Country Director

Focus of the Role

The Tony Blair Institute for Global Change (TBI) advises political leaders and governments on strategy, policy and delivery. Our teams work shoulder to shoulder with the highest level of government, on an embedded and long term basis, striving to make a significant and positive impact for citizens. 

TBI is looking to hire an exceptional Country Director to lead a country team in Eastern Europe and drive an ambitious transformation agenda set out by national leadership. The Country Director has accountability and oversight across all in-country projects and leads work on areas such public sector reform, digital transformation and health-sector reforms, among others. The Country Director will work closely with government counterparts in senior leader offices and related ministries and agencies as required by the workstreams. More broadly, the Country Director leads client-facing engagements, and develops the next generation of advisory leaders for TBI.

Key Responsibilities

Country Directors possess the following accountabilities and responsibilities:

Client relationship

• Through the delivery of quality and relevant insights, build and maintain a relationship of trust with your counterpart (typically PM or Deputy PM level).
• Be able to suggest and convince your counterpart on key development priorities that TBI could be supporting, which place sustainable social and economic development at their core.
• Hold operational accountability for the effective management of client relationships with co-development (with Regional Director) of account prospects.

Team management and internal coordination

• Provide detailed direction to the TBI in-country team across workstreams, ensuring efficient project planning, effective task allocation, pertinent content development and follow-through.
• Provide direct support to your team when needed, including through sharing content knowledge, supporting in analysis or in development of client deliverables.
• Be receptive to team’s professional and personal concerns, ensuring their well-being and acting as a coach to improve their professional skills and on the job satisfaction
• Ensure projects bring the very best of TBI to clients by harnessing the skills, knowledge and capacity of political, policy and research functions across TBI, including the Global Client Solutions team.
• Hold final accountability for the quality, timeliness and scope alignment of client-facing deliverables.

Administration

• Hold final accountability for the efficacy and efficiency of project teaming, including management of performance reviews for the project team.
• Keep the Regional Director thoroughly updated on workstream progress and potential bottlenecks.
• Lead the development of internal TBI policies for the country, risk register and emergency security package, and ensure TBI staff follow country protocols.
• Contribute to regional recruiting efforts.

Person Specification

• At least 10 years of professional experience of which at least 6 years holding an advisory function to senior government clients.
• A graduate degree in public administration, economics, international relations or political sciences; under-graduate degrees and graduate degrees in other areas can be considered with relevant equivalent experience.
• Strong experience working in strategy development, particularly experience in management consulting, is highly advantageous.
• Proven ability to lead engagement with public sector clients with experience in Eastern Europe a distinct advantage.
• Expertise in a topic and/or function salient to public sector advisory (i.e. public policy, government administration, economic development, digital transformation etc).
• Ability to effectively manage small-to-mid sized teams comprising a variety of skill-sets, nationalities and cultural backgrounds with an ethos focused on team success and genuine motivation for colleagues’ performance, growth and well-being.
• An ability to work independently, think strategically and produce well-structured client-ready deliverables, including PowerPoint. A hands-on attitude, not shy on rolling sleeves up to support in the development of PPT presentations.
• Excellent interpersonal and presentational skills; able to quickly establish his or her credibility with the client.
• A strong motivation to make a difference.
• Ability to operate within sometimes sensitive political contexts and be attuned to potential areas of conflict or tension. Apply sound judgement in all external engagements on behalf of TBI.
• An awareness of international relations trends, particularly related to the Eastern Europe and the Balkans. 
• A high level of comfort working in a fast-paced environment and handling multiple diverse workstreams at once while maintaining the ability to prioritise effectively.
• Strong written communication and executive reporting skills
• Business fluency in English required. Fluency in Romanian language preferred.

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 Government Advisory teams work directly with political leaders and governments around the world to implement reforms that improve the lives of their citizens. It has a variety of partners and its outputs cover a range of disciplines and projects across countries in Africa, the Middle East, Eastern Europe and Asia.

Policy and Politics

Our Policy and Politics work encompasses two broad areas:

• 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 around the world.

As an organisation we value open and progressive leaders having bold yet pragmatic approach to effecting change.