Leveraging Investments for Transformational Water and Sanitation Systems (LIFT) project is a five-year cooperative agreement in the Democratic Republic of Congo financed by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) led by Mercy Corps and a consortium of partners including Tetra Tech International Development. Tetra Tech is currently accepting expressions of interest for a Business Improvement Manager. This position will be located in the Mercy Corps office in either Goma or Bukavu. The position is full-time with an expected duration of four years and will manage several staff members on the Market Systems Delivery Team.

The Business Improvement Manager will lead activities that result in increased financial sustainability and operational reliability of water and sanitation utilities/service providers. As the Market Systems Delivery Team Lead, the Manager will be responsible for improving the capacity of supply chain actors to respond to demand for water and sanitation service delivery. The Manager will also be engaged in a wide variety of technical activities designed to expand and improve water service delivery, including, but not limited to development of drinking water service delivery systems and capacity building/training for water service providers. 

Responsibilities:

* Support multi-criteria analysis for site selection in coordination with LIFT consortium members and program stakeholders; support field information and data collection.

* Identify key market actors in the water service delivery value chain.

* Support organizational capacity assessments of water and sanitation service providers to understand their technical, administrative, financial, and commercial capabilities.

* Lead tasks related to improving financial viability, business practices, customer care, and the enabling environment for water and sanitation service providers.

* Lead development of capacity building and training plans, and lead trainings and workshops to address key areas of weakness for water and sanitation services providers.

* Lead development of business plans.

* Lead planning and development of awareness raising campaigns designed to engage with existing and potential private water service providers and other actors within the value chain.

* Work with governance team to develop and implement social accountability and business continuity mechanisms for service providers.

* Support expansion of customer base for professional water services and work with partners on interventions related to utility reform.

* Serve as a point of contact between LIFT and market actors in the water and sanitation sector.

* Liaise with international/local STTA providing guidance on specific improvement business areas.

Qualifications:

* Possess a bachelor’s degree in Business Administration, Economics, Engineering Management, or other relevant field; Master’s degree, preferred.

* Must have at least 10 years of relevant professional experience in the water and sanitation sector and deep familiarity with water utilities/service providers’ operations.

* Experience in small and medium enterprise development and management; business plans development and implementation; capacity building programs design and implementation; and business efficiency improvement.

* Strong communication and analytical skills, with the ability to write well-structured technical reports and to perform critical reviews of business plan.

* Experience working with donor-funded projects and with different partners.

* Ability to work effectively in multi-cultural and multi-ethnic environment.

* Must be computer literate (in Microsoft Office applications such as Excel, Word, PowerPoint, etc.).

* Fluency in written and spoken French is required; Swahili and English are a plus.

* Experience working in eastern Africa and in Democratic Republic of Congo ideally.