Technical Manager– Organizational Development
About Kaizen
The Kaizen Company is an incubator for innovative, scalable solutions that address emerging market challenges and opportunities. Our proven solutions catalyze locally driven, organizational and institutional performance improvements, and shift the development model into one that is bottom-up and ongoing. We leverage existing knowledge along with new technologies and innovative business models to support local reform that is sustained through market forces. Since our inception, we have provided support to more than 200 government, private-sector, and non-profit organizations in markets worldwide. We have created solutions that achieve outcomes across a broad range of sectors including education, governance, economic growth, environment and water, energy, and global law enforcement. At Kaizen, organizational development is a foundational theme in all the work we do regardless of sector.
Scope and Objectives
The Kaizen Company is seeking candidates for the position of Technical Manager – Organizational Development to be based in the home office in Washington, DC, and to support Kaizen’s projects around the world.
The Technical Manager – Organizational Development will be an integral part of Kaizen’s core team and help the company win and implement important projects in the United States and abroad. S/he will report directly to Kaizen’s Technical Director for Organizational Development. The three primary and equally important functions of this position are the following:
Technical Support and Oversight
- Provide technical instruction, guidance, strategic direction, and advice and support to Kaizen’s portfolio of organizational development related projects, working with Chiefs of Party/Team Leaders, Project Managers, and others to ensure excellent delivery and full client satisfaction
- Providing technical oversight and quality control on project deliverables, workplans, activities, strategic pivots, staffing decisions, and other client decisions
- Identifying and resolving any implementation or other challenges that may arise during project implementation
- Acting as a field-based Chief of Party on an as needed basis
Proposal Development
- Lead capture teams positioning and preparing Kaizen for upcoming proposals
- Write technical approaches for relevant prime proposals, and subcontractor inputs for select subcontracting activities
- Participate in various other aspects of the capture and proposal development process, including proposal management, oversight, recruiting, corporate capabilities drafting, subcontractor selection and liaison, etc.
- Liaising with project management staff to ensure full integration of Kaizen’s technical and administrative support for top-tier field team delivery
- Support efforts to train other Kaizen staff on effective organizational development and Kaizen’s distinct approaches to organizational and locally led development
Program Management and Strategic Initiatives
- Advise Kaizen’s Program Managers on USG rules, regulations, best practices, and other areas related to effective project implementation; support PM efforts when needed, and potentially lead PM of select subcontracts
- Play varying roles on Kaizen strategic initiatives supporting the creation of innovative business models supporting local reform that is sustained through market forces
- Support efforts to strengthen Kaizen’s brand and brand recognition with key partners and clients globally
- Note that the above is not exhaustive. This position requires an action oriented strategic thinker who is highly adaptable. The successful candidate will be someone who thrives in a relatively small but rapidly growing company. S/he should have a willingness and even eagerness to take on a wide array of tasks as needed, and willingly embrace full ownership of outcomes, regardless of the challenges and constraints that must be overcome to achieve them.
Qualifications and Experience
Required:
- A Bachelor's degree in Business Administration, Organizational Behavior, Organizational Development, Human Resources, Change Management, Development Economics or related field
- Minimum of seven years of experience as a specialist delivering services in organizational development, management consulting, or related fields
- Direct experience working on USAID funded initiatives
- Experience living and working in emerging markets in a capacity related to organizational development
- Demonstrated ability to apply organizational development principles and approaches in multiple technical fields and in different types of organizations
- Demonstrated success writing technical approaches to USG-funded contracts
- Fluent in both spoken and written English language
Desired:
- Masters degree or higher in Business Administration, Organizational Behavior, Organizational Development, Human Resources, change management, Development Economics, or related field
- Demonstrated skills in building, mobilizing, and working in multidisciplinary teams
- Excellent communication and interpersonal skills
- Strategic management consulting experience
- Professional certifications relevant for organizational development (e.g., Certified Performance Technologist)
- Direct experience working on USAID funded initiatives in both the field and the implementer’s home office
- Fluency in one or more languages other than English
Location: Initially virtual; eventually Washington, DC with travel internationally
At The Kaizen Company, we find strength in our diversity. We are committed to creating and sustaining an inclusive working environment in which everyone has an equal opportunity to fulfill their potential. We know that we can only do development differently if we are open to and inclusive of new and unique perspectives. We encourage candidates of all abilities, ages, gender identities and expressions, national origins, races and ethnicities, religious beliefs, and sexual orientations to apply. Further, we urge parents and non-parents, married and unmarried, those from different or non-traditional educational backgrounds, and persons of all other diverse identities or experiences to apply. The Kaizen Company is an equal opportunity employer.
