAY) in Northeast Nigeria.
• The overarching vision of the activities in the BAY states is to facilitate the economic recovery of some crisis-affected communities and bolster the capacity of the state governments in providing essential WASH services and creating and sustaining enabling environments for Small Towns Water Supply and Sanitation Agencies and Water Consumers Associations to operate effectively.
• In addition, the ST WASH Activity is anticipated to expand to implement water utility infrastructure projects in the three southern states of Imo, Abia, and Delta.
• MC Nigeria seeks a Senior Infrastructure and PAQ Manager to provide technical leadership on infrastructure for the STWASH Activity and any future expansions.
• The manager will be responsible for WASH activities in Borno, Adamawa, Yobe, Imo, Abia, and Delta including infrastructure rehabilitation and hygiene promotion. The manager will lead staff as they plan and implement technical program activities; support with both internal and external reports, recruit and supervise an engineering team responsible for delivering high-quality projects.

Essential Job Responsibilities
Program And Team Management:

• Lead implementation of all technical components of WASH infrastructure projects in full coordination with other staff members.
• Manage the technical team including the WASH and utility water engineers, site engineers, and provide overall supervision and monitoring of engineering designs and construction activities in the field. Provide support to the team through constructive feedback and coaching to ensure implementation is on track. Organize workflow and ensure that duties or delegated tasks are clearly communicated and carried out.
• Review and provide feedback and follow up for drawings and specifications prepared by design firms
• Work closely with the technical team to develop timely and realistic plans.
• Conduct frequent site visits to provide construction management supervision including oversight of work onsite, materials testing, report development, verification of quantities, processing payment requests and handover procedures.
• Manage tender processes with MC Nigeria procurement team, including reviewing technical documentation, initiating procurement requests, and providing additional inputs as needed.
• Work closely with finance and program teams to ensure compliance with MC procedures and standardization.
• Develop full working knowledge of all WASH project designs including pump stations, pipelines, water treatment plants, civil, mechanical, and electrical works and sanitation facilities.
• Assist in the selection of projects, preparing designs, cost estimation, preparing work plans, implementation of the infrastructure projects and conducting market assessments/price monitoring (on annual basis or as needed).
• Provide feedback to the Monitoring and Evaluation system in order to assess the effectiveness of the projects and impact and propose recommendations for improvements.
• Develop/approve detailed remote monitoring plan and Q&A plan samples for the infrastructure rehabilitation-related activities.
• Develop/approve guidelines on essential tests to be carried out prior to infrastructure or rehabilitation activities.
• Ensure full adherence to the MC security plans and protocols conscientiously respecting the declared 'go' and 'no-go' zones.
• Work with Chief of Party (CoP), Mercy Corps headquarters infrastructure team, and Mercy Corps country office WASH Advisor to coordinate and communicate with local authorities, program third party monitoring consulting firm, donor and other implementing partners to avoid overlapping and obtain all necessary no objection certifications.
• Conduct himself/herself both professionally and personally in such a manner as to bring credit to Mercy Corps and not jeopardize its humanitarian/development mission in Nigeria.
• Prepare/review/approve site visit and quality check reports and contribute to overall program reporting to the donor and the government.
• Working closely with Mercy Corps Ethics Team to support them to conduct spot checks to ensure infrastructure projects are as per technical documents and donor guidelines are followed.
• Identify staffing needs within the technical team and coordinate with office leadership to review CVs, interview candidates, and recommend new hires.
• Lead QA/QC process ensuring all technical reviews are conducted according to best practices.
• Other duties assigned by supervisor.

Security:

• Ensure compliance with security procedures and policies as determined by country leadership.
• Proactively ensure that team members operate in a secure environment and are aware of policies.

Organizational Learning:

• As part of our commitment to organizational learning and in support of our understanding that learning organizations are more effective, efficient and relevant to the communities they serve, we expect all team members to commit 5% of their time to learning activities that benefit Mercy Corps as well as themselves.

