Job Description

Utilities’ Procurement Improvement Manager

Job Title:                      Utilities’ Procurement Improvement Manager

Program:                    Jordan Water Governance Activity (WGA)

Reporting to:               Deputy Chief of Party – Technical

Location:                        Amman, Jordan

Position type:            Long-Term Local Professional

Background 

The Water Governance Activity (WGA) program is a multi-year project funded by USAID, which aims to support the Government of Jordan (GoJ) to achieve measurable improvements and greater sustainability of the water sector by providing technical assistance to strengthen the GoJ’s reform, policy development and implementation, and capacity-building efforts. WGA will support the following objectives: support the GoJ to define and resolve water sector strategy and policy issues; improve water entities’ performance by reducing network losses, increasing conveyance efficiencies, and improving utility cost recovery; and specific, cross-cutting objectives related to support to gender, youth, persons with disabilities (PWD), and private sector engagement.

Position Overview 

The WGA is working with the Water Authority of Jordan (WAJ), Jordan Valley Authority (JVA), and the Water Companies to improve procurement and project management capacity and related functions including internal regulation and procedures, staffing, and institutional setup that administers procurement and payments authorization, monitoring and control systems and environment, procurement lifecycle (planning through closeout) management, and others of relevance.

The WGA team assessed WAJ and developed a mitigation plan and it is expected also that other future assessments will be performed to other entities in the water sector such as Jordan Valley Authority (JVA) and the water companies (Miyahuna, Yarmouk, and Aqaba).

Duties and Responsibilities:

The project needs a skilled person to join and support the team in delivering the following:

• Support the water sector in implementing the agreed improvement/mitigation plans,
• Work closely with the parties involved in the procurement process (directorates, departments, committees, etc.) to streamline and debottleneck the process,
• Lead a process of documenting and improving the internal procedures to be compliant with the legal requirements including updates to the internal manual and forms,
• Assist in the preparation and compilation of statistical data, in-depth analysis, and formulation of KPIs related to the performance of the procurement process and staff,
• Support the procurement directorate in creating a feedback circle that helps ensure a continuous improvement cycle with increased learning experience,
• Review, analyze, propose, and agree on improvements to the procurement processes and procedures (across directorates and departments), institutional setup, staffing capacity, roles and responsibilities, authorities, record-keeping, and others,
• Support the procurement directorate in collecting observations and proposing improvements to the legal framework to be reported to the higher procurement authorities,
• Support in the deployment and implementation of digital procurement solutions (ERP, JONEPS, etc.).
• Work with the technical units responsible for developing the project’s scopes and implementing them to improve the related functions of procurement management.
• Conduct training sessions or workshops to enhance procurement performance, process, and skills among staff,
• Assist procurement-related parties in developing the procurement strategies and executive/implementation plans, and
• Support the WGA team in future similar assignments and others as required.
• Prepare reports, presentations, and analyses related to the assigned tasks,
• Develop and maintain highly collaborative relationships with counterparts and relevant water stakeholders to successfully develop and implement project activities.
• Perform other tasks as appropriate and as determined by the Deputy Chief of Party–Technical.

Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities:

• Proven knowledge or experience in procurement,
• Professional certifications or accreditation in procurement or supply management is preferrable,
• Sufficient understanding of public or water-specific procurement challenges,
• Proven interpersonal, presentation, and communication skills.
• Expertise in relevant software used in procurement management.
• Ability to adapt to working in dynamic environments.
• Proven skills in using MS Office particularly Word, Excel, and Power Points,
• Demonstrated ability to work with different teams, under pressure, and on multidisciplinary activities,
• Demonstrated experience and ability to work with and coordinate closely with government staff, effectively manage expectations, and build capacity of counterparts,
• Fluency in Arabic and excellent speaking, reading, and writing ability in English is required,

Education and/or Experience

• Bachelor’s degree in engineering, business administration, supply chain management, or procurement. Master’s degree in business administration, procurement or supply management, or project management is a plus.
• Expert knowledge of the recent Jordan Procurement law, regulation, and implementation modalities, including development of manuals, SOPs and delivering training and technical assistance for government entities
• Expert understanding the JONEPS, and practical experience to support ministry transition to JONEPS
• Understanding of FIDIC “special conditions”
• At least 10 years’ combined procurement systems experience in both the private and public sector, preferably in the water sector or infrastructure sectors.  Relevant international experience is a plus.

This job description is not designed to cover or contain a comprehensive listing of activities, duties, or responsibilities that are required of the employee. Duties, responsibilities, and activities may change, or new ones may be assigned at any time with or without notice.

Chemonics is committed to the goal of equal employment opportunity. Chemonics recruits, hires, trains, and promotes people in all job titles without regard to race, color, religion, age, national origin, disability, sex, sexual orientation, gender or gender identity, or any other category specified by labor laws. All employment decisions will be consistent with the principle of equal employment opportunity. All personnel actions such as compensation, benefits, transfers, layoffs, return from layoff, company sponsored training, education, tuition assistance, social and recreational programs will be administered without regard to race, color, religion, age, national origin, disability, sex, sexual orientation, gender or gender identity, or any other category specified by local labor laws.

We thank all applicants for their interest; however, only shortlisted candidates will be contacted for interviews. The selection of this post will be on a rolling basis.

**It is a Chemonics policy to conduct background checks on all potential recruits/interns. Recruitment/internship in Chemonics is contingent on the results of such checks.