The Organization

Splash is an international charitable organization headquartered in Seattle, WA, USA, founded in 2007. Our mission is simple: “Clean water for kids.” Small, young, and growing, Splash is in a unique position to be groundbreaking in the global health and WASH sectors, and able to try new approaches to address the needs of urban kids. In ten years, we have brought and continue to ensure safe drinking water to over 400,000 children in cities around the world. Through Project WISE (WASH in Schools for Everyone), launched in 2019, Splash is working with government to reach 100% of government schools in Addis Ababa with full WASH coverage by the end of 2023 and is in a process of expanding its operations into additional geographies, beginning in Ethiopia.

• Our core values guide everything we do including every hiring decision we make. They are:
• People - People first. People second. People third.
• Quality - Beautiful products that function and last.
• Honesty - No drama, no surprises, no BS.
• Joy - Kids at heart, seeing potential everywhere.
• Mistakes - Make them, don’t repeat them.

The Job

Position Overview

The Program Implementation Director will lead an established team of 20+ infrastructure, behavior change, and menstrual health management staff as well as contractors to complete implementation of Project WISE on time and within budget. They will supervise the team to design, construct, and maintain WASH infrastructure and implement behavior change and sustainability activities at hundreds of school sites across Addis Ababa. Additionally, this individual will provide leadership to ensure that the government-funded and-constructed sanitation components of Project WISE are completed successfully.

The position requires a hands-on leader with experience planning, implementing, and reporting on complex programs and budgets; experience with personnel and contractor management; the ability to collaborate effectively with government technical experts and officials at the Bureau, sub-city, and woreda levels, and a strong understanding of risk and conflict management. The position holder will work under the direct supervision of Splash Ethiopia Country Director and in close collaboration with Splash’s global leadership team. The successful candidate will play a key role in hiring, training, and managing the performance of program implementation staff.

Primary Duties and Responsibilities

• Create, implement, and track all high-level workplans and budget, considering logistics, contractor management, behavior change, sustainability, and procurement activities with oversight of the implementation of Project WISE in Addis Ababa; regularly communicate updates to key cross-functional team members in Addis and Seattle.
• Serve as a key decision maker on contractor and vendor selection based on assessment of bids, capacity, reputation, and quality of past works.
• Continually assess (or determine) the effectiveness and long-term sustainability of all infrastructure program processes and context-based behavior change interventions.
• Work closely with the Director of Program Strategy and Program Strategy and Reporting Manager to track different grant timelines, requirements, reporting needs, program implementation and budget utilization versus planned works and financial projections, and communicate to all members of Addis team (across departments) as needed.
• Coordinate with the Seattle Business Development Team as well as the Director of Strategy and the Program Strategy and Reporting Manager in Addis to meet donor requirements, from creation and installation of plaques at school sites to timely submission of reports to completing donor-specific requests.
• Champion high quality, on-time entry of programmatic data by program operations team into Salesforce (our program data management system).
• Liaise with concerned project staff, local stakeholders (Woreda, Sub City, and Bureau level relevant government offices), and school management to ensure on-time and on-budget implementation and sustainability of the project interventions.
•  Support knowledge sharing among global Splash team members, global strategy refinement, and development of expansion plans.
• As Project WISE replicates in new geographies in Ethiopia, this person will be responsible for designing an implementation model with local partners and local government officials. It is expected that replication in a new city will begin in ETFY 2014.
• Represent Splash in a professional and positive way, communicating with partners and co-workers with a high level of respect.

Compensation & Benefits: Annual salary for this position will be commensurate with experience and will be reviewed at least annually.

Education, Experience, & Personal Characteristics

• Second Degree in Construction Management, Civil Engineering, Water Resource Engineering, Environmental Engineering, and Project Management, or other related fields.
• Highly proficient in WASH program and project design and management, construction management and at least 15 years of experience working on major construction and/or WASH projects including at least 10 years of personnel, project management, and program leadership experience with integration of behavior change and sustainability-oriented interventions; urban construction/engineering experience strongly preferred.
• Ability to collaborate effectively with international and local staff, local implementation partners, contractors, government partners, and vendors.
• Experience in leading program sustainability management and working with schools and local stakeholders on ensuring local ownership of project interventions.

• Highly proficient with Microsoft Office and Project Management software and methodologies.
• Professional level of written and verbal fluency in English and Amharic.
• 10 years of experience working in Ethiopia.

Desired Attributes: You will be a great fit if:  

• You exhibit absolute integrity, honesty, openness, and sound judgment.
• You demonstrate excellent organizational skills, self-motivation, flexibility, and the ability to work and thrive in a fast-paced, energetic, entrepreneurial environment.
• You are an excellent communicator, with the ability to listen, communicate effectively, and build trust with a wide variety of internal and external constituents.
• You enjoy collaboration and have a genuine interest in learning from and developing others.
• Innovative and creative: you constantly seek better ways to accomplish objectives.
• You think critically and put a high value on offering and receiving constructive feedback.
• You have a deep belief in and passion for Splash’s work and the children we serve.
• You represent Splash in a professional and positive way, communicating with partners and co-workers with a high level of respect.
• You are willing and able to participate in meetings outside of normal business hours, as needed.