Program Manager, East Africa

This is an internal posting for current Water Mission employees only.

Who is Water Mission?

Water Mission is a nonprofit Christian engineering organization that designs, builds, and implements safe water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) solutions for people in developing countries and disaster areas. Guided by love, excellence, and integrity, we are driven to share clean, safe water and God’s love with all. To date, we have served more than 7 million people in 57 countries. Working at Water Mission is as much a calling as it is a career, and we are searching for people with the courage, passion, and drive to help us change the world. Read more about our Statement of Faith and Christian Mission.

What is the opportunity?

Working under the direct supervision of the Sr. Director, Africa Region, the Program Manager, East Africa is responsible for applying sound engineering principles, project and program management techniques, and excellent written and verbal communications skills. This position will manage scopes of work, schedules, and budgets of a variety of international water and sanitation projects to support our country programs and will require significant field office and client/donor interaction. The position is based in Charleston, SC, USA and will require international travel to remote locations in developing countries. Duration of travel lasts typically 1-3 weeks and occurs 2-3 times per year.

A successful Program Manager will:

• Maintain a strong Christian witness and model servant leadership to colleagues, partners, the communities we serve, and the public.
• Work in a team environment to provide technical direction and assistance for technicians, volunteers, and other engineers.
• Prepare written proposals and cost estimates for assigned programs and projects.
• Manage multiple simultaneous projects.
  • Maintain good communications with the project stakeholders, i.e.  in-country staff and in-country partner organizations.
  • Ensure that the project is executed according to an agreed-upon scope of work, design, schedule, and budget.
  • Prepare and submit agreed-upon Project Status Reports.
• Coordinate both local and international shipments.
• Provide approval of all program and project related expenses and purchase orders.
• Work with the Engineering and Innovation department to implement and develop new project standards, processes, and research studies.
• Work with the Community Development Department to implement health & hygiene training, micro-enterprise training, community leadership training, and Living Water content for projects.
• Work with the Global Partnerships department to assist with grant proposal writing and reporting on grants.
• Conduct field inspections and site assessments in developing countries.
• Participate in disaster response activities as needed.
• Work with senior leadership to develop and implement annual operating plans and budget.
• Prepare and make presentations to the Operations Team, Strategic Partners, donors, and volunteers.

What is Required?

• Personal and growing relationship with Jesus Christ.

• Alignment with Water Mission’s Statement of Faith and Core Values of Love, Excellence, and Integrity.

• Alignment with the principles of servant leadership as embraced by Water Mission.

• Bachelor’s degree in Civil, Chemical, Environmental, Mechanical, or other Engineering fields; other degrees considered: Construction Management, Science, or Mathematics.

• Minimum 4 years of progressive engineering and project management experience, 5+ years preferred.

• Experience working in developing countries preferred.

• Advanced skills with MS Office suite (Word, Excel, Outlook) and familiarity with project management software such as MS Project, Smartsheet, etc.

• Excellent analytical skills and project management skills.

• Excellent relationship and conflict resolution skills.

• Excellent verbal and written communications skills.

• P.E. license and/or project management certification preferred.

• Supervisory experience preferred.

• Ability to travel up to three months per year, mostly in developing countries. Most international trips are 1-3 weeks in length and require riding in long car rides on rough terrain, standing for extended periods of time in hot weather, and lifting moderately heavy things.

• Ability to travel to a disaster response situation with only 72 hours of notice to support ministry operations.

• Home internet bandwidth strong enough to support video conferencing and other job-related responsibilities.

• Flexibility to work periodic nights and weekends as required for ministry operations.

• Legal authorization to work in the United States without sponsorship.

• Commitment to the values and mission of the organization and ending the global water crisis.