Jobs at Tony Blair Institute for Global Change

Key Responsibilities

Strengthening and innovating our product offering

• Support the Director of Delivery in overall offer strategy development and implementation, and thought leadership of TBI’s Delivery offer and methods
• Identify game changers and lead creative, context specific processes to push the frontier on delivery solutions
• Ensure feedback loops between the implementation of our delivery offer with areas like strategy, policy, strategic communications and private office functions
• Work with other the sectoral team (e.g. Economic Prosperity) to strengthen our delivery offering when a sectoral lens is required
• Champion and directly support the design, mainstreaming, and adaptation of new delivery solutions in various contexts. This includes but is not limited to data-driven prioritisation (e.g., data analytics for granular targeting), combining design thinking, behavioral insights and data science with delivery planning tools (e.g., delivery labs and sprints), and clear line of sight and tools to scaling up results (e.g., pay-for-success contracts, outcome funds, results-based financing)

Delivery initiative quality assurance and thought partnership

• Provide expertise input, thought partnership, and advise to Regional Directors, Country Directors and Advisors on their strategic plans, performance management and resource planning for delivery projects throughout and at critical milestones
• Support to country teams to ensure end-to-end impact of Delivery projects and utilisation of TBI Delivery best practices and tools, methods, approaches
• Support project teams to assess need and build capacity of government counterparts to effectively implement their Delivery strategies transformation agenda, including technological transformational initiatives
• Support portfolio growth and provide surge support to Regional Directors, Country Directors, and the New Business and Impact Team in Delivery projects scoping and setup
• Lead diagnosis of implementation capability and key drivers to deliver on senior leaders’ national development priorities
• Facilitate high level discussions with senior government counterparts on TBI’s support areas and jointly define and agree on TBI’s scope of work, and work through the available options to ensure delivery
• Lead, or contribute to scoping exercises and develop a clear understanding of governments’ overarching vision, implementation challenges and opportunities
• Support business development efforts with technical expertise and inputs in collaboration with the Business Develop & Income team, Regional Directors, Country Directors and other sectoral teams
• Maintain intelligence on market needs, competition, and market gaps in the Delivery ecosystem

Strategic Partnerships

• In collaboration with the Strategic Partnerships and Initiatives team:
• Lead establishment of productive partnerships by ensuring TBI’s proprietary delivery methodology, impact on the ground, and strategic priorities are well reflected in the program of work
• Support the development of and nurture relationships with strategic partners, existing and potential
• Develop annual plan to support implementation of strategic partnerships relevant for delivery practice
• Collaborate with internal stakeholders to strengthen TBI’s overall approach to Delivery partnerships, including having efficient approaches for partnership knowledge management

External Thought Leadership

• Continue to position the practice and TBI as a thought leader in this space
• Be a spokesperson for TBI on the key topics of Delivery. Be a recognised thought leader among the sector ecosystem including participating on panels, writing blogs and articles, and networking strategically
• Build strategic relationships with global leaders and political changemakers to support the relevance, and for fundraising, business development, thought leadership, policy influencing and programme delivery
• Support building out of the Institute’s network of exceptional external advisors who can provide tactical surge support on critical programme milestones and input into our asset evolution

Contribution to wider TBI

• Quickly become a valued and supportive go-to expert across the Institute on matters of Government Delivery
• Contribute to the wider Institute including learning and development, connect with global staff, support institute-wide initiatives etc

Person Specification

This is a role in a fast-paced globally situated team working out of different geographies and in complex policy areas. We are looking for candidates with proven track record of leadership and delivery in the public or private sectors, in multiple country contexts, who can demonstrate the following:

• Experience leading a Delivery Unit and/or supporting the set-up of Delivery Units in multiple countries with demonstrable success in achieving tangible outcomes for citizens
• Extensive experience in a leadership role, cutting across centre of government, delivery, and/or management consulting globally (including in Africa and developed country contexts)
• Ability to work and interact at the highest levels of political decision-making structures in Governments and to support the emergence of trusted relationships
• Strong political acumen and able to rapidly develop an understanding of the needs of senior officials
• Highly developed analytical skills that can be deployed in a range of contexts
• The ability to work in the face of a range of competing views and priorities, possessing highly developed negotiation skills
• Exceptional communication, drafting and presentation skills
• Strong team player with excellent soft skills as well as flexibility to help where needed
• An ability to work independently, think strategically and translate strategies into concrete and implementable plans; an acute attention to detail, as well as organizational and communication skills
• Proven ability and experience leading and managing people and teams
• Experience with project development and project management
• Able to motivate and influence others, including TBI country specific roles, as well as funders, government counterparts and partners
• Willingness to travel extensively, sometimes at short notice, in particular to TBI’s countries of operation
• Strong sense of ethics, discretion and perseverance required
• Experience of living and working in developing countries is strongly desirable
• Fluency in English is required. Fluency in French, or other relevant business languages is desirable

