Country Head, North Macedonia

Focus of the Role

Are you excited by the prospect of transforming countries in the Western Balkans region through advising senior political leadership on topics across policy, delivery, technology, and strategic communications? Do you have experience of consulting - or working in - the public sector, as well as in leading teams of consultants or government advisors?

Our main objective in this strategically important role is to lead our government advisory work in North Macedonia related to FDI, public finance management, economic development, job creation and bringing about accelerated change for citizens through technology.  An exciting opportunity exists to work with senior ministers and relevant ministries to overcome various challenges and obstacles across their ambitious reform agendas.

This is a senior role requiring an extraordinary candidate with relevant expertise, deep networks with government and/or consulting expertise in-country or other peer countries.

Key Responsibilities

• Establish, review and maintain high level project goals and plans, and lead their implementation within North Macedonia
• Alignment with overall TBI regional programme and collaboration with other project/country heads and directors
• Be the problem-solving lead in responding to key issues
• Manage day to day partner relationship
• Overall project quality control
• Team recruitment, management and development (4-6 person team initially)
• Inspire and engage within the TBI and externally
• Shape and embody a culture that drives innovation and results-orientation
• Development of data-driven and other analytical tools for management and delivery

Key elements of the role include:

Problem solving: Diagnose partner governments’ problems through robust hypothesis-driven analysis. Identify innovative solutions through drawing on global best practices, including fluency in qualitative and quantitative analysis. Create decision-making frameworks in a clear and compelling way through multiple deliverables (from short briefing notes to highly visual PowerPoint presentations). Ensure recommendations are politically feasible as well as technically sound

Programme delivery: Execute and deliver across various in-country and cross-country programmes related to technology, investment, infrastructure, governance, economic development, and other TBI-partner programmes

Counterpart management: Establish effective and trusted relationships with senior politicians in government, such as Presidents, PMs, Ministers and Special Advisors. Act as the main liaison in day to day counterpart management. Discuss and agree upon establishment and maintenance of goals, plans, proof points and KPIs

People management: Recruit, manage and develop a high performing project team. Provide quality control of new hires and ongoing development and mentoring. Act as a career counsellor to other employees in the practice. Work closely with directors and fellow project/country heads in building a successful practice, through identifying and responding to shared challenges

Key outcomes

1. Establishing effective and trusted relationships with senior politicians in government, such as Presidents, PMs, Minister and Special Advisors, with at least one key counterpart as regular contact
2. Outlining and executing results-driven consulting-oriented program delivery alongside a high-performing, highly motivated team
3. Tangible results delivered in project leadership, team management, and mutually agreed upon deliverables
4. Impact recognised in country and contributing best practice to our Government Advisory global offer and playbook

Person Specification

We are looking for an experienced leader:

• With a minimum of 8-10 years’ experience in management consulting or government advisory
• Who is strategic, has strong problem-solving ability, can challenge the status-quo and develop plans for successful delivery of challenging objectives
• With managerial experience in consulting or advisory functions
• With demonstrable expertise in economics, public policy, or international relations
• Who commits to business objectives and pulls out the stops to make sure they are always met
• With outstanding management skills and the proven ability to build and inspire teams to achieve exceptional objectives
• Who is a skilled communicator and influencer, from executive office level through to technical level; is adept at speaking to senior leadership; knows how to navigate ambiguous environments; is comfortable at managing up and beyond hierarchy
• Who has worked or consulted in developing and emerging economies and is sensitive to a diverse range of cultural and regional norms, and fosters a positive spirit of collaboration between the countries and the global TBI government advisory practice
• Undergraduate degree required. Postgraduate degree favoured
• Fluency in written and spoken English is essential

The post holder will work closely with other project/country heads and directors on a regular basis.

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.