Accountability to Beneficiaries:

• Mercy Corps team members are expected to support all efforts toward accountability, specifically to our beneficiaries and to international standards guiding international relief and development work, while actively engaging beneficiary communities as equal partners in the design, monitoring and evaluation of our field projects.
• Team members are expected to conduct themselves in a professional manner and respect local laws, customs and MC's policies, procedures, and values at all times and in all in-country venues.

Supervisory Responsibility:

• Direct supervision of the technical team as determined during deployment.

Accountability:

• Reports Directly To: STWASH Chief of Party
• Works Directly With: Technical team, program team, finance, procurement and logistics.

Knowledge and Experience

• B.Sc or Master’s Degree in Civil Engineering (or related field) with significant knowledge and experience in the design and construction of large-scale water and sanitation facilities
• At least 12 years of experience in the design and construction of various WASH infrastructure projects, including water treatment projects and work in urban environments
• Strong organizational and communication skills
• Ability to interact effectively with international and national personnel and to be a neutral party with people of different perspectives and backgrounds
• Excellent oral and written communication skills
• Experience in managing contracts with engineering design consultants, and construction firms
• Experience in reviewing tenders and developing recommendations for award
• Strong construction management experience including the ability to review contractor work plans, budgets and work progress.
• Demonstrated ability to multi-task and process information into action to not delay program activities
• Strong ability and demonstrated experience in mentoring and building high-performing engineering teams
• Knowledge and experience of USAID-funded projects is a plus
• Prior experience working for/with INGOs is a plus.

Competencies:

• Problem-solving skills.
• Delegation responsibility.
• Accountability.
• Ability to manage multiple projects and priorities.

Success Factors:

• Proven ability to manage large-scale infrastructure design and construction projects.
• Proven ability to manage engineering teams and consultants to ensure the production of quality and effective engineering plans, BoQ, and technical specifications ready for tendering.
• Proven track record of writing scopes of work for consultants, selecting qualified consultants and reviewing and commenting on draft consultant’s work products.
• Proven ability to manage all phases and aspects of construction and contract management.
• Proven ability to solve problems independently without direct supervision.
• The successful candidate will have the ability to work comfortably and effectively in the religious, security and political climate of North-East, South-East, and South-South Nigeria regions
• Security permitting, s/he must be willing to undertake travel frequently within the program area.

Diversity, Equity & Inclusion:

• Achieving our mission begins with how we build our team and work together. Through our commitment to enriching our organization with people of different origins, beliefs, backgrounds, and ways of thinking, we are better able to leverage the collective power of our teams and solve the world’s most complex challenges.
• We strive for a culture of trust and respect, where everyone contributes their perspectives and authentic selves, reaches their potential as individuals and teams, and collaborates to do the best work of their lives.
• We recognize that diversity and inclusion is a journey, and we are committed to learning, listening and evolving to become more diverse, equitable and inclusive than we are today.

Equal Employment Opportunity

• Mercy Corps is an equal opportunity employer that does not tolerate discrimination on any basis. We actively seek out diverse backgrounds, perspectives, and skills so that we can be collectively stronger and have a sustained global impact.
• We are committed to providing an environment of respect and psychological safety where equal employment opportunities are available to all.
• We do not engage in or tolerate discrimination on the basis of race, colour, gender identity, gender expression, religion, age, sexual orientation, national or ethnic origin, disability (including HIV/AIDS status), marital status, military veteran status or any other protected group in the locations where we work.

Safeguarding & Ethics:

• Mercy Corps is committed to ensuring that all individuals we come into contact with through our work, whether team members, community members, program participants or others, are treated with respect and dignity.
• We are committed to the core principles regarding the prevention of sexual exploitation and abuse laid out by the UN Secretary-General and IASC.
• We will not tolerate child abuse, sexual exploitation, abuse, or harassment by or of our team members.
• As part of our commitment to a safe and inclusive work environment, team members are expected to conduct themselves in a professional manner, respect local laws and customs, and adhere to Mercy Corps Code of Conduct Policies and values at all times.
• Team members are required to complete mandatory Code of Conduct eLearning courses upon hire and on an annual basis.