Closing: 24/12/2022

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Key Responsibilities

Key responsibilities for this role include:

• Leveraging and strengthening Delivery expertise
• Manage and nurture Community of Practice programme on delivery with embedded delivery advisors and colleagues with high fluency on delivery
• Lead internal capacity building and training efforts, including through established research and knowledge-based partnerships
• Train Country Directors and in-country advisors on all TBI’s delivery products, methodologies and tools
• Engage with network of internal and external experts to support a series of talks and events (e.g., fireside chats) on delivery

Specialised hands-on support to country teams for delivery project scoping and set up

• Support delivery scoping exercises and government delivery needs assessments, in line with global best practices and TBI’s proprietary delivery framework
• Provide expert delivery support and surge capacity, especially during inception, planning and early operationalisation phases – includes delivery assessment reports, delivery labs, stocktake meeting preparation, progress reports, delivery sprints
• Ensure standardised use and application of TBI’s delivery framework and offer across the globe, and update guidelines as needed
• Support implementation of quality assurance processes for TBI’s delivery offer
• Follow a metrics-based approach to identify risks, problem-solving and learning during implementation – make recommendations for course-correction as needed
• Support coordination of capacity building efforts on delivery for TBI’s counterparts, including implementing institutions

Pushing the frontier – innovating on delivery

• Explore and reimagine delivery with creative solutions addressing specific needs of TBI’s government counterparts
• Support the design and operationalisation of TBI’s new delivery offer. This includes but not limited to data-driven prioritization (e.g., data analytics for granular targeting), combining design thinking, behavioral insights and data science with delivery planning tools (e.g., delivery labs and sprints), and clear line of sight and tools to scaling up results (e.g., pay-for-success contracts, outcome funds, results-based financing)
• Develop joint delivery frameworks with other advisory sectoral practices (e.g. e-government, digital ID, Agri-food) and global innovation team
• Contribute to developing, piloting and rolling-out new/innovative toolkits, templates, and ways of working (tech and non-tech)

Partnerships

• Support establishment of partnerships through ensuring TBI’s proprietary delivery methodology, impact on the ground, and strategic priorities are well reflected in the program of work
• Support mechanisms to use knowledge resources and new capabilities resulting from partnerships into TBI’s operations with country teams and practices
• Liaise with partnerships and MEL team to contribute to reporting mechanisms (e.g., data collection, preparation of reports to financiers if need be

Contribution to wider TBI

• Contribute to wider TBI corporate activities
• Quickly become a valued and supportive team member of the GCS team, clearly linking strategy, policy and technology with delivery
• Support the Director Delivery in overall strategy development and implementation

Person Specification

This is a role in a fast-paced virtual team working out of different geographies and in complex policy areas. The successful candidate will build effective trusting relationships, and help shape and influence change through project teams and in the governments. With a knowledge of delivery principles and processes, the postholder will have a grounding in business development and programme management.

Successful candidates for the role should be able to display the following:

• Significant experience in government delivery functions, management consulting or programme/project management. Experience working in a government delivery mechanism is essential and experience with adaptive management techniques such as Problem Driven Iterative Adaptation
• A proven track record of developing frameworks and tools, process quality improvement and standardisation in addition to relevant experience of working in a project and programme environment
• Familiarity with capacity-building program development would be valuable
• High quality communication, drafting and presentation skills are essential, including in power point. Graphic design skills are an advantage
• Ability to develop and implement tools at different levels of complexity, including professional knowledge management tools and the tools of the Microsoft 365 environment
• Be a strong team player with excellent soft skills as well as flexibility to help where needed
• Highly developed analytical skills that can be deployed in a range of contexts
• Willingness to travel, sometimes at short notice
• Prior experience working with or for governments would be an added advantage
• Fluency in English is required (oral and written). French is valuable.