Director, Special Operations - African Development Bank

• Position title: Director, Special Operations - SVP
• Grade: EL5
• Position N°: 50064864
• Reference: ADB/16/116
• Publication date: 21/11/2016
• Closing date: 11/12/2016
• Country: Côte d’Ivoire

Objectives

THE BANK:

Established in 1964, the African Development Bank is the premier pan-African development institution, promoting economic growth and social progress across the continent. There are 80 member states, including 54 in Africa (Regional Member Countries).  The Bank’s development agenda is delivering the financial and technical support for transformative projects that will significantly reduce poverty through inclusive and sustainable economic growth. In order to sharply focus the objectives of the Ten Year Strategy (2013 – 2022) and ensure greater developmental impact, five major areas, all of which will accelerate our delivery for Africa, have been identified for scaling up, namely; energy, agro-business, industrialization, integration and improving the quality of life for the people of Africa. The Bank is seeking to build a management team that will lead the successful implementation of this vision.

THE HIRING COMPLEX:

The Senior Vice-President is responsible for supporting the President in the day-to-day management of the Bank Group to achieve it strategic objective, and drive performance culture that will align all processes and systems to deliver high impact results. The SVP will provide effective leadership and exceptional coordination to ensure implementation and monitoring of key corporate decisions as well as the identification of necessary corrective measures and actions. The SVP will lead senior management discussions, decisions-making process and the implementation of key board and management decisions.

THE HIRING DEPARTMENT/DIVISION:

The Director, Special Operations to be housed under the SVP to support the President and SVP on important time-bound projects that are complex and critical and need coordination across multiple complexes.

THE POSITION:

The Bank’s Board of Directors have approved the Development and Business Delivery Model (DBDM) for scaling up the Bank’s operations and meeting its Ten Year Strategy through the High5s.  Following this, the five Strategies for implementing the High5s have either already been approved or are awaiting approval by the Board.  In addition, the Bank launched a New Deal on Energy and the Board also recently approved the proposal for updating the Bank’s Decentralisation Action Plan in support of the DBDM.  In order to ensure the successful implementation of these initiatives, the President announced the establishment of a Transition Management Team (TMT) and the Delivery and Accountability and Process Efficiency Committee (DAPEC).  With the return of the Bank to its Headquarters, there is a need for the strategic implementation of a world-class facilities plan that is fit for the Bank’s purpose. 

Given these strategic and critical organizational initiatives and projects, the Director Special Operations, will be responsible for cross-Complex project management, strategic planning, and implementation support as assigned by the Senior Vice President (SVP) and/or the President (PRST). The position is housed in the office of the Senior Vice President.

Duties and responsibilities

1. Responsible for coordinating the implementation of special projects and strategic initiatives, emanating from the transformative agenda for Africa and the High 5’s as determined by the SVP and President.
2. Lead selected special projects that require cross-functional engagement with key units/staff across the organization, and with external stakeholders, as appropriate.
3. Proactively identify and engage individual organizational units or experts, as well as informational resources that can help frame and advance the achievement of the special projects and initiatives
4. Provide thought leadership on whether the Bank can play a meaningful role in advancing its interests on key trends or emerging issues resulting from working on such initiatives.
5. Lead cross-departmental Working Groups that will ensure the delivery of business process efficiencies across the Bank.
6. Provide staff support to the Senior Vice President and the President for the convening of a range of high level meetings relating to the transformative agenda for Africa. 
7. Other duties as assigned by the Senior Vice President or President.

Selection Criteria

Including desirable skills, knowledge and experience

1. Hold at least a Master’s degree (or its equivalent) in Economics, Finance, Business Administration, Social Sciences or related disciplines.
2. Have a minimum of ten (10) years of extensive work experience in operations policy development.
3. Track record of thinking conceptually and mastering complex subject matters quickly.
4. Strong organizational skills and demonstrated capacity to develop and implement practical strategies, plans, and solutions to identified issues and problems.
5. Proven ability to assimilate information gathered through research and consultations, to apply that information in creative and cross-cutting ways, and to synthesize appropriate strategies and responses.
6. Superior critical thinking skills, including the capacity to identify and appropriately assess and order competing interests and priorities.
7. Track record of taking initiatives in managing competing organizational and departmental priorities and to work effectively under pressure when facing extremely short deadlines.
8. Exceptional research, writing, analytical and organizational skills, and the ability to convey complex concepts in a clear, concise and logical manner.
9. Good judgment, discretion, tact and the ability to work easily with senior leaders within the Bank, and business sectors.
10. Ability to partner well with colleagues both in and outside the Bank.
11. Ability to work independently and to undertake supervisory responsibilities as needed.
12. Excellent coordination skills and ability to converse easily with multi sectoral teams on complex assignments.
13. Excellent verbal and written communication skills in English and/or French, with a working knowledge of the other language.
14. Competence in the use of ERP Systems (preferably SAP) and standard MS office applications (Word, Excel, Access, PowerPoint).

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To apply for this position, you need to be national of one of AfDB member countries.