Tetra Tech International Development Services, headquartered in Arlington, VA, is currently accepting expressions of interest from qualified Water System Infrastructure and Performance Manager candidates for the Leveraging Investment for Transformational Water and Sanitation Systems (LIFT) program in Goma, Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).
LIFT is a five-year cooperative agreement financed by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) led by Mercy Corps and a consortium of partners including Tetra Tech. Its primary goal is improved and sustained equitable access to clean water supply and safe sanitation services for communities in peri-urban areas of the Kivus regions of DRC.
The role of the Water System Infrastructure and Performance Manager is to provide key delivery support to enable the LIFT program to improve delivery of cost-recoverable water supply services. To this end, Tetra Tech seeks a talented, professional with experience in piped water infrastructure development and service delivery. The Water Systems Infrastructure and Performance Manager will lead activities to assess water systems infrastructure and operational reliability of water utilities/service providers. 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 infrastructure and service delivery systems, development of new contractual models with the Entités Territoriales Décentralisées (ETDs) and Associations des Usagers des Réseau d’Eau Potable (ASUREPs), and capacity building/training for private water providers.
We are seeking candidates with experience in urban water systems management (including infrastructure assessments) and a strong understanding performance management. Candidates should have knowledge of contractual models and sector governance and be able to articulate tradeoffs between design options and short/long-term operations costs.
Main Responsibilities and Tasks:
*Support multi-criteria analysis for site selection in coordination with LIFT consortium members (led by Mercy Corps) and program stakeholders; support field information and data collection.
*Complete water system assessments including technical infrastructure needs/improvements as well as commercial and operational assessments. The technical and commercial assessments are expected to cover the following components: engineering, technical management, maintenance, financial management, organizational structures, customer service, and energy efficiency.
*Perform various types of analyses including status and real cost of infrastructure, cost recovery and financials models, and basic metrics of performance such as non-revenue water (NRW) and other key performance indicators (KPIs).
*Provide advisory for planned peri-urban infrastructure investments including analysis of the tradeoffs between design options and short/long-term operations costs and technical viability.
*Work with Mercy Corps on tenders for design and construction, procurement support and QA/QC.
*Serve as a key point of contact between LIFT and target water service providers related to business and operational performance.
*Implement tasks related to improved financial performance, business practices, and customer care of water service providers.
*Support expansion of customer base for water and work with partners on interventions related to utility reform.
*Liaise with international/local STTA providing guidance on specific improvement business areas.
Qualifications:
*Knowledge of water infrastructure development and finance (public and private). Specific knowledge of public-private partnership structuring and implementation is an advantage;
*Demonstrated experience in technical interventions such as contracting for water services, NRW, metering, and local actor ownership of water and sanitation services;
*Experience in one or more of the following: small and medium enterprise development and management; business plans development and implementation; capacity building programs design and implementation; technical management and financial management; and business efficiency improvement;
*Strong analytical skills, with the ability to write well-structured technical reports, and to perform critical reviews of business plans;
*Strong skills in Microsoft Excel;
*Experience working with donor-funded projects and with different partners;
*Ability to undertake and/or manage multiple ongoing activities simultaneously;
*Ability to work effectively in multi-cultural and multi-ethnic environment; and
*Must be computer literate (in Microsoft Office applications such as Excel, Word, PowerPoint, etc)
*Bachelor’s degree in Engineering, Business, Economics, or other relevant field; Master’s degree, preferred.
*Must have 5-10 years of relevant professional experience. Deep familiarity with business support to utilities/service providers, preferably in the WASH sector.
*Fluency in written and spoken French and/or Swahili is required; proficiency in English is preferred.
*Experience working in eastern Africa and in Democratic Republic of Congo ideally.