Tech for Development Manager

Focus of the Role

­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­The Tech for Development Manager is a key role in within our newly launched Tech for Development initiative, which has been enabled by a dynamic external partner, across existing and new operations in our Government Advisory and Tech & Public Policy divisions. This landmark initiative will be delivered in 30 countries in Africa, Eastern Europe, and Asia and aims to transform developing and emerging nations through the application of sustainable scaled technology and innovations across public services, food systems and agriculture, healthcare and climate. 

In delivering the Tech for Development initiative, a central team will work closely with TBI Government Advisory country teams to identify, design, implement, and scale new technology-enabled transformation projects aligned to Centre of Government priorities and opportunities across the technical sectors of focus.  

With the objective of reaching 30 countries across Africa, Asia, and Eastern Europe and creating a cohesive portfolio of programming, maintaining and evolving a coordinated effort and central strategy is essential.

The Tech for Development Manager will be a key role in our central Tech for Development team. Reporting directly to, and working closely with our Global Director, Tech for Development, the successful candidate will help to drive the evolving vision and strategy of the global programme and strengthen collaborative linkages throughout the organisation. The Tech for Development Manager will help to ensure the team’s collective performance and and coordination across the programme’s matrixed structure across technical sector teams and geographic/regional structures. By working with and through Tech for Development Heads of Sector, and Regional Programme Managers, the postholder will help to ensure quality opportunity design and  capturing of best practices and emerging lessons learned. The Manager will also support, and co-ordinate with, TBI country teams and Heads of Tech in each country to support and track progress and ensure effective resourcing.

Key Responsibilities

­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­The key responsibilities of this role will include:

Strategy & Planning​

• With the Global Director, Tech for Development, maintain and continually improve the global Tech for Development strategy. Support the framing of strategic ideation and guide discussions from big ideas to actionable execution plans
• Support continuous development and iteration of programme plans and global playbook and oversee design template quality control and  iteration​
• With the Global Director, Tech for Development, set and maintain global and central team work flow cadence, planning​, and communication
• Coordinate with our country teams, and Heads of Sectors within the Tech for Development Central Team, on ongoing basis to inform and evolve strategy and planning across the Tech for Development portfolio ​
• Oversee and evolve an automated dashboard for tracking programmatic and pipeline progress across the portfolio, and to align with our Tech & Public Policy division​ and broader Centre of Government Advisory work
• Support the Global Director, Tech for Development and our Communications Team in developing and maintaining a communications strategy for the Tech for Development portfolio​ covering both internal and external communications​

Execution & Monitoring​

• Supervise and guide regional program managers to ensure Tech for Development portfolio progress from scoping to projectization through delivery; identify and elevate challenges/roadblocks and ensure they are addressed by relevant internal resources​
• With the Global Director, Tech for Development, support the management and navigation of programmatic risks and interface with TBI’s legal and contracts team
• With the Global Director, Tech for Development, interface and coordinate with the Tech for Development evidence and impact manager and broader Evidence and Impact team to evolve the Tech for Development OKR framework and support quarterly targets and progress monitoring and reporting across dashboards and activities​
• Support the Global Director, Tech for Development with budget allocation and tracking across activities/projects​

External Relations and partnerships​

• Support the Heads of Sectors within the Tech for Development central team in developing and maintaining strong relationships with external stakeholders and developing a global partnerships strategy ​
• Attend key events and represent the Institute on occasion in support of the Global Director, Tech for Development and Heads of Sectors and Country Heads

People​

• Supervise around four central Tech for Development team staff (Regional PMs and a central Tech for Development Associate), coach, and mentor as a caring people leader​
• Contribute to the creation of a shared Tech for Development program culture globally and contribute to the broader TBI community

Person Specification

The successful candidate should demonstrate the majority of the following:

• 5-7 years’ experience in a manager position in a consulting firm (e.g. engagement manager), foundation/NGO, or private sector organization supervising and executing across multiple workstreams simultaneously
• Demonstratable strength in structured problem solving, top-down communication, and portfolio thinking
• Experience in managing budget allocation and resource decisions
• Experience in building and maintaining automated dashboards to facilitate nimble performance tracking and coordination
• Experience with international development, public sector, and technology for development  programming is highly desired
• Excellent communication skills, from executive office level through to technical level, and who is adept at speaking to senior leadership, knows how to navigate ambiguous environments and is comfortable at managing up and beyond hierarchy  
• Direct experience working in LMICs is highly desired
• Experience in working in entrepreneurial and matrixed environments and who is comfortable working in ambiguity while closely collaborating with global functional and geographic teams
• Outstanding management skills and the proven ability to build and inspire teams to achieve exceptional objectives  
• Who commits to business objectives and pulls out the stops to make sure they are always met 

About The Institute

The Tony Blair Institute (TBI) is a mission-driven not for profit organisation. We exist to equip political leaders and governments to build open, inclusive and prosperous societies. We work hard, every day, to make a difference. When governments work well they are able to create economic and social change in a way that promotes fairness, social justice and opportunity. We work relentlessly to support leader and governments with the challenges they face. Giving them practical solutions and actionable insights, that once implemented, can be transformative for their people  

We do this within two connected divisions: 

 Government Advisory 

Our Advisory Practice works directly with political leaders and governments around the world to implement reforms that improve the lives of their citizens. It has both non-profit partners and a client base and its outputs cover a range of disciplines and projects across countries in Africa, the Middle East, Eastern Europe and South Asia. We are currently in a rapid expansion phase from c. 18 countries at present, to 30 by December 2022.

 Policy Futures 

Our Policy Futures work encompasses three broad areas: 

• Renewing the Centre: developing a bold and innovative domestic policy programme to help renew the centre ground of British politics; 
• Tech and Public Policy: exploring the policy challenges and opportunities presented by the technological revolution; and 
• Extremism Policy Unit: creating solutions designed to tackle the threat of extremist ideologies in the UK and around the world. 

As an organisation, the core beliefs we all embrace are: 

• Open and Progressive: you’ll believe in the value of teamwork 
• Bold and Pragmatic: you’ll approach everything you do with integrity and authenticity 
• Optimistic Changemaker: you’ll be focused on results 

TBI believes embracing diversity and inclusion make us a better place to work.  It’s our goal to reflect everyone in society and we actively welcome applications from individuals and groups who are under-represented in the workplace. We celebrate difference be it ethnicity, religion, age, gender or gender identity, sexual orientation or disability. We will only ever assess you on your abilities and fit for a role. We’re happy to discuss any adjustments you need to ensure a level playing field during recruitment and, if you\'re successful, discuss any adjustments you might need to thrive in your role.